Sportsnaut
The New England Patriots competed in two joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings this week and will take on Kevin O’Connell’s squad in a preseason game on Saturday.
Going against a playoff team from a year ago in multiple practices is only going to help the new-look Patriots. No one may have benefited more than second-year quarterback Drake Maye.
Maye went up against a tough Vikings’ defense coordinated by Brian Flores in practice this week. Flores is known for his exotic blitz package, which can frustrate quarterbacks and make them uncomfortable. However, Maye kept his cool and was able to lead New England’s offense on a plethora of productive drives.
Head coach Mike Vrabel was impressed with his quarterback’s composure in practice, praising Maye for keeping his composure against a blitz-heavy defense.
“It’s easy to go into a blender when you’re seeing a bunch of this stuff and kind of scrambling and turning one less than favorable play into a real [expletive] storm,” Vrabel said of Maye via Evan Lazar of Patriots.com. “I didn’t see that. I thought he was able to process.”
“We didn’t execute all the time, but I didn’t see any panic from him. I thought he was able to communicate and get the things that he wanted, and then hit some plays because of it. When we blocked him, we were able to make some plays.”
Maye is expected to take a step forward in 2025 and continue establishing himself as the Patriots’ quarterback of the future. The 22-year-old had a promising rookie campaign in 2024, but won just three of his 12 starts.
After finishing up the Vikings’ joint practice week with a preseason game against Minnesota, New England will travel to MetLife Stadium for the preseason finale versus the New York Giants. Then, Maye’s second NFL season will kick off against the Las Vegas Raiders.
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