Patriots' Drake Maye focused on cutting down turnovers as he prepares for matchup vs. Bears
FOXBORO -- Drake Maye has brought plenty of excitement to the New England Patriots, but the rookie quarterback knows he has a lot of work to do at the NFL level. As he gears up for a matchup against top overall pick Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Maye has pinpointed one area that he absolutely must improve on following his first four starts.
It's an extremely important area too: Cutting back on his turnovers.
"I've got to protect the football. That's the biggest thing," Maye said Wednesday morning inside Gillette Stadium. "I think there's times where my decision-making, whether it's ball security in the pocket, and knowing when that timer goes off in my head, little things like that. Other than that, just taking the right play is the biggest thing."
Maye has brought plenty of promise and a handful of "holy smokes" moments to the field over the last month, highlighted mostly by his ability to pick up big chunks of yardage on the ground. He's scampered for 209 yards and a touchdown, averaging 10 yards on his 21 carries. Of those 21 carries, 13 of them have moved the chains for the New England offense.
He's also thrown for 770 yards and six touchdowns while completing 65.6 percent of his passes. But when the ball is in the air is when his turnovers have really come into play.
Maye has thrown four interceptions on the season, including two against the Titans last Sunday. The 22-year-old had three of his six turnovers in Tennessee, as he also put the ball on the ground after a strip-sack by the Titans defense. That fumble led to Tennessee's go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Maye's first interception last week came off a bad deep pass to Ja'Lynn Polk. He forced another bad, ill-advised pass into the wind in overtime on a first-down heave that the Titans picked off to seal their 20-17 victory. Maye said Wednesday that he shouldn't have forced either of those throws.
"Sometimes the punt is not the worst thing," he said of his first pick to the Titans. "Maybe you go try to make a play, check down, and get a broken tackle and pick up the first. Knowing the situation, what's the best play for this football team, instead of being as aggressive in certain situations."
While those two mistakes played a big part in New England's loss to the lowly Titans, they served as important on-the-job learning experiences for Maye.
"I'm storing these situations in my memory bank for times when, 'Hey, I did this last time, maybe try a different thing,' or maybe try to be more conservative, knowing when to attack these football teams because I'm going to be aggressive," he said. "I'm that kind of quarterback."
Maye has been pleased with a few areas of his game, pointing to his decision-making on first and second downs and his ability to make plays with his legs. Watching Maye take off -- and watching opposing teams struggle to bring him down -- has certainly filled Patriots fans with a lot of hope for the future.
"I think that's part of my game. I'm proud of sometimes extending some plays and making plays with my feet, and picking up a first down or third down with my feet," he said. "It can go a long way with an offense. I look forward to hopefully helping do some more of that and do a better job of finding these guys open and let them do their thing."
Maye on his incredible touchdown vs. Titans
Maye's feet have picked up a lot of yards, but they've also bought the quarterback some valuable time on a number of occasions. We saw that at the end of regulation last week, as Maye's last-second touchdown against the Titans had everyone around the NFL buzzing.
The Patriots were set up at the Tennessee 5-yard line with just four seconds on the clock, and needed a touchdown to force overtime. After the ball was snapped, Maye scrambled all over the place for nearly 12 seconds as he avoided a number of tackles (and New England left tackle Vederian Lowe). As he was being taken down, Maye delivered a touchdown pass across his body to Rhamondre Stevenson in the end zone.
It was an incredible play and a one that people will talk about for a while, even though it came in a New England loss. Three days later though, Maye said that play didn't have to be so difficult. He missed an open Hunter Henry in the end zone shortly after the snap, and still sounded miffed about it on Wednesday.
"They popped cover two, and I had Hunter within the first couple seconds of the play. That could have made it a lot easier in the back end zone," explained Maye. "Other than that, just making the play, keeping the play alive, but really probably just more mad at myself for not making the play, having the play be a lot less stressful."
Drake Maye on the Bears' defense
Protecting the football is important every weekend, but especially this weekend as the Patriots get ready to face the Bears. Chicago has seven interceptions and has recovered eight fumbles this season, with the team's plus-seven turnover differential the fifth-best in the NFL.
Maye broke down what makes the Chicago defense so good on Wednesday.
"I think the Bears' defense, they're always going to be a physical defense," he said. "They're going to go after the football, so we're preaching ball security. They play a lot of zone, so I think we're going to have to find times and zone covers, where we've got to find guys open and make guys make yardage after the catch. Then they're going to sprinkle in some man, so win the one-on-ones.
"They can do a lot of different things. I think they've played some good defense this year. We've got a tough challenge," he added.
We'll get you ready for this weekend's Patriots-Bears showdown Sunday morning with Patriots GameDay at 11:30 a.m. (which you can also stream on CBSBoston.com), and switch to TV38 after the game for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!
