Patriots fans are still riding high from last Sunday’s 42-13 rout of the Panthers. But Mike Vrabel knows what awaits his team Sunday night, when the Patriots travel to Buffalo to take on the 4-0 Bills.
“Certainly will be a huge challenge,” Vrabel said Wednesday. “Last time they lost at home was 14 games ago.”
We’ll dive deeper into this Patriots-Bills matchup later this week. But as we do every Wednesday, it’s time to tackle your latest batch of questions by opening up the Mailbag.
Not a question but a comment. Drake Maye is the same age as Tom Brady was when Tom was at the start of the 2000 season. Let that sink in when evaluating Drake. – @MichaelDiCo95
Fair enough, Michael! Feels like looking at Drake Maye’s performance through four games is like asking people whether the dress is blue or gold.
Some see him as an imperfect quarterback with ball-security issues who has to do a whole helluva lot more than win two games before they get excited about him. Others see him as a young player, in a new system, with a less-than-ideal level of talent around him who has exceeded expectations.
The truth, as always, is probably somewhere on the spectrum between these two schools of thought.
What Maye has done through four games is rare. Period. But even he has acknowledged that whatever statistical success he enjoys will, in terms of what’s important to him, pale in comparison to winning. And the more he wins, assuming that comes with consistently-clean quarterback play, the more onlookers will be willing to buy into his individual success being a sign of what’s to come.
Drake Maye (is) looking a lot like the best second-year QB so far this season – @Ihartitz
I’m on the record prior to the 2024 draft saying I believed he was the best quarterback in that class, and I believed that by the end of his third year he had an opportunity to be viewed the same way.
Jayden Daniels has been banged up lately, and Maye still has some ground to make up on the Commanders quarterback before he’s widely accepted into that high-end class of passers. But to this point in the season, it’s safe to say he’s well ahead of the schedule.
Hi Phil! Why do people hold Maye to such a high standard? If he has a pick and a fumble, he has a “semi-disaster” game and even in a spanking of the Panthers focus on the one bad pass and say “he didn’t have to do really anything”. He doesn’t even have a full season of games yet – @puumalainen
Hi, Setti. I think it might have something to do with the high standard to which Mike Vrabel has held his young quarterback. He’s been relatively tempered with his praise at the podium for Maye, especially compared to some other coaches who have no problem hyping up their signal-callers with the cameras rolling.
It also has to do with Maye’s draft status. Because he was taken with a top-three pick, there are of course weighty expectations that come with that. But the thing that will always make earning your keep as a quarterback in New England a little more difficult than most other NFL cities is that the fanbase and media locally had the ability to watch the greatest to ever play the position on a weekly basis. It’s an impossibly high standard to uphold.
Since Brady so adeptly meshed turnover avoidance… with explosive from-the-pocket playmaking… with toughness… with poise in the clutch… with championship mettle… it may take, for many, an obscenely high-level quarterback to drop into Foxboro and truly move the needle.
To me, the most rational way to view Maye’s start is to acknowledge how impressive it has been while also acknowledging that, before he is unanimously crowned as the Patriot Who Was Promised, there are elements of his game — namely consistency — that are to be determined.
Any shortcomings (most urgent) if any, Drake still needs to work on now? – @qppqy75003
Maye is still just a couple of weeks removed from a two-turnover game, QP. That, to me, would be the area he’ll want to make sure he has under control on a week-to-week basis. There are smaller things he has acknowledged he’d like to improve — ball fakes, for one, which seemed tighter in Week 4 — but ball security has to top the list.
MORE PATRIOTS
1, I’ve seen a handful of plays where the #4 pick doesn’t finish his blocks to the whistle. Not sure why it bothers me when all else about him seems A+. 2, for your pod and Tom’s we really need a little more volume out of the engineers! – @BKHopkinton
We’ll work on the volume issue, BK. As for Will Campbell, if you haven’t seen enough in the way of “finish” from him this season, you must’ve been pleasantly surprised by what he did on the very first snap of the game. His pancake was served up early.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t plays where his finish could be better. I thought he looked a little lost on Maye’s fumble last week against the Steelers. It was a bit of an extended play in the pocket for Maye, and it looked like once Campbell realized Maye was dancing behind the line, he lost his defender, who was the one who ended up causing the fumble.
There are going to be rookie miscues for Campbell, just as there would be for any player coming into the league, especially since he’s playing one of the most challenging positions in the sport. But to this point? He’s looked the part of a top-five pick.
