Expectations were high for Drake Maye and the New England Patriots offense as they traveled out to Cincinnati to face off against a historically bad Bengals defense that ranked 32nd in DVOA and EPA per
play.
While Maye ended the day with a career-high 294 passing yards, it wasn’t always pretty getting there.
New England’s QB looked off to start the day and struggled with a handful of accuracy issues — his worst coming on a sailed pass over the middle of the field that resulted in his first career pick-six.
Through the mistakes, Maye still made his usual high-level throws in order to generate +0.21 expected points added (76th percentile) and secure a 26-20 win. Here’s how he got there.
Drive 3
Things started shaky for Maye with some puzzling incompletions — including an undecided pass in the middle of an open TreVeyon Henderson and Mack Hollins — before the QB threw his first career pick-six to put the Patriots in a 10-0 hole early.
(14:28) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass deep middle intended for H.Henry INTERCEPTED by G.Stone at NE 32. G.Stone for 32 yards, TOUCHDOWN. New England debuts an interesting formation with just four down lineman and Ben Brown split out wide to the right simulating a perimeter screen. Hunter Henry, aligned next to Will Campbell, breaks open down the seam and appears to start to cross the post safety. Maye, however, throws a high pass continued down the seam which falls right into the lap of Geno Stone for an interception.
Drive 4
(10:19) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass short middle to H.Henry to CIN 28 for 12 yards (B.Carter). On the following drive, Maye converted a third-and-3 with his legs before moving the chains again on third-down to his tight end. New England gets man-to-man coverage which frees Henry over the middle of the field as he works off a free release from a bunch to Maye’s right. While the pass is slightly off target, it still allows Henry to catch and run for a 12-yard gain.
(9:43) D.Maye pass deep left to H.Henry for 28 yards, TOUCHDOWN. The very next play, Maye goes back to his tight end on a sail concept (vertical to clear out sideline plus sail route). With Hollins’ vertical clearing things out down the sideline and DeMario Douglas’ motion drawing the attention of the safety underneath, things completely open for Hunter Henry down the sideline. Maye avoids some pressure off his right side with two hands on the ball and steps up to flip one to his tight end for the score.
Drive 5
(3:36) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass short middle to H.Henry to NE 31 for 17 yards (J.Ossai). New England used these 22 personnel looks with fullback Jack Westover and a running back (TreVeyon Henderson here) split out wide to create some easy layups for Maye after a slow start. This empty look creates a one-on-one situation with Henry on a linebacker — easy pickings for Maye to start a drive backed up in their own territory.
(2:00) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass deep left to A.Hooper to CIN 31 for 21 yards (G.Stone). After a completions to fellow tight end Austin Hooper, Maye goes back to the veteran to help move New England into field goal range before the end of the half. With both tight ends running verticals, Maye attacks the post safety with a perfectly layered and placed back shoulder throw over and away from the defenders. New England’s drive then stalls in field goal range to end the half.
Drive 6
(12:39) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass deep middle to D.Douglas to NE 46 for 37 yards (B.Carter). Facing a third-and-11 on their first possession out of the half, Maye delivers the throw of the day (and maybe even his season). Recognizing Cincinnati’s post-snap rotation to Cover-2, Maye attacks the seam runner down the middle of the field working to guard Pop Douglas’ vertical. From his own end zone, he perfectly drops one right over the Bengals defender (No. 49) and Douglas makes a great catch for an explosive play.
(7:54) (Shotgun) R.Stevenson left guard to CIN 1 for no gain (M.Murphy; J.Ossai). A disastrous goal line sequence in which the Patriots ran six plays from the one-yard and could not score ends with the ball in the hands of Rhamondre Stevenson. But, that appeared to be do to a poor decision by Maye.
Running an RPO, Maye has the ability to read the play side defensive end and either hand the ball off or keep it himself and work the route combination to his right. Despite Stefon Diggs appearing to point out a poor look pre-snap and the end crashing down post-snap, Maye hands the ball off to Stevenson who immediately gets met in the backfield for a loss and turnover on downs. Meanwhile, Hunter Henry opens to Maye’s right along the goal line for a potential score if Maye kept the ball himself.
Drive 7
(3:33) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass deep right to M.Hollins pushed ob at CIN 35 for 24 yards (D.Hill). Penalty on CIN-D.Hill, Defensive Pass Interference, declined. Perhaps Maye’s second best throw of the day came on the next drive. With Hollins’ out route converting to a fade against press-man, Maye hangs in the pocket to deliver a dime down the right sideline to his receiver to help set up a late field goal to end the third quarter.
(2:38) (Shotgun) D.Maye sacked at CIN 38 for -9 yards (J.Davis). New England is limited to just a field goal largely because Maye is brought down for a sack on second down. Maye and the offense had issues throughout the day dealing with the Bengals pressure looks, as the QB often did not have the necessary answers to beat blitzes (finishing the day 0-for-5 against cover zero looks). The sack was one of the few instances where Maye may have had a hot read to Stefon Diggs on the out route, but a nickel blitz quickly gets home leading to a sack.
“The way that the protection was, you just have to get rid of it, dirt it and put it at the guy’s feet,” Mike Vrabel said Monday. “But I think at that point in time, with where the protection went and what he felt like, getting five guys out, that we probably should have just got rid of the ball. But we didn’t make one mistake into another. We took a sack, and we were able to get some yards on the next play and kick a field goal.”
