Four Takeaways As Abysmal Patriots Overshadow Drake Maye’s Day Vs. Jaguars

Drake Maye led the New England Patriots offense on two scoring drives to start the game, but the Jacksonville Jaguars erased that deficit en route to a 32-16 victory at Webley Stadium on Sunday.

The 1-6 Patriots have lost six straight games, including each of Maye’s first two starts. The Jaguars improved to 2-5 on the season.

Here are four takeaways from Patriots-Jaguars:

Patriots looked like worst team in the NFL
Fans might reflect on the trip across the pond as a key point in the season. The Jaguars were viewed as arguably the biggest dumpster fire in the league entering Week 7. There was a legitimate chance a loss to New England would have resulted in head coach Doug Pederson losing his job. There were questions whether quarterback Trevor Lawrence could lose his job to backup Mac Jones. The Patriots took the field against a team that was in a very bad place and were expected to carry the jolt Maye provided the locker room. New England was unable to do so. The Patriots allowed 25 unanswered points, couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t stop the run despite Jacksonville being without its leading rusher, allowed a special teams touchdown and ultimately allowed mistakes and penalties to compound themselves in all three phases of the game.

At least Maye looked good?
The rookie quarterback was the lone bright spot for the Patriots. Maye completed 26-of-37 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns. He did not turn the ball over, though there was a pair of near-interceptions. Maye led the Patriots on a 11-play, 68-yard drive which marked the first time this season the Patriots score on their opening possession. He looked in control during those first two drives, beating a handful of man blitzes in the process. The third overall pick converted four of his first five third-down attempts before then struggling in third-and-long opportunities later on. Maye connected on a deep ball to Kayshon Boutte on what might have been lost a meaningless fourth-down play. But the deep shot to Boutte, the second in as many weeks, again showed the potential of the downfield passing game. He also threw a dot to K.J. Osborn for a late touchdown and again showed his mobility (three carries, 18 yards) as he tied for the team-high in rushing.

Little help for Maye
Maye surely could have been helped by a competent running game. But even with Rhamondre Stevenson active after missing Week 6, the Patriots struggled mightily on the ground. New England rushed for 38 yards (!) on 2.5 yards per attempt. That’s laughable. Of course, the game script wasn’t exactly going well for the Patriots, who faced a two-possession lead throughout the second half. In the passing game, rookie wideout Ja’Lynn Polk failed to haul in two catchable balls, pass-catchers ran a handful of woeful routes and DeMario Douglas was limited due to sickness. Douglas caught two passes for 14 yards on New England’s first drive of the game and didn’t catch another pass. Maye, who was sacked twice and pressured nine times, showed the Patriots have an improved downfield passing game, but overall didn’t receive nearly enough help.

Defensive line an abject disaster
New England’s defensive line did next to nothing in both the run game and pass rush. It continued a troubling trend from the first six weeks of the season. The Patriots allowed 171 yards rushing on 4.4 yards per carry, despite starter Travis Etienne being inactive. Tank Bigsby ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns to lead the ground game, which ran the ball on 17 straight plays in the second half. Meanwhile, the Jaguars quarterback was not sacked and did not suffer a single quarterback hit. Safety Kyle Dugger was the highest-graded Patriot in pass-rush grade while defensive linemen Anfernee Jennings, Keion White, Davon Godchaux and Joshua Uche represented the four worst grades, per Pro Football Focus.