Patriots Ups & Downs: Who stood out in Drake Maye’s first career start?

FOXBORO -- The New England Patriots fell to 1-5 on the 2024 season after a 41-21 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday at Gillette Stadium. Here's who we graded UP or DOWN based on their on-field performance in the loss...

All things considered, it's hard to come out of Sunday's loss without feeling encouraged by Maye's performance. He finished the game with 243 passing yards and three touchdown passes, both season-highs for Patriots quarterbacks, and completed four passes of at least 22 yards in total.

Maye's first touchdown of the day, and of his career, was a thing of beauty. Taking advantage of a clean pocket, he dropped it in the bucket 40 yards down the field to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte, who had a step on the defensive back and strolled into the end zone for his first career touchdown.

"I thought [Maye] showed a lot of poise," head coach Jerod Mayo said in his postgame press conference. "I thought he went out there and controlled the huddle, got those guys out of the huddle and once again, made some plays. It's definitely encouraging. From a team-wide perspective right now, we let him down. It was his first game, and I feel like I let him down. I'm sure all the coaches feel like we let everyone down. We've just got to be better."

It wasn't a perfect day for Maye, who turned the ball over three times. His first interception was a throw he'd certainly like to have back, as he sailed it way too high and dropped it into the hands of the waiting safety. His lost fumble was off immediate pressure against the right tackle and his second pick was tipped into the air, so not exactly disastrous moments for him. But Maye will certainly come out of this game wanting to protect the ball better going forward.

"I think we just hurt ourselves today," Maye said after the game. "I think that's the biggest thing. I think we put the defense in bad spots, and with how good our defense is, that's the last thing we can do."

For the most part, Maye had the typical ups & downs that you'd expect from a rookie making his first career start, and thrust into a tough situation with the talent around him. But the Patriots moved the ball and scored on offense better than it has all season, and that's mainly thanks to their new starting quarterback.

A step back for Gonzalez, who had put together a couple of strong games in a row. And no surprise here, but it came while mostly covering Patriots killer Stefon Diggs. The Texans wideout finished with 6-of-7 catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, and beat Gonzalez badly over the middle of the end zone for the score.

Gonzalez could only muster three total tackles on the afternoon in the box score. It was a minimal impact for Gonzalez, who needs to be an impact player for a Patriots team that lacks them. He had an opportunity to finally quiet Diggs, but it was just more of the same from that particular receiver.

From the "no coincidence" department: Douglas finished with six catches for 92 yards and a touchdown, easily the most productive game of his career, in his first full 60 minutes with Maye throwing him the ball. The yards were the most by a single Pats receiver since Dec. 24, 2022 (!!!). (H/t Andrew Callahan for that stat.)

Douglas was determined to get to the end zone on his touchdown, catching it over the middle of the field and outrunning the defense to the pylon. The play briefly gave the Patriots a sign of life in the fourth quarter, before the defense broke on the next possession.

But overall, the performance of Douglas and Maye together was quite encouraging to see. If they can produce like that consistently, the Patriots should have a chance to win some games going forward.

Rough day for the Patriots' right tackle, who started for the second straight week. Jacobs allowed two sacks, the second of which was a strip-sack, and committed a false start penalty. The Pats have little choice at the tackle position right now, and may be forced to stick with Jacobs going forward. But he'll have to do his best to play better than he did on Sunday.

Two straight plus performances for Boutte, who led all Patriots receivers in offensive snaps (unofficially 55) and finished catching all three targets for 59 yards and a touchdown. He's also been a solid blocker in the run game and when the Patriots run heavier personnel packages. He's emerged as a viable option for the Patriots in the wake of Tyquan Thornton falling out of favor.

Polk caught just one of his four targets for four yards, and two of the incompletions can be categorized as drops. The rookie wideout is typically sure-handed, and needs to be, because he doesn't have the speed to get consistent separation down the field. It was a promising day for the Patriots' weapons overall, with Maye able to deliver them the ball at a higher level than Jacoby Brissett ever could. If Polk can hold onto the ball, he'll make the offense better. But Sunday was a step back for him.

The Patriots defense had some problems in this game, but Godchaux was the least of them. He finished with a team-high eight tackles, and generated the pressure on Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud that led to Marcus Jones' interception in the second quarter. Godchaux is having a solid season as a much-needed steady veteran presence on a defense that's been slammed by injuries.

Jones covered slot receiver Tank Dell for much of the game, and Dell finished with 7-of-9 catches for 57 yards and a touchdown. Dell scored the TD on Jones, then caught a key third-down play in the fourth quarter. If Jones could've made the pass breakup there, the Patriots could've gotten the ball back with hope for a late comeback. Instead, the Texans moved the chains, then ripped off a 54-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach. Tough day for Jones.

Mapu finished with five tackles, a half-sack on a blitz, and most importantly, a pass breakup that led to Marcus Jones' interception. He played 58 of 66 defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Finally healthy, Mapu is emerging as a solid piece for the Patriots defense, and he even wore the green dot as the primary play-caller in his first game back.

Wise finished with just two tackles and got flagged for an offside penalty, so it wasn't his best day individually. We're dinging Wise as a way of spotlighting the entire Patriots pass-rush, which simply did not generate enough pressure on Stroud throughout the afternoon. They generated two sacks, one of which came on a safety blitz, and three more QB hits. Not nearly enough to make Stroud uncomfortable.

Brown pretty much just got here, having signed to the Patriots' 53-man roster on Thursday. Thrust right into the starting lineup in Maye's first career start, Brown performed admirably. There were no botched snaps, although he and Maye had one exchange that was a little shaky-looking. There was some pressure up the middle and the run-blocking between the tackles left a lot to be desired. But considering the spot Brown was put in, and that it wasn't a total calamity at that position, Brown deserves a thumbs up for this game.

Hooper had a day he'd like to forget. He most notably had a killer fumble that came with the Patriots already down 17, and led to a Texans field goal that put them down 20. That was his only catch on two targets. Hooper has occasionally made some solid plays in the passing game in his limited opportunities this season, but he was a negative on Sunday after turning the ball over. The Patriots can't afford those kinds of mistakes.