FOXBORO — It’s an inevitability. The stakes are higher. The pressure will be greater. And not everything will go according to plan.
Whether it’s in practice this week or in this weekend’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup in the AFC Wild Card Round between the Patriots and the Chargers, there will probably come a point in time when someone in Drake Maye’s huddle will deserve to be reprimanded.
If it does, don’t expect that kind of rip job to come from the young quarterback.
Maybe some day. Not yet.
“I think becoming harder on them comes with learning them, and them respecting our relationship together,” Maye says. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned is get to know them. Have some success with them. Have some failure with them. Learn, ‘Hey, what do you like here? How do you feel like I threw this ball to you?’ These guys have responded to me great all year.
“They want the ball. Every receiver does. But they take criticism well. They don’t take it personally. They just want to help the team. They’re blocking downfield. They’re doing all the little things. I think as I get older I’ll probably start getting more mad when they don’t line up correctly, but I think I try to know what type of position they’re in, especially if they’re young, and we’ve got a young group for the most part.”
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Drake Maye is among the top NFL MVP candidates at just 23 years old.
Maye is a captain. He’s an MVP candidate. He can be demanding in his own way. But he’s also 23 years old. And, if something is off with the offense, he has a leadership style that has been characterized in the Patriots locker room this week as one that prioritizes communication over humiliation.
“I wouldn’t say it’s like a demanding thing because I feel like he just has a great delivery,” Stefon Diggs said. “He’ll be like, ‘What do you see right here?’ And it’s more like an open line of communication with the guys, not even just me.
“I see how he interacts with other guys and getting on the same page is big for him. I think that the quarterback position, how you deliver stuff is always important to me and he does a great job of that.
“I wish he was a little bit more meaner at times, but I think that’s part of just being younger. He’s been playing extremely well, so hopefully he comes into his own as far as, like, his mean side. But he’s just a great guy, man. His communication is always there. He’s been a great quarterback. He’s our star so I feel like it’s never too demanding.”
The connection between Diggs and Maye has been one of the most efficient in football this season. They’ve connected on 83.3 percent of the targets sent Diggs’ way, which is the highest of any quarterback-receiver duo in the NFL.
But it hasn’t always been perfect. Remembering those moments when they didn’t see things the same way, Diggs smiled at Maye’s semi-delicate approach to the situation.
“It’s like, ‘Hey, what you saw right here?’ ” Diggs said, imitating Maye. “I know what you saw. He knows what I saw. But it’s like, ‘What you saw right here?’ It’s funny.”
“The older guys, like Stef,” Maye acknowledged, “they like it when I get fired up a little bit.”
Mike Vrabel has seen those calmer interactions in games and on the practice field. Instead of reaming out a teammate, Maye might approach them in a more quiet manner to iron things out.
“In practice, you see communication with guys off on the side, when maybe the defense is working,” Vrabel said. “I see things during the game where he’s trying to get guys on the same page and communicate to them and (lean into) that relationship there.”
It’s a leadership style that was forged all the way back in high school, Maye said on Wednesday.
When he transferred from William A. Hough to Myers Park, he had to adjust to a new set of teammates, learn their likes and dislikes, and do so while ingratiating himself within a new community.
“I think I learned it when I transferred schools in high school, transferred after my freshman year and became the starting quarterback my sophomore year,” Maye said. “I was just trying to learn the team, learning the guys, and trying to earn respect from the guys at a new school.
“I hadn’t been around any of the players. I knew a little bit of them from playing in offseason 7-on-7, but I just learned the guys and trying to respect them and have them respect how I work and how I treat people.
“From there just try to translate that to college, learning a new group, and translate that everywhere I’ve gone since then. I think the guys respect it.
“I think you’ll see more and more, down the road, as I get older, me getting on the guys and kind of earning respect of, ‘I want to be able to be in the right spot for Drake and line up right.’ That comes with me being successful on the field and me doing my part as well.”
Maye and his ability to communicate with his teammates in real time will be put to the test at Gillette Stadium on Sunday night against a Chargers defense that ranked inside the top 10 in points (ninth), turnovers (eighth) and sacks (10th) during the regular season.