Among 40 qualifying tackles, Campbell is tied for 12th in pressures allowed (eight) and 13th in Pro Football Focus’ pass-block efficiency metric (97.0). He ranks better than fellow first-round rookie left tackles — Kelvin Banks of the Saints and Josh Simmons of the Chiefs — in both of those metrics. He’s right with Jets rookie right tackle Armand Membou in pressures allowed and a tick above Membou in pass-block efficiency (96.7).
Should we be concerned with Stefon Diggs’ “5 out of 10” comment? Is this offense still going to be one where rookie receivers struggle to be immediate contributors(excluding slot receivers)? – @tellemteach12
That was an interesting comment, Dylan, because he was asked specifically about the “system” run by the Patriots and his comfort level in it. I asked Mike Vrabel this week if being just a “five out of 10” to this point was a good thing (room to grow) or a bad thing (need a better grasp) from his vantage point.
“Well, we need to start making sure that that comfort level continues to increase, continuing to improve,” Vrabel answered. “This is a progress league. We understand that. We have to continue to get better and improve as the season goes on. And we need to make sure that we understand that, we have to be better next week and moving forward than we were last week.
“So, hopefully going into Buffalo, we can get it to be 60 percent instead of 50 percent.”
Given Diggs’ performance on Sunday, and specifically his understanding of where to be against zone coverages, he looks to be beyond a “five out of 10.” But let’s see how it looks this week against his old team in Buffalo.
How do you feel about Stefon Diggs now? Tom Curran and yourself were been high on (DeMario) Douglas in past and high on (Kayshon) Boutte this year, but you’ve both crucified Stef Diggs. Is it too early to call it another bad take? – @EALondon
Hey, Eric. I’ve said I don’t see Diggs as a true No. 1 receiver at this stage of his career. Would say that remains my opinion, though if he continues to post performances like the one he had against Carolina… then, yeah, bad take. Wouldn’t be the first. I’ve said all along he can be a good and useful receiver for them, which he’s been.
I think what’s made him particularly impactful is that defenses are playing a lot of zone coverages against the Patriots to limit Maye’s running. For Diggs, who’s skilled at understanding spacing and settling to where the defense ain’t, that’s helped him become a key contributor so quickly. This is why they’re paying what they’re paying him. And the further removed he is from his ACL injury, the more comfortable you’d expect him to be.
As for Douglas, I thought based on his camp he’d be the most targeted wideout in this offense. He was clearly their most consistent pass-catcher in camp. Makes sense, too, that he went off over the summer. For the most part, because of the rules and the lack of full contact, teams are working on their passing game and they get bunches of reps in obvious passing situations in training camp.
With the start of the regular season has come more run-heavy and 12-personnel looks from the Patriots offense. They’ve also seen less man-to-man than perhaps they faced when going against their own defense. Douglas and Maye have seemed to have a bit of a disconnect against zone coverages, which has perhaps helped explain the disparity between Douglas’ camp performance and what we’ve seen to this point in the regular season.
Hypothetically, if an A.J. Brown trade with the Patriots were to go down, who would be the odd man out in the receiver room? Either inactive on gameday or going back in a trade. – @Thecolours
A.J. Brown is a true “X,” in my opinion, Corey. The guys who have manned that spot have been Kayshon Boutte and Mack Hollins (with some Stefon Diggs sprinkled in). Would think a deal for Brown, however unlikely, would mean less work for those two.
Hi Phil. I know you would not trade no-go Gonzo (Christian Gonzalez) for A.J. Brown, but if Philly threw in a draft pick or 2, they are gonna be late in the round picks, what would it take? – @OldHamp212
Our pal Albert Breer from Sports Illustrated brought up a good point on this topic on Tuesday night’s Early Edition with Trenni, saying that Brown had a knee condition that made Tennessee leery of re-signing him when Vrabel was head coach.
That might have been a decision that Vrabel didn’t agree with at the time, but armed with that information years later, would the Patriots head coach sign off on giving up a haul — whether that includes Christian Gonzalez or high-end picks — in order to acquire the former Titans wideout?
I like the idea of acquiring a game-changing, and coverage-dictating wideout, to help Maye through the early portion of his career. But if his medical history made his old team nervous years ago, would he still qualify as a good investment?
That’s a call that only folks possessing certain kinds of information could make. Vrabel would be one.
How are you liking Sunday’s matchups against the Bills? – @MrEd315
I think it’s a little more intriguing than it looks on its face. More on that later this week. Thanks, as always, to everyone for chipping in with questions.