J
erod Mayo isn’t about to budge on Jacoby Brissett remaining the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots. Head coach Mayo is defiantly resisting any calls to make rookie Drake Maye QB1 ahead of schedule.
Speaking to reporters less than 24 hours after the Patriots were hammered 24-3 by the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football to begin Week 3, Mayo faced down the winds of change. He boldly stated, “Jacoby is our quarterback until I say he’s not the quarterback,” per MassLive.com’s Karen Guregian.
This was a more declarative statement than the one Mayo offered in the aftermath of the game on September 19. He then appeared to leave the door ajar for a change when he said, “I don’t know. We talk about every single week, you’re competing for a job. So we’ll get together as a coaching staff and see where it goes,” per ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
The latter also included Mayo’s comments revealing the reasoning behind putting Maye, the third-overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, into the game late: “I thought it was a good opportunity for him to go out there with the ones and put a few drives together, move the ball. We’ll watch the film and evaluate.”
While Mayo is at least being more decisive about his team’s options at football’s most important position, this is a strange time to double down on confidence in Brissett.
Jerod Mayo Risking a Lot for Jacoby Brissett
Keeping Brissett in the lineup is a major risk for Mayo. Especially when the veteran signal-caller is bruised and struggling.
Mayo just saw Brissett throw for less than 100 yards and take five of the seven sacks the Jets logged. An already pedestrian passing game faltered again, and not all of the issues were related to protection.
Brissett had already expressed concerns about opponents knowing when the Patriots want to attack vertically, following Week 2’s 23-20 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks. Now, Brissett thinks the Patriots are showing their hand when attempting play-action passes.
It’s an issue Evan Lazar of Patriots.com put to offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. The play-caller is “‘not aware’ of any tells and that they emphasize making run/play-action pass look the same.”
Whether or not the bigger issue is scheme, the fact remains Brissett is failing to ignite the offense. He hasn’t thrown for even 150 yards in any of New England’s three games. Hurling Maye into the fray is an alternative, but not a solution.
Not when the offensive line is in such a dire state.
Patriots Must Fix Protection Issues
Putting Maye into the lineup may result in some big players from a younger, more dynamic athlete, but the overall arc of the Pats’ offense won’t change without better protection.
Some sobering stats from TruMedia, cited by Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic, underline New England’s problem.
Solving the issues won’t be easy. It’s not as if Van Pelt can lean on elite talent, since the Patriots have so little of it in the trenches. Even the bullying duo on the right side Mayo has put so much of his faith in failed Brissett and Maye at MetLife Stadium.
What Van Pelt needs is some more max. protection calls. Keeping at least one of tight ends Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper in to block is a must on every pass play. So is having a running back chip edge-rushers, rather than releasing into a pattern.
The plan was always for Maye to take the reins at a later date. Before then, the Patriots must focus on doing more to protect Brissett.
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