Pats Pulpit
McDaniel’s Dolphins will try to slow down Maye on Sunday.
Less than a week after earning praise from Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, New England Patriots rookie quarterback received positive reviews from Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel ahead of their Week 12 matchup.
“I saw a true quarterback who has the ability to gain the confidence of his teammates and lead and orchestrate an offense. I saw guy who can make plays in a multitude of ways,” McDaniel told Miami reporters on Wednesday when asked about his evaluation of Maye.
“The Patriots are kind of feeling that right now where he’s a guy that can see down the field, can play fearlessly in the pocket, and make every throw — with the arm strength to do it. But then also is a very good athlete that has some juice and can make plays off schedule. That’s been a huge bonus to their offense as of late. They’ve had some explosive plays, whether he threw it outside the pocket or scrambled outside the pocket.”
Since transitioning to Maye behind center, New England’s offense is averaging over 20.0 points per game due to the rookies physical skillset and ability to generate explosive plays. That point total is up from 12.4 points per game over the first five regular season contests with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback.
In New England’s first matchup against Miami, Brissett was limited to just 160 passing yards as the Patriots fell 15-10 to the Dolphins. That proved to be Brissett’s last start as the Patriots then handed the keys to Maye the following week.
McDaniel and his defensive staff will now have the task of slowing down Maye on Sunday, and made sure to give New England’s coaching staff credit for their work with the rookie.
“He’s a guy that you expect to continue to get better,” McDaniel added. “It’s always impressive when rookie quarterbacks make plays at the NFL level. Just because there’s a lot coming at them, they just learned the foreign language a handful of months ago and are doing it in live action with guys that are trying to inflict pain on you. I think it’s a credit to him and his preparation and the coaching staff as well.”
