FOXBOROUGH – Jacoby Brissett, who has played well throughout training camp, did not have his best day in Thursday night’s exhibition game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
He made a poor catch in the end zone in the first quarter and wasn’t particularly sharp on offense.
Backup Drake Maye, however, made some plays as he controlled the offense in the second and third quarters of the 14-13 loss. With Maye at quarterback, the Patriots had two scoring drives.
The rookie completed 6 of 11 passes for 47 yards and ran for a touchdown. Although he was sacked once, the young quarterback used his legs effectively throughout.
Following the performance, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo was asked about Maye’s ability to overcome some of his obstacles and whether the offensive line would be an “obstacle” to considering the rookie as a starter for the team.
Mayo dismissed that notion, saying the state of the offensive line wouldn’t matter if Maye ended up playing better than Brissett.
“If Drake beats Jacoby, he’s earned that role,” Mayo said. “And we don’t really consider (the offensive line) when he’s ready … if he’s better than Jacoby, then he’ll play; he’ll start.”
Even though Maye was playing his best, he still had problems with fumble snaps. But he has made progress.
“I think he went out there and did a lot of good things,” Mayo said of the team’s third pick in the 2024 draft. “Hopefully he can build on that and we’ll see how this week goes.”
