Jerod Mayo: Drake Maye’s first start ‘definitely encouraging’

The Drake Maye era began with a home loss on Sunday.

Maye threw three touchdowns against the Texans, but the Patriots quarterback was also picked off twice and sacked four times as the Texans scored seven times en route to a 41-21 road win. Maye was 20 of 33 for 243 yards and he ran five times for 38 yards, a performance that pleased head coach Jerod Mayo, who focused on the need to be better at the first-round pick so the team could achieve better results.

“I thought he showed a lot of composure,” Maye said in a team transcript. “I thought he went out there and controlled the group, got the guys out of the group and made a few more plays. It’s definitely encouraging. From a team-wide perspective, we have let him down right now. It was his first game and I feel like I let him down. I’m sure all the coaches feel like we’ve let everyone down. We just have to get better.”

Maye will travel from New England to England for his next start against the Jaguars, and there should be more chance for success against a 1-5 team won by Maye’s fellow rookie Caleb Williams on Sunday. If Maye can capitalize on this, all is well for the future of the Patriots’ offense.