A short memory will be crucial for the New England Patriots this week.
Having lost its season opener 20-13 to the visiting Las Vegas Raiders in rather uninspiring fashion, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel will travel to Miami to take on a Dolphins squad that also started the season with an L. With both teams under some pressure already at this early stage in the season, any lingering issues from Week 1 could become a problem; as Vrabel himself said, this is a true test for the culture he is trying
to build.
Naturally, our focus this week was on both of those games. For anything else not covered previously, let’s clean out the notebook. Welcome to this week’s edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
Drake Maye needs to relax
Last week’s game against the Raiders was not Drake Maye’s finest hour as a quarterback. He did pass for a career-high 287 yards and a touchdown, but he also tossed an interception, had a fumble, and struggled with ball placement and poise in the pocket.
In short, he was far from perfect. In the NFL, however, perfection can be a fluid concept; you can play what effectively amounts to a perfect game as a quarterback but still miss throws or make bad reads. Being spot-on on every play is a noble goal, but as Mike Vrabel pointed out, it is nothing that is realistic.
For Maye, that is something he needs to realize as well.
“I think that he wants to be, at times, perfect, and I need to get past that. We all have to get past that,” said Vrabel. “You need to be precise and not perfect. If you make a mistake, it’s the reaction that you have to the mistake that everybody sees, and then they’re like, ‘Oh, wow, that was a mistake.’ We have to clean our reactions up. Our responses have to be much better. Then getting into the flow because you see really good timing and precision and accuracy. Then we see some other misses. But I don’t ever concern myself with that.
“I just want the better performance, more consistent, and continue to grow as a leader and make sure that there is a command to what we’re doing, that ‘This is the situation, this is the play.’ Those are the things that I’m focused on.”
The third overall selection in last year’s draft, Maye was thrown into the fire early in his rookie season. He did spend the first five weeks of 2024 as a backup to Jacoby Brissett, but then-head coach Jerod Mayo and his staff eventually decided to make the switch to the youngster.
Since then, Maye has been New England’s undisputed QB1. He also has had the weight of a franchise and an entire fan base’s hopes on his shoulders ever since.
It is clear that the 23-year-old wants to live up to the expectations. Doing so, however, will require him to learn to deal with the pressure and readjust his stance toward perfection.
“He is a guy that is super hard on himself,” said wide receiver Stefon Diggs. “We are pulling for him, we just got to continue that positive reinforcement and that positive encouragement. Quarterback is a very hard job so letting him know that you got his back and going to be available for him is going to be key in our success.”
“There are things that are going to happen in every game — especially at that position — that aren’t going to be perfect,” added offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. “It’s really hard to play a perfect game at any spot, let alone that spot.”
One of the most experienced coaches on Vrabel’s staff, McDaniels has been part of six Super Bowl-winning teams and worked closely with the greatest quarterback of all time for almost two decades. He knows what he is talking about.
Now it is on Maye to heed those words of wisdom.
We need to relax
The NFL is a results-based business, and now more than ever before the narratives surrounding those results are magnified and multiplied. Whether it is social media, sports talk radio, podcasts or even our little community here, fans and media members alike have massive forums to voice their opinions and set expectations.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but when it comes to Drake Maye in particular, a readjustment of sorts might be necessary. Yes, he was a first-round draft pick. Yes, he is playing the most important position on the field. Yes, the fate of the franchise is very much in his hands on every offensive play.
While all of that is true, so are the facts that Maye is still only the seventh-youngest player on the Patriots’ roster, the second-youngest starting quarterback in the NFL, and has not yet started a full season’s worth of football in the league. Today’s game against the Dolphins will be his 14th career start, and only his second in the offense coordinated by Josh McDaniels.
“We have to understand it’s his first game in our system,” the Patriots’ OC said earlier this week.
It is easy to look at the results as a measurement for Maye’s development, and there is indeed some value to it as well. However, the Patriots drafted Maye with a long-term plan in mind: they did not expect him to be an all-word QB right out of the gate, but rather to develop into a capable starter and viable face of the franchise further down the line.
When or if that will happen remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, we as fans, writers, podcasters and the like all might be wise to need to add a measure of patience to our assessment of the young passer.
Same play, different results
The Patriots trading wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk to the New Orleans Saints closed the book on what was ultimately a disappointing tenure for the former second-round draft pick. Early on, however, the Washington product did show quite a bit of promise: Polk ran with the starters for much of his rookie training camp, and over the first quarter of the season was given a big role in the offense.
Then came a play that seemingly was a turning point for his time in New England.
Late during the Patriots’ Week 5 game against the Dolphins, he appeared to catch what would have been a go-ahead touchdown. However, a review of the play showed that he had not gotten both of his feet down in bounds and the play was overturned and ruled an incomplete pass. New England lost 15-10.
Polk’s trajectory after that play stands in contrast to another Patriots WR, Kayshon Boutte. Then a sixth-round rookie, Boutte had two potential catches wiped out in his 2023 debut versus the Philadelphia Eagles because he could not get both feet down in bounds; the second of those plays came on a crucial fourth down that sealed New England’s 25-20 loss.
Boutte, however, recovered from those miscues. It did take him a while to do so, but he eventually entered the starting lineup as a sophomore and has not looked back since. In terms of playing time, catches and receiving yards, he is New England’s current WR1.
Polk, on the other hand, has not shown much of a bounceback before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in the preseason opener. As a consequence, he is now a Saint just 17 months after getting drafted.
Christian Barmore’s impact
As noted above, the NFL is all about results. The easiest way to measure those is through the use of statistics — from passes completed, to touchdowns scored, to tackles and sacks, to field goals made. Those get the job done to a large degree, but they are far from the be-all and end-all of player evaluation.
