The New England Patriots lost 14-13 to the Philadelphia Eagles in their second game of the preseason Thursday night at Gillette Stadium, but the score was largely irrelevant.
The main takeaway from this matchup was Drake Maye looked like an NFL quarterback.
After playing just one drive in the preseason opener last week, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft played four possessions -- including the entire second quarter -- against the Eagles.
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Maye completed six of 11 pass attempts for 47 yards. He also ran five times and picked up 15 yards, including a 4-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter.
The Patriots scored 10 of their 13 points while Maye was in the game. His best throw of the night was actually an incompletion to Javon Baker about 50 yards down the middle of the field that the rookie wideout wasn't able to haul in.
In addition to the completions and scrambles that picked up yards, Maye also showed good pocket awareness. He moved around well in the pocket, sliding to his left or right when necessary to get in a better position to throw. These little things are important, and it's encouraging to see Maye impress in that regard.
It wasn't a perfect performance by any means, but there were plenty of encouraging signs from Maye throughout the game.
"He had great composure. I thought it was a good drive (on the touchdown)," Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo said in his postgame press conference. "I thought he went out there and did a lot of good things. Hopefully he can build on that, and we'll see how this week goes."
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Maye appreciated the increase in reps and highlighted a few areas where he can improve.
"I think it's an awesome opportunity," Maye said in his postgame press conference. "There's definitely some things I can clean up. There were some good things, had some bad plays.
"Dropped snaps are inexcusable for me. Other than that, sometimes I'm scrambling when I can probably sit in there and try to make a throw. So definitely a lot of things to learn from, but good to get out there and get some tape to learn from."
🔊 Next Pats: Drake Maye shows off CANNON and COMPOSURE vs. Eagles
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Maye played much better than starter Jacoby Brissett in this game, although in fairness to Brissett, he played three drives to Maye's four. The debate now becomes whether Maye deserves more reps with the first team in practice over the next few weeks.
Did the quarterback competition get a little more interesting after this game? Perhaps, but Maye needs a lot more than a good preseason performance if he's going to wrestle the QB1 job away from Brissett anytime soon.