Breaking: Patriots’ Early Game Struggles Exposed: Drake Maye Reveals “Deflating” Locker Room Reaction
After taking an ugly loss to the Arizona Cardinals, morale within the New England Patriots wasn’t particularly high, with players like Drake Maye expressing their dissatisfaction with how the season was going after the game.
But what went wrong? I mean, sure, the Cardinals aren’t schmucks, but they aren’t a bad team either, sitting at an even 7-7 with three games left to play. Well, part of it has to do with the Patriots’ inability to get much going on the early drive, with the “scripted” option of the game failing to produce much in the way of results.
This, understandably, left Maye feeling rather deflated, as he told reporters after the game.
“Yeah, that’s what I was talking to Jacoby (Patriots Quarterback Jacoby Brissett) about. Yes, it is definitely deflating. You want to get down there and put the defense in a good spot, get some points on the board and get down there and stall out,” Maye told reporters. “Getting a holding call, which you have to look back. I think it was a holding, I’m not sure what penalty it was, but some unfortunate things happened the whole game really. They had a basically a video game, Madden like touchdown in the corner of the end zone, the lineman falling on it. They had the interception that was a questionable call, but the refs called it. We have to live with it on the interception that we had. At the end of the day, I don’t think really any of that matters. I think we just have to execute better. Not let those things kind of just decide the game.”
So what’s the deal? Why can’t the Patriots seem to get much going through the air or on the ground when the team should be having the most success on scripted plays they could practice during the week? Well, Jerod Mayo was asked that question, too, and laid it out.
Jerod Mayo backs up Drake Maye’s claims about poor execution
Asked if the Patriots intentionally tried to play things safe in Week 15 heading into the game, Mayo said no, noting that the team wanted to put up points early on but found themselves marred by poor execution.
“Not at all. I thought we were able to run the ball. I told these guys going into the game that we have to be able to run the ball for four quarters. At the same time, we have to get open, we have to catch the ball and we have to make the throws,” Mayo told reporters. “We have to block the guys up front and we have to run the ball. Those are fundamental things and this is why I always go back to the X’s and O’s are one thing, and we’re all pretty competent as far as X’s and O’s are concerned. Going out there and executing a play, it takes a lot and we just weren’t able to do that on a consistent basis. ”
What can the Patriots do to set a good tone early on moving forward? Well, considering Maye looked pretty good in the no-huddle, rhythm-based passing game in Week 15, maybe New England should lean into that moving forward.
