Jacoby Brissett sees himself as Patriots' Week 1 starting quarterback
FOXBORO -- Will it be Jacoby Brissett or Drake Maye starting for the Patriots when Week 1 of the regular season arrives? The veteran Brissett is obviously a little biased, but as of Tuesday, he believes he's still the team's No. 1 quarterback.
"In my mind I am," Brissett said during a radio interview with WEEI. "I haven't heard anything differently. So that's what I have to go off of."
Brissett started all three preseason games for New England, and has been considered the team's top QB for much of the summer. But Maye's impressive play against the Eagles and the Commanders over the final two preseason games -- with the rookie completing 19 of his 31 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown, plus a rushing score -- made things a lot more interesting in New England.
Brissett was 5-for-14 for 36 yards and an interception in his preseason action. The Patriots didn't score any points on his drives under center.
Head coach Jerod Mayo didn't help matters on Monday. Just a few hours after saying that Maye was the second-best quarterback on the roster after Sunday's preseason game, he turned around and said that Maye has outplayed Brissett on Monday morning.
"I would say at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby," Mayo said on WEEI on Monday, stoking the flames of the QB competition. "Now, in saying that, we have to take in the full body of work, going all the way back to the spring and the beginning of training camp, and we'll see where we end up. But those are the conversations that will happen here over the next couple of days."
Mayo said that a quarterback decision would be made after the team finalizes its 53-man roster on Tuesday, so we might know who will get the nod in Week 1 against the Bengals in Cincinnati when the Patriots return to the practice field on Wednesday. Mayo will chat with reporters ahead of that practice, so we'll see if he makes an announcement at that point.
While Maye looked good against backups in very vanilla defensive schemes, there is a lot of concern about the rookie playing his first real NFL snaps behind New England's horrendous offensive line. A veteran like Brissett, with eight years of NFL experience, should be able to better handle the opposing defenses that New England will face early in the season.
Brissett suffered a shoulder injury on a big hit during Sunday night's preseason finale, but he said Tuesday that he feels "100 percent fine."
"I think it was more of a precautionary measure," he said of exiting Sunday's preseason loss to the Commanders after just one series. "I hadn't gotten hit in eight months, so it kind of surprised me more than anything."
