Patriots HC Says Pulling Drake Maye After One Drive 'Always The Plan'

The New England Patriots saw their third-overall pick in a limited fashion on Friday.

Aug 8, 2024; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) lines up against the Carolina Panthers during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports / Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

The New England Patriots kicked their preseason off on the right foot, as they took down the Carolina Panthers in convincing fashion, as the final score read 17-3.

We saw a solid showing for the Patriots on both sides of the ball to get the dominating win, but the biggest story of the night comes from their eye-catching quarterback decisions early in the game. Many expected New England to hand the keys to third-overall pick Drake Maye for a majority of the snaps to get his feet wet in a live NFL game, only to see him for one drive before his night was ultimately ended.

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo spoke about the decision to limit Maye's playing time in his preseason debut, noting that it was "always the plan" to let him and Jacoby Brissett play one drive before throwing Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton III into the mix:

" That was always the plan. The plan was to get [Maye] in there for one series, to get Jacoby [Brissett] in there for one series, and then really turn it into the [Bailey] Zappe show and then the Joe [Milton III] show. That was the plan going in."

- Jerod Mayo

It was a short night for Maye, as he completed two of his three passes for 19 yards on his first drive, each of his two completions coming from screen passes. Brissett suffered a similar fate as he went 0/3 in his respective snaps before being pulled out in the early first quarter.

Instead, it was Zappe and Milton who were the ones to show out. Zappe secured the lion's share of reps as he finished going 12/20 for 108 passing yards. As for Milton, he made a couple of highlight plays towards the end of the contest, completing 4/6 of his attempts, capping his performance off with a 38-yard touchdown pass to JaQuae Jackson in the fourth.

Patriots QB Joe Milton throws for first touchdown pass

Joe Milton with the 🚀🎯 for the @patriots TD!

📺: #CARvsNE on @nflnetwork
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/VtHbpnA0ri

— NFL (@NFL) August 9, 2024

Coach Mayo applauded each of the quarterbacks after their collective efforts against Carolina, also alluding that the reps will likely be shifted around ahead of their next contest against the Philadelphia Eagles:

"We wanted to see Jacoby, obviously go out there and operate, as well as Drake, mixing them in there with the ones. The rest of those guys, like Zappe, and Joe, they went out there and finished up the game. Thought they did a good job. But that was kind of the thinking. Next week we have the Eagles. So we'll practice against them and, who knows, the reps will probably change a little bit and we'll see what happens in the game. But that was the thought process."

- Jerod Mayo, cont.

As we draw closer to the regular season, we could expect Maye, potentially along with Milton after his strong showing, to get a better chunk of the snaps under center moving forward. Still, it remains to be seen how the Patriots will distribute that playing time.

The Patriots will face the Philadelphia Eagles next Thursday, August 15th at 7 PM ET with hopes of making it to 2-0 in their preseason campaign.

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