Whether he would admit it or not, the New England Patriots got a win for Mike Vrabel on Sunday. Taking on the Tennessee Titans, who fired him just two years ago, they celebrated a 31-13 victory that was personal for the players. And so, they went out and took care of business for a fourth week in a row.
Here are our 10 takeaways from this week’s contest.
Drake Maye is becoming an elite QB before our eyes
Maybe it’s the recency bias speaking, but Drake Maye might be in the middle of one of the best stretches for a quarterback in the last 20 years. Since
the start of the season, he has completed 75.2% of his passes for 1,744 yards with 12 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions, all while gaining 207 rushing yards and score two more times on 38 carries.
More impressively than that, however, he is just immensely calm and collected for a player with only 19 career starts under his belt. Nothing seems to rattle him.
“He keeps his poise,” said wide receiver DeMario Douglas on Sunday. “Never too high, never too low. He comes into the game very prepared. He watches a lot of film, definitely locked in and gets everybody right in their position. He’s becoming a great leader and his confidence is getting up there. I want his confidence out the roof. So as we play week after week after week I need it to keep going up, and I’m proud of him for sure.”
Through seven games, Maye is the best deep ball thrower in the league; his accuracy and pocket awareness have risen to elite levels. And, for the second time this season, he threw as many touchdowns as he did incompletions, which is just an unreal stat.
If you play zone, he’ll pick you apart. If you play man, he’ll pick you apart. With a quarterback playing the way that Maye is right now, there is no game that is out of reach.
The Patriots will go as far as Drake Maye takes them, and, right now, it looks like he’s going to be able to take them very far.
More lessons learned from Patriots vs. Titans
Slow start hurts again: The Patriots have had a tendency of starting slow this year, and that was the case again on Sunday: the Titans were able to move the ball down the field with ease on their first two drives, taking a 10-3 lead, and eventually leading 13-10 before the visitors scored at the end of the first half. The Patriots took care of the Titans in the second half, and ended up just basically running the clock out at the end of the game, but even though the final score doesn’t show it, the slow start could potentially hurt the Patriots in their next few matchups. That is something that they need to get fixed, especially defensively.
Pass rush is showing signs of life: The Patriots pass rush has had a hard time generating pressure from the outside in recent weeks, but, once they took a lead on Sunday, they were able to pin their ears back and get after Cam Ward. The result? Five sacks, including two by K’Lavon Chaisson, who also returned a fumble recovery for a touchdown. When the Patriots were able to sell out on the pass, they were able to get after Ward, which is a good sign. They could still use some help, but it was a a solid end to the game by the defense.
Kayshon Boutte is a stud: Kayshon Boutte has caught a pass of at least 15 yards in every game this season, and he is clearly the Patriots’ primary deep threat. On his 39-yard touchdown versus the Titans, he just ran by his man at the end of the first half. It looked like everyone on the field, and even Jason McCourty in the booth, assumed that the Patriots were going to take the clock down to end of the half to not give the Titans any time on offense. Instead, Maye took a deep shot, and Boutte made a great catch for the score. The Maye-Boutte connection continues to build, and will only get better as the season rolls on.
Maturity and resilience show up: The Patriots made it personal this week — they wanted to win for Mike Vrabel, who was fired from Tennessee a few years ago — but when the game didn’t start the way they hoped, it would have been easy for them to panic and press a little too much. However, they stayed calm and let the game come to them. It was a poised performance by the Patriots, who forced the Titans into making mistakes, and just kept doing what they were doing. The “Middle 8” is where the Patriots dominated, and turned the game from a 13-10 Titans lead to a 31-13 Patriots lead. The maturity to simply play their game is a great sign moving forward.
The run-stuffing continues: The Patriots are the only team in the league that has not allowed a 50-yard rusher this season, and they completely shut down the Titans’ rushing attack on Sunday. In total, Tennessee finished with 39 yards on 12 carries. The Titans were forced to get away from the run after falling behind in the second half, but even when they were trying to, they didn’t have much success on the ground. The Patriots will face a good test next week against the Browns and rookie Quinshon Judkins, but their defense has been dominant so far this year in this particular area.
The O-line has its issues: The Patriots were able to run the ball more effectively than they have all season long on Sunday. Rhamondre Stevenson ran hard all day, and the line opened up some solid holes for him, even before Jeffery Simmons left the game with an injury. The pass blocking, however, wasn’t nearly as good. Both rookies — Will Campbell and Jared Wilson — allowed a sack and multiple pressures, and Maye was forced to move around in the pocket quite a bit, even taking off scrambling eight times. Campbell has been very good, but just had a rough day. Wilson, on the other hand, had a rough game last week, and followed it up with another one this week, which is a little concerning. The Patriots face a dominant pass rush next week, so they are going to have to clean up the operation quickly.
Unsung heroes keep making big plays: DeMario Douglas had a rough stretch at the beginning of the season, but has played well the last few weeks. On Sunday, he had a massive one-handed grab on fourth down, which kept the Patriots’ opening drive of the second half alive culminating in a Stevenson touchdown on the next play. Austin Hooper had one of the best catches you’ll ever seen in the back of the end zone in the first half, snatching the ball out of the air behind L’Jarius Snead’s back. Meanwhile, on defense, K’Lavon Chaisson had those two aforementioned sacks plus the touchdown. The Patriots may not have a ton of household names, but what they are having is a ton of guys stepping up and making big plays in big moments. That’s the sign of a well-coached team that shows up each week ready to play.
Marcus Jones deserves a big, fat paycheck: The Patriots paid to bring in Carlton Davis, and have an All-Pro in Christian Gonzalez, but it’s the third corner that keeps making plays (partially because Gonzalez hardly ever gets targeted). Whether it was a punt return touchdown against the Panthers, an interception like in the Bills game and this week, or a sack and multiple pass breakups versus the Saints, Marcus Jones has been a spark plug for the Patriots on both defense and special teams. The first-year captain is one of the Patriots’ top playmakers this season, and somebody who is going to deservedly get paid handsomely come next year’s free agency.
The Patriots are finally coming home: The Patriots have played three games in a row on the road, and now get to come home for two in a row. They play the Browns this week, who have been playing terrible offense but have a very good defense; it should be a great test for Drake Maye and company, and the offensive line in particular. If they can play as well as they have offensively, however, they are going to prove that they are for real even against Myles Garrett and a disruptive Cleveland front.
