Drake Maye did not get the win for the New England Patriots on Sunday, but he surely made the organization feel that it made the right decision selecting him as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Maye tossed three touchdowns while committing three turnovers in New England’s 41-21 loss to the Houston Texans. The Patriots are clearly still deep in their rebuild, but they appear to have their quarterback.

On the latest episode of the “Foxboro Rush” podcast, NESN’s George Balekji and Travis Thomas offered their take on how the Patriots should feel after the first starting look at their franchise quarterback.

“If anyone was going into Sunday thinking the Patriots were gonna win, I love your optimism,” Balekji offered. “Keep it but bottle it up for next year or the year after when the real building blocks around Drake Maye and if Drake Maye can get out of this season in one piece. He has 11 games left where he’s going to take a beating similar to (Sunday). Sacked four times, hit 10, 14 pressures. … What do you walk away from this game feeling about Drake Maye making his Patriots debut and again this passing game, showing layers we haven’t seen. Cracking 20 points for the first game this season.”

The Patriots look to deliver Maye’s first NFL win in Week 7 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can catch the full segment from “Foxboro Rush” on YouTube and Spotify.

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