FOXBORO -- The Patriots dialed things back in terms of intensity on Monday in preparation for their joint practice on Tuesday with the Eagles. That meant no pads. That meant no hitting.
But with a lighter practice, generally speaking, comes plenty of work on the passing game. And plenty of work on the passing game means lots of reps for the quarterbacks. Which means, for us, a healthy chunk of plays to comb through for The Drake Maye Report on Day 13 of training camp.
Let's get into it...
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The rep report
Once again, the volume was there for Drake Maye. But the first-team reps went to Jacoby Brissett. Each quarterback got six 7-on-7 reps. Brissett saw 12 pass plays in 11-on-11 periods, while Maye chucked it eight times in full team work.
Meanwhile, Joe Milton had seven dropbacks in 11-on-11 work. Bailey Zappe did not see any action in team periods.
Crunching the numbers
Brissett finished 6-for-11 in full team periods and 2-for-6 in 7-on-7 work, making him 8-for-17 in his competitive snaps.
Maye was 5-for-8 in full team work and 3-for-6 in 7-on-7, making him 8-for-14 in competitive periods. There was a pass interference penalty (called on corner Alex Austin) on one of Brissett's attempts. Maye's unit had two false starts.
Play of the day
Maye continues to shine in 7-on-7 periods. You could argue he has been the team's best 7-on-7 quarterback this summer.
It's not perfect in those settings for him; we noted one rep from Day 12 where, with no pass-rush, his feet got a little tangled making a completion to DeMario Douglas. But Maye typically has the ball out on time and delivered accurately when there's no pass-rush to worry about. That was once again (usually) the case on Day 13.
His two best throws were back-to-back touchdown strikes to fellow rookies Javon Baker and Jaheim Bell. Maye showed real anticipation, firing both skinny posts to the back of the end zone before his pass-catchers had turned to look for the football. He read the coverage, he expected them to be in a certain spot, and he let it rip.
This video from the Patriots social media team does a good job of showing Maye trying to look off Brenden Schooler by keeping his eyes left. He quickly comes back to his right and starts to throw before Baker has made his break inside.
In the red zone, that's the kind of decisiveness Maye will have to exhibit on a regular basis before his coaching staff feels comfortable handing him the keys to the offense.
Why he's ready
In this section of The Drake Maye Report, we'll highlight the portions of the rookie's performance that suggest he's prepared to sit atop the hierarchy of quarterbacks in New England sooner rather than later.
Maye's 11-on-11 passes were, for the most part, of the check-down variety. That should be OK in the eyes of his coaches. They want him to play within the structure of the offense. They don't want him freelancing in practice settings. Seven of his eight competitive snaps in team drills didn't travel beyond 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, it appeared. (The one that did was launched deep to Baker and broken up by rookie corner Mikey Victor.)
But when assessing his readiness as a passer, it's worth keeping that anticipation he flashed on back-to-back plays in 7-on-7 work in mind. It's also worth noting, from an intangible standpoint, the context in which he made those anticipatory throws.
Maye's first attempt of 7-on-7s was an ugly one. He turned to his left late in the down and fired a pass that wasn't close to Jalen Reagor in the short area of the field. Christian Gonzalez had a chance to pick it off, but it went incomplete. Not what the No. 3 overall pick is looking for.
But there was a noticeable bounce-back from Maye. On his next throw, he dropped one in the bucket to Reagor in the back corner of the end zone that glanced off Reagor's fingers and fell incomplete. It was an accurate strike, though, and should've been caught.
Maye went on to complete his next three throws, including the two Plays of the Day. One bad rep didn't ruin the rookie's afternoon, which is something he's shown consistently in practices this summer.
MORE PATRIOTS COVERAGE
Why patience is a virtue
In this section of The Drake Maye Report, we'll highlight the portions of the rookie's performance that suggest he's not quite ready to sit atop the quarterback depth chart.
The hesitation and indecision that Maye occasionally has displayed as he gets adjusted to getting through his reads the way his coaching staff expects him to? Those popped up again at times on Monday.
His first dropback of the practice featured a pump-fake when he wanted to pull the trigger on one read but decided against it at the last second. He still ended up completing the pass to Kayshon Boutte late in the down, but the rep felt like a bumpy one.
The same issue seemed to be at play again on the near-pick by Gonzalez, where Maye hurried a late-in-the-down throw because what he expected to be there initially was not. That impacted his footwork and his eyes, and he nearly turned it over.
Hard to say if the pair of false starts with Maye behind center were at all on him, but there continues to be some generally-sloppy play at times coming from the offensive line in front of Maye. Do the snap counts need to be communicated more effectively? Is his cadence something that needs improvement? Or are the linemen simply not holding up their end?
Until Maye's 11-on-11 work becomes as consistently on-point as his 7-on-7 periods, his coaching staff likely will want him to marinate as their No. 2 behind Brissett. The question is whether or not Maye's 11-on-11 reps are being submarined by the backup line he's been provided.
Would Maye's apparent indecision and off-again, on-again hesitation in those full-team periods be cleaned up if he worked with David Andrews, Mike Onwenu and Sidy Sow as his interior linemen? We may get an opportunity to see that this week, as the Eagles come to town for a practice Tuesday and a preseason game Thursday, when Maye is expected to get more work.