Christian Barmore is a perfect example of that. On the stat sheet, the veteran defensive tackle had five tackles in the Patriots’ Week 1 loss to Las Vegas and was credited with one quarterback hurry.
However, his impact went far beyond what the numbers suggest. Barmore did all that despite being double-teamed or chipped on more than 90 percent of his snaps, the third highest-such rate in the NFL for interior linemen.
Having a player who occupies two offensive players on nine out of ten plays cannot be underestimated. The trickle-down effect is obvious: it creates one-on-ones elsewhere. With players such as Milton Williams or Harold Landry also in the lineup, this leads to a “pick your poison” scenario for an offense.
For the Raiders, that poison was Barmore. Williams and Landry, meanwhile, were able to wreak havoc against the offensive line for much of the day — something Miami also might be looking at on Sunday, particularly given that the team will be fielding an entirely-new right side of the line.
Challenges of playing left-handed QBs
The right side of their offensive line is a particular concern for the Dolphins because their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, is left-handed. His right is therefore his blindside. Having a lefty QB does not just change things for the offense, though, but the defense as well.
“You train all these boots most of the time where they’re going to go, and you start matching the hand, trying to match the hand of a right-handed quarterback, and then all of a sudden, you come out, he throws the first one with his left hand, you put your right hand up and it whizzes over you,” said Mike Vrabel. “It’s like the time I came through into college to try to block a punt, and I roughed the punter because I realized I didn’t know he was left-footed. Came up the middle, probably gave him a hit pointer, but it was a 15-yard penalty.
“It’s just a good reminder of how it’s hard to train it, and we can train it in pre-practice with the coaches and things like that, just making sure that the ball will come out quick. He has had some passes tipped. I wouldn’t say that he’s the leader in the clubhouse, but he’s certainly not adverse to having some of those, and we just have to be able to try to do that, try to catch one of them, or affect some of these passes in the best way that we can.”
Players only
The Patriots’ opening day loss to the Raiders was a disappointment, but it was a far-cry from Miami’s Week 1 performance. The team of head coach Mike McDaniel stood no chance against the Indianapolis Colts, losing 33-8 in a game that was not as close as the final score suggests.
The Dolphins turned the ball over three times, all courtesy of their quarterback, while also giving up points on all seven of their defensive series. From start to finish, this game was a true blowout — one that prompted the team to take an unorthodox measure given how early in the season it is: the Dolphins held a players-only meeting earlier this week.
“Just staying locked in. Losing the way we did Week 1, it can be discouraging,” said linebacker Jordyn Brooks. “Just kind of making sure that everybody’s together.”
Holding players accountable
The Patriots did not resort to drastic measures like these after their Week 1 defeat, but their leadership was still in the spotlight. For wide receiver Mack Hollins, that is exactly how it should be.
“That’s one of the biggest jumps teams make when players start holding each other accountable,” he said at his Gillette Staddium locker this week. “It’s a players game, no matter how you want to construe it. There are only players inside the line, and if players aren’t going to hold each other accountable, then nobody will. It just comes from a different spot when you’re a player that’s injured or on the sideline or a coach, whatever it may be. If you’re not in the lines, you’re not holding guys accountable, it’s tough.”
Anfernee Jennings, next man up
A starter on the defensive edge the last two seasons, Anfernee Jennings opened 2025 as a healthy scratch: he was one of the seven players made inactive for the Patriots’ season opener versus Las Vegas. With Keion White out for Week 2 due to an illness, however, the sixth-year man is set to make his debut.
“Anfernee is very ready,” said Mike Vrabel. “I had to make a tough decision last week, we could only have so many guys active, and so I’m excited to see Anfernee play. He’s always been prepared and taken advantage of his opportunities. He’ll continue, I would imagine, to do that on Sunday: play hard, play physical and be ready to go.”
Moments of silence
The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event at Utah Valley University dominated the news cycle this week. The horrific nature of the event and the issue of gun and political violence in the United States needs no further discussion, especially in this forum.
What should be debated, however, is the NFL’s reaction: the following night, the league opted to hold a moment of silence in honor of Kirk at the Packers-Commander Thursday night game. It furthermore has allowed teams to decide whether or not to follow suit on Sunday and Monday. The league is trying to walk a fine line, but decisions such as these invite criticism and deserve to be scrutinized.
There is no denying Kirk was an influential figure but neither an elected official nor in any way had close ties to the NFL. Honoring him is therefore quite unusual, and that is before adding some of his rhetoric to the conversation. We are not going to amplify his statements — you can read into some of them here — but let’s just say that a league that is around 60 percent black and displaying “End Racism” slogans on its field and helmets holding a moment of silence for Kirk is nothing short of bizarre.
Week ahead
The Patriots will fly back from Miami later on Sunday, and then return to their typical in-season rhythm:
- Monday, Sept. 15: Mike Vrabel media availability, player media availability
- Tuesday, Sept. 16: Day off
- Wednesday, Sept. 17: Practice, Mike Vrabel media availability, player media availability, injury report
- Thursday, Sept. 18: Practice, player media availability, injury report
- Friday, Sept. 19: Practice, player media availability, injury report
- Saturday, Sept. 20: Pre-game walkthrough, practice squad elevations
- Sunday, Sept. 21: Game day vs. Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium (1 p.m. ET)
Outside of those set dates, we also expect some more roster movement. The Patriots, after all, currently have one spot open on their 53-man team. Linebacker/special teamer Mark Robinson seems like a prime candidate for promotion after being a game-day elevation from the practice squad each of the first two weeks of the season.
