Pats Pulpit
In his first career playoff start, Drake Maye walked out of Gillette Stadium with his first playoff win with a 16-3 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
While New England’s defense mostly led the way in a low-scoring game, Maye made his usual splash plays when his team needed it the most against a highly-ranked Chargers’ defense.
In the back-and-forth battle, both sides threw curveballs at each other with different play calls and personnel groups. Against Maye, who ended the year as the top ranked passer vs. zone coverage, the Chargers opted for more man-to-man defense than usual with a specific focus on taking away Stefon Diggs — often dropping defenders from the line of scrimmage to double/bracket the receiver.
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter got the results he was looking for as Maye completed just 1-of-7 passes for seven yards with three sacks and two fumbles against man. But, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels got the last laugh by using heavy personnel groupings to get the Chargers in base defense. From that point, Maye shredded Los Angeles’ defense — highlighted by his game-sealing touchdown to Hunter Henry — as he went on to finish the game with 334 total yards while generating +0.09 EPA per drop-back.
Here’s how he got there on Sunday night.
(5:12) D.Maye pass short middle to R.Stevenson to 50 for 48 yards (R.Mickens). Following a tipped interception, New England takes over backed up again after a fourth-down stop by their defense. They open the drive by running a slant/flat and stick concept in an under center quick game drop back. With the cloud corner sitting on the flat to Maye’s left, the QB beats the backside blitz in his own end zone by working to his check down. An uncovered Stevenson then gets a big downfield block by rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams and there is nothing but green grass ahead as he rumbles for 48 yards.
“I give Drake credit,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “We get one tip there trying to get it to a back; that gets intercepted. We come back the very next drive, we’re on the 2-yard line, and he’s throwing that thing from his end zone, and they don’t cover the back. They blitz, don’t cover the back, don’t cover Rhamondre. So, to me, that’s like a long handoff, and that was a huge play in the game. For Drake to be able to come back and do that and say, ‘Hey, there’s a guy that’s standing here getting ready to jump up and bat the ball, and I’m going to make sure that I throw it around him,’ I thought was a big play.”
(:24) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass deep left to E.Chism to LAC 11 for 20 yards (T.Still). Later that drive, Los Angeles is clouding the field side again as they did more than expected Sunday night. Post snap, they drop out into cover-two which opens a hole shot along the sideline — an...
