How Patriots Can Help Drake Maye Find Success In First Start

The Patriots are going to roll the dice against the Houston Texans on Sunday.

It’s time to watch some Drake Maye.

New England reportedly is turning toward the rookie signal-caller after weeks of offensive inadequacy, calling his number ahead of what will be a more-than-formidable opponent. Maye’s promotion came as a relative shock, and brought with it plenty of questions. Why now? Who ultimately made the decision? How does it affect Jacoby Brissett?

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo will answer all of those questions in the coming days, but there’s one that’s still worth wondering.

How can Maye be successful?

It’s relatively simple. New England needs to run the ball!

The Patriots haven’t done much of anything well on the offensive side of the ball this season, but they sure as hell can run it. Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson are averaging 5.3 yards per carry, and have toted it well across the board save for the former’s issues with ball security over the first few weeks. New England even averaged a franchise-best 7.9 yards per carry in Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, so the run game is trending up.

Maye should prove to help in that department, coming off a collegiate career in which he ran for 1,209 yards and 16 touchdowns.

He’s no Jacoby Brissett.

Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was (rightfully) slaughtered for his decision-making Sunday, but the options were limited with an immobile quarterback under center. Brissett struggled carrying out fakes early in the season, so much so that the passing system had to be tweaked to feature less play-action concepts. Maye won’t have that problem, and should be worked in alongside run/pass options that allow him to utilize his athleticism and feature the quick passing game.

The Texans are the best pass-rushing team in the NFL, after all.

New England can’t afford to let Maye sit in the pocket, and should avoid doing that by featuring Stevenson and Gibson. Can you run the ball 50 times and expect to win? No, but you can run it effectively and keep your rookie clean by making decisions for him and allowing him to dictate the hits he does and doesn’t take.

Maye is an athlete, and if this thing is going to end positively, he should be allowed to display that in his first start.