Patriots-Dolphins film review: Inside Drake Maye’s best NFL start yet

The bulk entertaining Patriots meeting in years was equal parts slop and surprise For the second time in NFL history a kick return touchdown promptly followed a punt return touchdown For the first time in almost three years the Pats scored more than points And who could forget their missed tackles dozen penalties or Milton Williams game-ending sack That sack perfectly punctuated a fourth quarter where the Patriots defense more than quadrupled its pressure rate from earlier in the tournament to preserve a win That s right While slogging through the South Florida heat for three-plus hours the Pats pass rush literally strengthened as the battle wore on And they can thank the football gods it did The Patriots blitzed just once once after bombarding the Raiders with blitzes in their season opeenr Were it not for Williams and the defensive line and of lesson half of De Von Achane s left foot landing out of bounds on a would-be touchdown run the Pats would be - But hey that s football and that s the NFL a event of inches and a league founded on clutch Scarce coaches know that better than Mike Vrabel who steeled his company ahead of what multiple expected to be a toss-up battle It was a street fight he predicted and a street fight he received The Patriots didn t flinch Sunday no matter how various times they stubbed their toe or lined up incorrectly or false-started Which brings us to Drake Maye Fresh off a frustrating season opener Maye threw four incompletions and scored three touchdowns He finished with zero turnovers No doubt a soft disorganized Dolphins defense helped But this was the quarterback you had been hoping to see in Year and Maye s feasible remains the single greatest reason for Patriots optimism He could and should be special Now reasons for doubt The Patriots pass coverage without Christian Gonzalez their atrocious inside linebacker play and roller-coaster special teams which give any adoring fan a heart attack at a moment s notice Good thing they ve still got games and weeks to go Here s what else the film revealed about the Patriots first win Drake Maye MIAMI GARDENS FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER Drake Maye of the New England Patriots calls out the play during the first quarter against the Miami Dolphins in the tournament at Hard Rock Stadium on September in Miami Gardens Florida Photo by Rich Storry Getty Images -of- for yards TDs rushing yards TD Accurate throw percentage Under pressure -of- for yards sacks rushing yards rushing TD Against the blitz -of- for yards TD sack Behind the line -of- for yards - yards downfield -of- for yards - yards downfield -of- for yards TD yards downfield -of- for yards TD Notes Pick nits if you must But this was Maye at his best Look no further than his -yard pass on a crucial third down late in the third quarter with the offense backed up at its own -yard line Before the snap Maye identified Miami s man-to-man coverage and alerted to a man-beater concept He dropped back slipped a closing edge-rusher moved up in the pocket kept his eyes downfield and delivered a strike to Rhamondre Stevenson in stride for the longest completion of his career Two plays later Maye escaped from an unblocked rusher and scrambled for a six-yard touchdown Those plays highlighted a massive jump in his play under pressure compared to the opener -of- yards INT sacks A week ago Maye melted in a second half that cost the Patriots a win against Las Vegas In Miami he played with a veteran s pocket presence and a control that allowed for one of the most of accurate games of his career He diagnosed blitz pressure consistently including moments before his -yard touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte He trusted his reads post-snap and threw with conviction resisting the young passer s temptation to chase an extended play over a short on-time completion Credit to Josh McDaniels too for dialing up simpler straightforward reads More on him later Sunday s winning difference was how Maye and the Patriots applied more pressure than they felt And never not once did he vulnerability a turnover That s maturity That s progress Critical areas New Englan Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel reacts during the second half of an NFL football championship against the Miami Dolphins Sunday Sept in Miami Gardens Fla AP Photo Lynne Sladky Turnovers Patriots Dolphins Explosive play rate Patriots Dolphins Success rate Patriots Dolphins Red-zone efficiency Patriots - Dolphins - Defensive pressure rate Patriots Dolphins Offense Challenge plan Personnel breakdown of snaps in personnel snaps in personnel snaps in H personnel snaps in personnel Personnel production success rate in personnel success rate in personnel success rate in H personnel success rate in personnel First-down down play-calls pass success rate run success rate Play-action rate Holy Shanahan Batman Josh McDaniels orchestrated an old-school Kyle Shanahan encounter plan to re-establish the run after losing all semblance of run-pass balance in the opener Early on the Patriots favored outside zone run concepts from under center and play-action bootleg throws off those same runs McDaniels also upped their rate of pre-snap motion going from to per Sharp Football Analysis all basic tests for an undisciplined defense like Miami s This plan simultaneously simplified life for Maye which as covered above helped Maye hit his first explosive play on a Shanahan passing staple Leak where veteran tight end Austin Hooper aligned on the right side of the formation slipped underneath the defense during a play-action fake and up the left sideline for a -yard gain Two plays later Maye hit Mack Hollins on a bootleg play-action pass for a touchdown that capped their opening drive On that play the Pats exploited bad eye discipline from Dolphins cornerback Jack Jones a player they clearly targeted along with middle linebacker Tyrel Dodson Rhamondre Stevenson shows why he s still Patriots top running back in win This file is auto-generated function d l use strict l querySelector d addEventListener undefined typeof URL d wp d wp d wp receiveEmbedMessage d wp receiveEmbedMessage function e var t e details if t t secret t message t value a-zA-Z - 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