In the loss to the Titans, the Patriots' struggling offense depends on Drake Maye being able to make a play

FOXBORO, Mass. — Drake Maye unbuckled his chin strap and stared into the distance as the Tennessee Titans flooded the field to celebrate their 20-17 overtime victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday. The victory was sealed by the quarterback's second interception of the day.

Maye, a 22-year-old rookie making just his fourth NFL start, was asked to give his all for his team against a bad opponent. They had just failed to finish after forcing overtime on one of the most exciting plays of the season. In overtime, he had taken a long shot at arguably the best receiver on a bad team, and the ball was blown off, bringing an abrupt end to a strange game.

Drake Maye goes deep… CHOSEN by the Amani whore!

Hooker's 2nd INT of the game seals it @titans win! pic.twitter.com/Nb3fZz7ksW

– NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2024

This left the Patriots unable to avoid the obvious. They are 2:7, making them the worst record in the league. In the last three weeks, they have lost to two of the teams they are tied with (the Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars). In many ways, they are still searching for answers in this rebuilding effort.

But after the recent loss, when Maye completed 29 of 41 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown while also running for 95 yards, conflict is easy to arise.

The Patriots are asking Maye to take over the entire offense. The fact that he does this work even occasionally is impressive and a testament to what he can do for this franchise at the sport's most important position.

But it is also a solid Problem. The Patriots are asking him to shift the offense onto him without helping him. The offensive line can't block, the receivers are struggling to get on offense and the running game has gotten so bad that the Patriots have given up on it. Yet Maye still brought this team to the brink of an upset.

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If you only want to hear the positive, focus on that. So far, everything points to the Patriots picking No. 3. They got their quarterback, the most important part of a rebuild, and things look a lot brighter in the long run when you think about how good he could be with better players around him.

But at the same time, it's pretty damning that the Patriots' situation is so bad that it's hard to say whether it's the scheme, the play or the talent that's holding this offense back the most. The kid looks promising, but what if the team takes so long to sort out the issues around him that his confidence is damaged and his play suffers?

“I think sometimes, as well as he played, you forget how young he is,” coach Jerod Mayo said.

Let's start with the running game. The Patriots only had 12 designed runs on Sunday. They covered a total of 15 yards. It was so bad that they gave up running altogether and finished the game with 16 consecutive passes – and, not coincidentally, that was the time they moved the ball most successfully.

Rhamondre Stevenson managed just 16 yards on 10 carries (one of which was a touchdown) and wouldn't say much about how he could fix the offense.

“Just leave it to the coaching staff,” he said.

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That puts a lot of stress on a rookie quarterback when the whole stadium knows he's going to pass. (Again, giving up the running game was probably the right decision given how things went. That's just too much to ask of a young quarterback.)

Then there is the play prompt and the plan. Whether it's a lack of talent or the way coordinator Alex Van Pelt calls plays, the offense constantly feels stuck in the mud. Maye's completions appear to come either by threading tight windows or hitting receivers near the line of scrimmage, which was the case on Sunday as the offensive line struggled to block for a very long time. That's a difficult way to build an explosive offense.

The play calls at the end of the half didn't help the quarterback either. The latest example in a season full of mistakes came at the end of the first half when, after several productive completions, the Patriots decided to play on second-and-1 and third-and-1, taking the ball out of Maye's hands as the whole Playbook should have been open. It was a unique opportunity to take a shot downfield.

At this point, it feels like the offense is just, “Let's hope Drake does something crazy.” He often did on Sundays. His 95 rushing yards in eight scrambles were the most total by a Patriots quarterback since Steve Grogan's 103 in 1976. In many ways, he was the entire offense.

“The guy is special, man,” tight end Hunter Henry said.

Because of this, the Patriots find themselves in a strange place where two things may be true: that Maye's future appears to be very bright, but also that the Patriots are doing him a disservice in an offense that asks far too much of him do.

To be fair, when the offense makes an explosive play, it's often because Maye did too much. His brilliant last-second touchdown pass to Stevenson is a perfect example. His scrambles and sneaky flip to Stevenson also come to mind.

DRAKE MAYE MAGICCCCCCCCC!!!!!!!!

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/UvIB3dRi8k

– New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 3, 2024

But he's only 22 years old and has only been a month old as an NFL starter. So it's quite to be expected that some mistakes will happen in these situations, like when he forced the ball down to Kayshon Boutte that ended the game, or when he tried to extend the game in the fourth quarter, which led to the strip- The sack and the turnover led to the Titans' go-ahead touchdown.

“Just a stupid decision,” Maye said of the game-ending interception. “Especially in this situation.”

Maye can handle a lot of pressure. If he couldn't, he wouldn't have been No. 3 in the draft. But the toll on Maye will add up if the team continues to put everything on his shoulders.

It already seems to be having an effect. He looked exhausted after the incredible scramble and last-second touchdown pass to Stevenson, in which he ran around and gained 11.82 seconds. That seemed to be the reason why the Patriots didn't use two players at the end of regulation and tried to win the game.

“I don’t want to go into that,” Mayo said about whether possible fatigue after that long game played a role in the decision. “That's a good question. I just don’t want to get involved in it right now.”

Maye took full blame for his team's offensive deficiencies – even if everyone who saw it knew it wasn't his fault. There were scratches and bruises on his arms, scars from another game in which he had to play everything. His play so far offers excitement about what he might look like one day with a more talented team around him.

On Sunday, the Patriots asked him to be a one-man offense. Again, Maye looked impressive, but that approach doesn't seem to be a recipe for lasting success in New England.

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(Photo: Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)