On Tuesday’s “Toucher & Hardy,” Dan Roche joins us to discuss whether Drake Maye is ready to start Week 1 for the New England Patriots.
Toucher on Drake Maye
Parts of the conversation have been shortened for clarity.
Daniel Roche: Drake Maye is ahead of schedule now. And I think that’s driving everyone crazy, including Jerod Mayo. Jacoby Brissett has the upper hand because he’s played in Alex Van Pelt’s offense before.
The question is: Is Drake Maye the best option for the Patriots to beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1? And I think when you look at it, he could be. You just have to look at how good he is. The kid is better than anyone on this team thought at this point.
He’s developed much faster than anyone thought he would. And even Maye hinted at that in his postgame press conference the other day. He said, “I can read defenses faster. I can read blitzes well.”
Fred Toucher: Bill Belichick said recently that defenses are now using one or two strategies and are intentionally putting cornerbacks in man-to-man situations. They want to see if rookie quarterbacks can handle man-to-man situations.
I don’t doubt that he could pull something out of the hat and make a spectacular play, and maybe that would make the difference in a game. But I don’t think he can read the defense any better than Brissett. Or that he’s capable of doing so.
Roche: Can he play better than Brissett in the season opener? That is the question. Maybe I would let Brissett play.
Toucher: There’s no way Maye is going to be able to go into this game and understand everything that’s going on with Cincinnati’s defense. The Bengals are a very good team.
I don’t think a 21-year-old is going to be successful in his first game, especially after having such a terrible offensive coordinator in North Carolina last year.
Everyone says that the actual game speed is completely different.
Segment Audio
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Ryan Beaton is a producer and content creator for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Ryan was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 2021 with a degree in broadcast journalism. Ryan began his radio career in college as a live commentator/producer for WMUA 91.1 FM. He produces several weekend shows including: 98.5 Over/Under, Hockey Show, and Sunday Kickoff. He is also part of the Celtics, Bruins, and Patriots Radio Network. His favorite sports are mixed martial arts, football, and basketball. Ryan enjoys playing golf, but is NOT good at it. Ryan writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.
