In a playoff like atmosphere at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Drake Maye and the Patriots offense came out firing.
Over the first two quarters, Maye completed 9-of-11 passes for 108 yards while generating +0.59 EPA per play as the Patriots offense continued the trend of being the best first-half offense in football. The success led to them taking a 24-7 lead into halftime, but things quickly came crashing down.
As Josh Allen and the Bills offense could not be stopped over the second-half, Maye and New
England could not find any rhythm as they ran just 18 second-half plays. In total, Maye went 5-of-12 for 47 yards with -0.71 EPA per drop-back during that time as the Patriots chances to clinch the AFC East were ultimately delayed.
Maye did not look like his usual self in the final two quarters, as the 23-year old was inaccurate — to go along with a turnover worthy play — and hesitant at times with the ball in his hands. Buffalo’s switch to more two-high safety coverages in the second-half deserves credit for shaking Maye, while head coach Mike Vrabel pointed towards decision-making leading to the poor results.
“I just think that these are decisions,” Vrabel said. “You have to understand that there’s going to be disguise and it’s going to look differently post-snap, and being able to come off things and progress. He’ll, I’m sure, tell you all those things. We’ll be back, we’ll coach it up and we’ll get back to work.”
Here’s how he it played out on the field.
Drive 1
(13:00) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass deep right to K.Boutte to BUF 25 for 30 yards (M.Hairston). On an opening third-down to start the game, the Bills show blitz and a two-high safety shell pre-snap only to rotate into a single-high look post-snap. With the safety buzzing down to take away a pair of in-breakers to Maye’s right, the QB targets the backside fade down the right sideline. A great catch by Kayshon Boutte to fight through the contact and haul it in kickstarts the day for the offense.
(10:28) (Shotgun) D.Maye left end for 8 yards, TOUCHDOWN. With New England’s red-zone offense struggling of late, the thought of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels getting Maye’s legs involved more was a solution. He did just that on first-and-goal with a zone read. As the Patriots leave the defender on the edge to the left (No. 58) unblocked, Maye reads him and pulls the football as he crashes down. He then follows Hunter Henry coming across the formation as a lead blocker — while Kayshon Boutte throws a strong crack block — as Maye goes untouched into the end zone.
Drive 3
(3:43) (Shotgun) D.Maye scrambles left guard to BUF 33 for 17 yards (Ta.Johnson). Maye’s legs continued to threaten Buffalo on New England’s third drive. That starts on the first play from scrimmage, as Buffalo blitzes a corner off the backside and gets quick pressure on Maye. The mobile QB, however, makes an interior rusher miss and beats the corner to the outside and breaks free for a 17-yard gain.
(:31) (Shotgun) D.Maye scrambles up the middle for 7 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Down near the goal line, McDaniels dials up what appears to be a RPO with Maye reading Buffalo’s No. 45 over left tackle Vederian Lowe. With the linebacker dropping to help cover the three receivers to Maye’s left, he takes off with the middle of the field vacated and goes untouched into the end zone for his second first-half score with his legs.
Drive 9
(6:07) (Shotgun) D.Maye sacked at NE 25 for -7 yards (M.Milano). Back trailing despite TreVeyon Henderson’s long touchdown run, Maye and the Patriots can’t muster up a scoring drive again muster up a scoring drive. On second-down, Buffalo falls into cover-six with two-high safeties which takes away New England’s receivers to Maye’s right. The QB pumps and appears to double-clutch as Kyle Williams opens over the middle of the field from the right on a dig. It’s a tough pass to layer a ball to the intermediate over a second-level defender, but Maye’s hesitancy leads to a third-down sack and punt.
(5:25) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass incomplete short right to H.Henry. Now facing 3rd-and-12 after the sack, the Patriots get Hunter Henry open at the sticks with one of the safeties shaded over Mack Hollins to the outside. But the throw is slightly behind the tight end as he breaks outside away from an inside defender and Henry can’t haul it in.
Drive 10
(2:00) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass incomplete deep right to T.Henderson. Down four after the two-minute warning, Maye faces a 3rd-and-5 as New England needs a touchdown drive to take the lead. Buffalo again is in a two-safety shell and appears to match routes in space. Out of the backfield, TreyVeon Henderson ends up being covered by a nickel corner which takes away his wheel route, but Maye gets stuck on the running back and fails to get to Kayshon Boutte open at the sticks on the backside crosser. Again, Maye appears hesitant and throws it to nowhere.
(1:54) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass incomplete short middle to S.Diggs (J.Bosa). The next play on fourth-down to keep the game alive, the play quickly becomes a disaster for New England. Buffalo handles a staple pick-play between Hollins and Henry nicely as their ends drop out on a well-timed replacement pressure. With nowhere to go with the football, Maye looks to extend things in a scramble drill but his pass is tipped by Joey Bosa and falls incomplete to ultimately seal the game for Buffalo.
“We didn’t get off the release very good. We weren’t able to throw the ball around a guy that was off spying, and that triggered,” Vrabel explained. “We just didn’t execute. But yeah, somebody executed and somebody didn’t.”
