Breaking down Maye’s ‘aggressive’ playmaking on first TD pass originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Drake Maye’s first NFL touchdown pass perfectly summed up why the New England Patriots selected him with the third overall pick in this year’s draft.
With 11 seconds left in the second quarter of Sunday’s game vs. the Houston Texans, Maye tossed a 40-yard dime to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte in the end zone. The rookie signal-caller could have settled for a short pass and a field goal, but he elected to show off his big arm and capitalize on Houston’s questionable defensive playcalling.
Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson called Maye a “cool customer” for his presence in the pocket on the big play. He discussed the play in-depth during Monday’s edition of The Breakdown.
“This was an interesting play call for the Texans, I thought, and the Patriots and Drake Maye really took advantage of it,” Johnson said. “The Texans, they line up in Cover 1 coverage right here. Five rushers, five cover guys, one single high safety. The interesting thing is the Patriots line up in trips right here with Ja’Lynn Polk single to the left side. … The Texans for some reason put their safety on this (the left) side. They probably feared that maybe the ball was gonna go to Ja’Lynn Polk because for most of the games this season, all the deep throws – most of them – have gone to Ja’Lynn Polk. They probably figured that was the target.
“The other thing the Texans did, which was unusual in this situation, is they had press coverage. They put their cornerbacks up on the Patriots wide receivers. So that tells the quarterback something’s up. Maybe it’s blitz, man to man. And what he’s seeing right here is all this space left wide open because this safety is cheating over here to help out on Ja’Lynn Polk. And that is something the quarterback I’m guessing saw right away, so they took advantage of it.”
Johnson noted that both Maye and Boutte executed the play to perfection. Maye read the coverage and found an open man in Boutte, who beat Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.’s press coverage and hauled in an accurate throw.
“It’s an easy throw, an easy read when you consider the safety declared early in the play where he was gonna be,” Johnson added. “Press coverage tells the quarterback it’s man-to-man or blitz. You have seven guys to block five, and all Kayshon’s gotta do is get by his guy and get half a step on him, and he did, and it was a perfectly thrown ball.
“The interesting thing was you had DeMario Douglas wide open in the middle. This defender kind of leaves his coverage, and so he could have just taken like a 15-yard, 20-yard gain. Aggressive mindset with two timeouts, takes a shot for the end zone, and it works so they get seven points on the board. Hell of a drive for the Patriots considering they’ve had issues scoring points and, just managing their drives right before halftime.”
Our Patriots insider Phil Perry came away impressed by Maye’s decision to take a shot at the end zone rather than settle for a field goal before the half.
“What I love about this play when it comes to Drake Maye is the aggressiveness,” Perry said. “They’re sniffing field goal range here. They could take a shorter throw, set up Joey Slye for three points. Instead, he makes what is the longest completion for a Patriots quarterback in the last three years when it comes to air yards over 50 yards in the air for that first touchdown pass for Drake Maye and for Kayshon Boutte.”
Maye and the Patriots fell to the Texans, 41-21. Still, it was an encouraging first start for the young QB that inspired some hope for the future of the organization. He threw three TD passes in total in the losing effort.
With Maye under center, New England will look to snap a five-game losing skid when it takes on the Jacksonville Jaguars in London next Sunday.
You can watch the full Drake Maye breakdown in the video below or on YouTube:
