Texans Legend Praises Patriots’ Drake Maye For NFL Starting Debut

Drake Maye, despite ups and downs with three turnovers, showed why he can be the next franchise quarterback for the New England Patriots. The rookie tossed three touchdowns on Sunday in a 41-21 loss to the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium.

Maye also threw for the most yards (243) of any quarterback this season against Houston’s talented defense. J.J. Watt knows what playing elite defense in Houston is like and made sure to highlight a promising performance from the Patriots quarterback.

“If I’m a Patriots fan and I’m watching today’s game, yes, you lost and you gave up a bunch of points,” Watt shared on CBS’ “NFL Today” on Sunday. “But I’m encouraged by the way Drake Maye played. I’m definitely encouraged going forward that he is a guy that I can get excited about.”

For the most part, Maye passed the eye test for NFL quarterbacks, which the Patriots hope develops with experience in the midst of this rebuild.

“I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw from him,” 2016 NFL MVP Matt Ryan added. “I think the level of athleticism that he provided to that football team, making the guys around him better, also throwing the football down the field, which is an area they had struggled coming into this game. Good on Drake Maye. He came out there and performed really well.”

Maye seeks his first NFL win in Week 7 as the Patriots travel to London to battle the Jacksonville Jaguars.