Pats Pulpit
Expectations were high for Drake Maye and the New England Patriots offense as they traveled out to Cincinnati to face off against a historically bad Bengals defense that ranked 32nd in DVOA and EPA per play.
While Maye ended the day with a career-high 294 passing yards, it wasn’t always pretty getting there.
New England’s QB looked off to start the day and struggled with a handful of accuracy issues — his worst coming on a sailed pass over the middle of the field that resulted in his first career pick-six.
Through the mistakes, Maye still made his usual high-level throws in order to generate +0.21 expected points added (76th percentile) and secure a 26-20 win. Here’s how he got there.
Things started shaky for Maye with some puzzling incompletions — including an undecided pass in the middle of an open TreVeyon Henderson and Mack Hollins — before the QB threw his first career pick-six to put the Patriots in a 10-0 hole early.
(14:28) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass deep middle intended for H.Henry INTERCEPTED by G.Stone at NE 32. G.Stone for 32 yards, TOUCHDOWN. New England debuts an interesting formation with just four down lineman and Ben Brown split out wide to the right simulating a perimeter screen. Hunter Henry, aligned next to Will Campbell, breaks open down the seam and appears to start to cross the post safety. Maye, however, throws a high pass continued down the seam which falls right into the lap of Geno Stone for an interception.
(10:19) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass short middle to H.Henry to CIN 28 for 12 yards (B.Carter). On the following drive, Maye converted a third-and-3 with his legs before moving the chains again on third-down to his tight end. New England gets man-to-man coverage which frees Henry over the middle of the field as he works off a free release from a bunch to Maye’s right. While the pass is slightly off target, it still allows Henry to catch and run for a 12-yard gain.
(9:43) D.Maye pass deep left to H.Henry for 28 yards, TOUCHDOWN. The very next play, Maye goes back to his tight end on a sail concept (vertical to clear out sideline plus sail route). With Hollins’ vertical clearing things out down the sideline and DeMario Douglas’ motion drawing the attention of the safety underneath, things completely open for Hunter Henry down the sideline. Maye avoids some pressure off his right side with two hands on the ball and steps up to flip one to his tight end for the score.
(3:36) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass short middle to H.Henry to NE 31 for 17 yards (J.Ossai). New England used these 22 personnel looks with fullback Jack Westover and a running back (TreVeyon Henderson here) split out wide to create some easy layups for Maye after a slow start. This empty look creates a one-on-one situation with Henry on a linebacker — easy pickings for Maye to start a...
