As the New England Patriots’ offense has gotten off to a slow start through two games, quarterback Drake Maye noted that the unit is still “finding themselves.”
For offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, that’s a typical part of the process at this point in the season.
“I think it’s normal,” McDaniels said Thursday. “This time of the year is generally an extension of the work you’ve done in training camp and, you know, whether it’s one aspect of the game in terms of situational play or last year I thought
we made progress in a running game as we got along. And there’s been many years, I know I’ve lived through a bunch of them, where you start, we all have high expectations and hopes for starting this season looking a certain way and what it requires is just a lot of hard work and improvement.
“I don’t know that anybody’s where they want to be at this point in time, but the progress you make going forward is really the most important part of our journey.”
Maye noted the Patriots found themselves in a similar spot last season, sitting at 1-2 before scoring 42 points in Week 4 against the Panthers to kick-start an 11-game winning streak.
McDaniels has seen similar slow starts unfold plenty of times during his career calling plays, dating beyond 2025. He knows a slow start to the season does not mean the Patriots should completely change directions.
“We could sit here and talk about this all day. ’14, ’18, ’21, ’25, every one of those years in my career. And then there’s probably another two or three, four that I could tack on of those,” McDaniels said. “The first month of the season is about growth and improvement. Progress is a big word. And if you jerk the wheel and turn the car into the wall, you’re going to have a problem.
“So, I think our guys are really working hard at it. Squeezing harder to try to get a result that you are looking for is often times a bad formula.”
Part of that growth will come from better play from Maye himself.
Through two games, the quarterback has thrown four interceptions and taken six sacks as the 24-year old has tried to find the balance between aggressiveness and patience.
For McDaniels, however, the offense’s performance ultimately comes back to all 11 players on the field.
“I mean a mistake is a mistake. But there was a lot of good plays. I’d say too for us offensively, it’s always about the group. It’s always about the group,” McDaniels said. “It’s always about the group. It takes 11 people on offense to make a good play go. That’s what it takes. It always has required that. So, he has to do his part. We have to do our part around him. We have to do a good job as coaches of putting our group in the right position…
“Drake made some really good plays the other day and certainly want to try to clean up some of the things that are — putting the ball in harm’s way is obviously something we want to try to do away with.”
