Pats Pulpit
The Patriots held on to beat the Dolphins in Miami on Sunday, traveling back to New England with a 33-27 victory in their bag to improve to 1-1 on the season. Sure, it wasn’t the prettiest victory, but it was a gritty one that Mike Vrabel and company should be happy about.
Let’s get into the lessons learned from the AFC East contest.
The Patriots being a good team is largely dependent on their second-year quarterback taking the next step in his development this season. We will have to wait to if it lasts, but Drake Maye undoubtably took a big step forward on Sunday in Miami. He had command of the pocket, delivered numerous great throws, and did not miss any reads or passes badly. It was a really solid game from a guy who needed one after an inconsistent season opener last week.
In fact, his 19-of-23, 230-yard, two-touchdown-plus-one-rushing-touchdown performance in Miami might have been the best game of his young career.
His third-quarter pass Rhamondre Stevenson that turned a 3rd-and-3 into a 55-yard gain, meanwhile, might have been the best play of his career so far. Maye stepped up through contact and delivered a perfect strike in stride.
“Just trusting him,” Maye said about the play after the game. “We throw those kind of routes all the time in practice. We work on them. I’ve thrown them to him after practice, working on them, catching them over the shoulder. I thought I overthrew it at first, and he made a great play.”
If he can continue to string plays like this one together and build on the win over Miami, Maye is going to put himself in the top tier of quarterbacks very soon. That is a vastly different outlook than the doom-and-gloom following his Week 1 performance.
The Patriots are starting two rookies on the left side of the offensive line, with Will Campbell at left tackle and Jared Wilson at left guard. They looked fantastic on Sunday. Between the two of them, they allowed a single quarterback pressure on Sunday, while the Patriots ran consistently and relatively successfully behind them as well.
There was quite a bit of pushback against the Campbell pick at No. 3 overall in New England, but he has done nothing but show that he belongs at left tackle and has been solid in both games so far this season. Wilson struggled last week, but he took a step forward against the Dolphins — a promising sign.
The two youngsters should only continue to get better as the season goes on and with more experience. And if they do, the Patriots might just have found their LT-LG combo of the future.
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