The New England Patriots finished their first preseason game with a strong performance and a 17-3 win over the Carolina Panthers, but it’s safe to say that the final result of the game wasn’t the main topic of conversation surrounding this team.
After the Patriots’ exhibition game, much of the talk revolved around Drake Maye and his limited opportunities on the field in his debut. Although he entered the game expecting to be a key part of the game plan, head coach Jerod Mayo and the rest of the New England team called it a day after six snaps and put Bailey Zappe under center for the next drive.
All in all, it was just one drive that we saw from the Patriots offense, which was a bit of a disappointment for the team’s top-3 pick in this year’s draft. As a result, we’ve already seen some prominent names from around the NFL raise some questions about Thursday’s events.
One of those names was former Patriots tight end and four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski.
Gronkowski appeared on First things first at FS1 on Friday, he shared some of his thoughts on New England’s preseason game against the Panthers, ultimately calling New England’s decision to cut Drake Maye from the team “odd,” but remaining confident in head coach Jerod Mayo’s plan.
“I think Drake Maye did a good job in the six plays he played, but you can’t judge him on those six plays. I mean, he threw like two or three passes. He didn’t really get a chance to show what he can do. It’s a little weird to me that he only played six plays. I mean, he’s the third pick overall. You have to see what he can do. You have to be able to show that he’s in a good place when his time comes this season. But Mayo had a plan, and if that was the plan, it’s totally understandable.”
– Rob Gronkowski, on First Things First
.@RobGronkowski says the Patriots need to get rid of Bailey Zappe 👀
“He takes Drake Maye and Joe Milton off the rep list. Bailey Zappe will no longer be on the team at the end of training camp.” pic.twitter.com/DPcjR3xq9X
— First things first (@FTFonFS1) 9 August 2024
Although it was limited, Maye had no problems during his time in the first quarter. He completed two of his three passes for 19 yards, and although both pass catches resulted from short screen passes, he did about what was expected given the opportunity presented.
Instead, it was Bailey Zappe who took the majority of the offensive snaps for the Patriots, completing 12 of his 20 passes for 108 yards. He was then subbed out for the game’s final two drives for New England’s other rookie quarterback, Joe Milton III, who put in some brilliant performances of his own.
Maye’s brief time on the field can be attributed to several factors, whether it was the poor conditions on the field during a rainy preseason game or Mayo’s hesitation to send his young quarterback behind his backup offensive line. But if you ask the coach himself, the one drive by Maye and Jacoby Brissett was simply “always the plan.”
The good news for Maye is that his chances of playing in the future will increase leading up to next week’s preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles. According to coach Mayo, the Patriots rookie should get “more reps” than he did in his first appearance against the Panthers and also spend plenty of time on the practice field during the week during New England’s training camp.
It remains to be seen what those reps will look like for Maye next Thursday against the Eagles, but if this game against Carolina showed anything, it’s that things are only getting better.
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