New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has been sacked 34 times through the team’s 7-2 start. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Boston Globe via Getty Images
There is a fine line between a play extending and a play ending.
Drake Maye has blurred it. His vision, arm strength, ball placement and mobility keep turning trouble into touchdowns for the 7-2 New England Patriots.
But the 23-year-old NFL MVP candidate’s traits tend to bring out an inherent flaw.
From September into November, Maye has been sacked 34 times. That tally matches his rookie season. Around the league, it also stands behind only the 38 sacks that top overall pick Cam Ward has endured at quarterback for the 1-8 Tennessee Titans.
It’s not all on the offensive line in Foxborough.
“I think those guys, speaking of the offensive line, have done a great job all year,” Maye told reporters during his Wednesday press conference at Gillette Stadium. “A lot of the sacks I have taken have been my fault. They’ve been me holding the football.”
Maye aimed to remain a passer longer entering his sophomore year. It’s resulted in the Patriots captain completing an NFL-best 74.1% of his attempts for 2,285 yards and 17 touchdowns through the air.
He has only been intercepted on four occasions. He has also rushed for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
That’s with No. 4 overall pick Will Campbell at left tackle and No. 95 overall pick Jared Wilson at left guard. Next to the rookies out of LSU and Georgia, there’s been the experience with Garrett Bradbury at center, Mike Onwenu and right guard and Morgan Moses at right tackle.
Eight of nine games have featured that starting combination up front.
“I want to credit those guys for what they’ve done in blitz-pickup games and how hard they work on watching film and watching on Thursdays the third-down cutups and what they do kind of blitz-wise,” Maye said.
According to Pro Football Focus, just 13 of New England’s sacks have been charged to the pass protection. A pair of those weren’t even charged to the team’s linemen, but veteran tight end Hunter Henry’s chipping and rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson’s blitz pickup.
The other 21 have gone to the quarterback. And while more than a handful of the sacks have arrived on scrambles that didn’t get back to the line of scrimmage, that wasn’t the case in the seconds prior to halftime last Sunday.
A strip by Jalon Walker and a fumble recovery by fellow outside linebacker James Pearce Jr. put the Atlanta Falcons on the doorstep instead.
“I think this is kind of a complicated solution,” Josh McDaniels told reporters during his press conference on Thursday. “None of us want to go backwards, least of all him. But I think that we’re trying to thread a fine line here of making those plays off-schedule, which everyone loves, including me. He does. Everybody else does. And then doing something where we hang on to it a little longer than maybe we could and then incur a negative play or a turnover, which obviously we don’t want to do those, either.”
The escapes have often brought the explosives.
Creating outside of structure isn’t something New England’s offensive coordinator wants to shy away from. Neither does the former North Carolina dual-threat. They’re on the same page.
“I think, generally speaking, our pass protection has been pretty sound,” added McDaniels. “And I also think that he’s made some really good plays with his legs and extended some things and made some good pass plays by extending the play. So, I don’t think we want to overcoach that and take that away from him. I think as a young player that’s going to continue to learn, hopefully we’ll eventually find that real sweet spot.”
Per Sumer Sports, Maye currently ranks second among the league’s quarterbacks in expected points added per play. He has posted a 100-or-higher passer rating in eight consecutive games and been sacked six times in back-to-back games.
“Just like anything else, just try to work on it in practice, try to simulate drills and be really good when we’re on our team periods of trying to avoid it,” said Maye. “And from there, just don’t make it too big a deal because I think sometimes we’re still making plays when I do try to extend plays.”
The 6-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers host Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET kickoff at Raymond James Stadium.