FOXBORO — When Drake Maye let his first two passes sail high in the Patriots’ second preseason game over the weekend, he explained after that he might’ve been a little too juiced up to play in a game-like environment.
But he said he doesn’t plan on trying to tone down the emotions he feels early on in contests. That’s simply part of his game-day approach.
“Yeah, I don’t think you want to dial it down,” Maye said. “We’re out there, they’re keeping score. We’re trying to win. I missed Pop [DeMario Douglas] high. Same thing. He’s wide open sitting in zone out there. It’s a couple of plays we should have back, but I thought the guys up front blocked well.
“I think, dialing it back, like I said, it’s preseason, but these guys are still trying to come tackle us and stop us so we’re trying to go down and score.”
A few days later, Mike Vrabel agreed with his young quarterback.
“I think that we have to be able to connect on passes like the one to Pop, making sure that both the receiver and the quarterback are on the same page, and that the ball placement is where it needs to be,” Vrabel said. “I would say the tipped balls, especially ones that are over the middle of the field or towards the middle of the field, are going to end up intercepted.
“He’s continuing to improve and continuing to help us. I like where [Maye] is at. It’s just we’ve got to fix that. We talked to him about not taking a senseless hit outside the pocket on second-and-10. If there’s nobody there, throw it away, and we’ll try to convert on third down. Just being smart and understanding those little details.”
Back in a practice setting on Monday, Maye made a couple of more head-scratching throws that were picked off. Let’s get into the details of his day in our latest edition of Maye Watch…
Theme of the practice
Monday’s workout was mostly a jog-through type of workout, with brief but competitive 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods. During the 7-on-7 portion, the Patriots focused on red-zone execution. The competitive 11-on-11 portion put the offense in a late-game comeback situation.
Otherwise, the offense and defense worked against scout-team looks at a slower pace.
Crunching the numbers
Maye ended up completing half of his passes in competitive periods. He went 4-for-8 with an interception to Robert Spillane in 7-on-7 work. Later in the practice he went 4-for-8 with another pick thrown to Spillane.
Maye threw touchdowns to Hunter Henry and Kayshon Boutte in 7-on-7, and he completed down-the-field passes to both Henry and Mack Hollins in 11-on-11. But those two turnovers are throws he’d likely want back.
Spillane was all over Henry on the first interception. Maye may have seen Spillane’s helmet turned away from him, making him think he could sneak the football past the linebacker and into Henry’s hands. But Spillane made an impressive twisting grab. On the second pick, it looked like Maye didn’t see Spillane watching him in zone coverage.
Maye spread the ball around to his pass-catchers on Monday, targeting Douglas (three targets), Henry (three), Hollins (2) Rhamondre Stevenson (two), Stefon Diggs (two), Kayshon Boutte (2) and Hooper (2) with multiple throws in competitive periods.
Throw of the day
Maye’s back-shoulder throw along the sideline to Hollins with Carlton Davis there in tight coverage was probably the best combination of arm strength, accuracy and timing that Maye exhibited on Monday.
The ball was out before Hollins made his break, and it was placed in a spot only Hollins could get it, leading the receiver out of bounds and stopping the clock in the end-of-game 11-on-11 period of practice.
Three plays earlier, the pass Maye sent to Henry over the middle of the field was almost as impressive. With the pocket collapsing on him — and Maye seemingly unable to fully step into the throw — he drilled Henry for a first-down in the intermediate area of the field.
Quote of note
Mike Vrabel on if he’d try to get Maye to calm down at the starts of games:
“The personality or whatever they’re feeling, that’s up to them. I think that the performance and the mentality and how we want to play the game has to be the same. So, whatever they want to feel, they’re more than welcome to feel.
“We just need to make sure that we execute and that we’re taking command of the huddle and that we’re operating at a high level. Some guys are going to be more amped than others as their own personal approach to the game.”
