EAGAN, Minn. — As Drake Maye nears the end of his second training camp, he put together a practice performance on Wednesday that was indicative of real growth.
In the first of two joint sessions with the Vikings, the young Patriots quarterback didn’t compile an eye-popping completion percentage. Nor did he have to fit throws into tight windows for his two long touchdown passes.
But Maye did show enough poise in the face of pressure to indicate he has the potential to make the kind of Year 2 leap the Patriots are hoping to see out of their soon-to-be 23-year-old quarterback.
Against exotic looks thrust upon him by Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Maye completed 13 of his 21 attempts (62 percent) with two long scores to receiver Mack Hollins and running back TreVeyon Henderson.
But, perhaps more importantly, Maye did not throw an interception, and he seemed to make the right decision consistently, having just two passes batted away on 27 total dropbacks.
The top Patriots offense allowed six sacks in the practice, so it was far from perfect. But for Maye to trade blows with — and keep his composure against — one of the most complex defensive schemes in the NFL was impressive.
Initial reactions from Vikings reporters made it sound as though Maye’s day on Wednesday was better than any that Minnesota quarterback J.J. McCarthy had been able to muster against that defense this summer.
“I think the guys, at times, up there in front, I think I can help them out and be more demonstrative about where I want to send them and where I want them to go,” Maye said.
“Really, I think we blocked it up when we got it right. I think there’s times where they’re going to get us. That’s what [Flores] does. He tries to create chaos, and I think that’s good for us to see and know. Sometimes at the line, you may not know, ‘Hey, is this guy coming,’ or ‘They’re just bluffing that.’ It’s good for us to see it, and I think it’s great for us to learn from.”
Even on the plays when the Patriots didn’t have it right — there were three sacks on consecutive snaps at one point, with two looking like missed assignments up front — Maye looked calm. Maye scrambled once up the gut before defenders could get to him, and he had another play where he wisely threw the ball away with no one open before pressure could get to him.
On one “sack,” when a Vikings defender actually grabbed Maye’s jersey, he made one of his most impressive throws. Rolling to his right, he flicked his wrist and hit Kayshon Boutte with a dart along the right sideline.
On almost every snap, Maye handled some type of adjustment at the line, it appeared. For center Garrett Bradbury — who is very familiar with Flores’ scheme thanks to his years spent as Minnesota’s starting center prior to his arrival in New England — his quarterback’s pre-snap calm was as encouraging as anything he did with the ball in his hands.
“This is as confusing as it’s going to get all year,” Bradbury said of facing the Vikings. “I think it was strategic by Coach Vrabel to come up here. We want to see this. Teams are going to do some of this. They’re not going to do it every play like maybe [the Vikings] do. But I think it’s really good.
“We had some different plays with some different alerts. You gotta re-Mike it. I gotta get the call out to the rest of the guys. It’s good practice. It’s phenomenal. When we did execute it, when we had 11-on-11 and gave Drake time, it was positive and awesome plays.
“That defense knows it, if you’re going to have seven or eight guys on the line and we’re going to block it up, there’s going to be holes. We gotta give him that time and let him find those holes.”
Maye will try to continue to show some veteran steadiness in the face of pressure for the second straight day on Thursday. But before he does, here’s our Maye Watch from Day 1 of joint sessions with the Vikings.
Theme of the practice
Mike Vrabel pointed out that Wednesday’s practice was going to focus, in part, on second-and-long situations. That put the offense for both clubs behind the eight ball and forced them to try to pick up chunks to help themselves get into reasonable down-and-distance scenarios on third down.
“Doing a thing here that Kevin [O’Connell] likes to do, play second-and-long, which for us would be a get back on track,” Vrabel explained. “We’re trying to get back half the yardage to get in third-and-manageable and then play out whatever third down scenario comes of that.
“So, I think that’ll be a great opportunity for us to see if they blitz, if they play zone… That’ll be something that probably will look a little different. Second-and-10 and then it’ll go to third-and-2 or it’ll go to third-and-10.”
There was also a two-minute period at the end of practice, which the Patriots finished off quickly. They needed a field goal to tie, but on their second play, Maye hit TreVeyon Henderson on a wide-open wheel route for a 60-yard score.
Maye and his teammates came back onto the field for another two-minute period later and ended up stalling out. After a completion to Kayshon Boutte, the Vikings picked up a sack. Maye’s day was over after two straight incompletions — a sideline throw to Boutte that was broken up and a Cover 0 shot that missed Mack Hollins deep.
Thursday’s work will be more red-zone focused, Vrabel explained.
Crunching the numbers
Maye was all about targeting his dynamic rookie back on Day 1. Henderson saw six targets combined in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 work, catching five.
Stefon Diggs was targeted four times, twice each in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11. Diggs ran a particularly clean slant in an early full-team period, freeing himself early at the line of scrimmage and then picking up yards after the catch thanks to an accurate in-stride throw by Maye.
DeMario Douglas saw more targets than anyone on Wednesday, with seven total. He fumbled a screen completion, but one of Maye’s most impressive throws of the day was a layered over-the-middle target to Douglas that flashed the kind of touch that has eluded Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
It’s impossible to avoid comparisons between the two second-year quarterbacks, since the Vikings were interested in trading up for Maye last spring. McCarthy missed the entirety of his rookie year after suffering a knee injury in camp last summer, and based on reports from Vikings media, it seems as though he’s gone through some rookie-like ups and downs lately.
McCarthy threw an ugly interception to Marcus Jones on Wednesday and struggled to move the ball consistently against the Patriots defense without top wideout Justin Jefferson (out with a hamstring injury).
Throw of the day
Maye’s best throw might have been the on-the-move toss to Boutte while being “sacked” by the Vikings defense. But he also tossed an in-the-bucket wheel-route throw to Henderson in 7-on-7 work that couldn’t be reeled in by the leaping rookie running back.
The pair later connected on a much easier wheel route, with Henderson getting lost in the Vikings secondary and scampering into the end zone from 60 yards away with the ball in his hands.
Quote of note
Drake Maye on an up-and-down day for the Patriots offense that was encapsulated by the two-minute period late in practice:
“It’s great for me to get new looks,” Maye said. “I was bummed out with how the two-minute ended in (the joint practice with) Washington, and I think we had a good first two-minute. It was a touchdown. We needed a field goal to tie, so that’s always good.
“Coming back out of the second two-minute, I think we had a good first play, and then took a sack and just can’t do that. Things like that you learn, and you know that if the look is not there, I think in two-minute, just to find answers and learn from that.
“I feel like we protected the ball. I feel like I didn’t really put it in harm’s way. It’s good for us to see new defenders, guys that are going to be grabbing, holding and maybe have a different skill set than our guys, so it’s pretty cool to be out here and get a new look.”