In the NFL, there is a canyon-sized gap between “win with” and “win because of” at the quarterback position.

On Sunday in Miami, in a 33-27 win over the Dolphins, Drake Maye was the latter for the Patriots.

Maye completed 19 of his 23 attempts for 230 yards and two touchdowns, compiling a quarterback rating of 137.3. He also ran 10 times for 31 yards, including a short touchdown run that gave the Patriots the lead early in the third quarter. 

It was Maye’s best and most efficient game since being taken with the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, thanks in large part to his ability to run the offense laid out for him by Josh McDaniels.

And that’s where we’ll begin our Week 2 edition of “What We Learned.”

There ain’t too much on Maye’s plate

After a week of discussion as to whether or not Maye had perhaps too many responsibilities within the McDaniels offense — and therefore exhibited some level of discomfort in Week 1 against the Raiders — it seemed clear that the second-year signal-caller was more than capable of picking up what his offensive coordinator was putting down.

Not only was he able to see things quickly and get the football out of his hands — Maye had the third-fastest average time to throw, 2.57 seconds, in Week 2 — but he was also accurate. According to NextGen Stats, he had the NFL’s third-best completion percentage over expected, which serves as a measure of the level of difficulty of a passer’s completed throws, on Sunday.

He made good decisions as a scrambler, and he did not put the ball into harm’s way. His second drive of the second half was maybe his most encouraging because of the way he operated — both physically and as a processor — behind the line of scrimmage.

After a holding call had the Patriots facing a second-and-12, Maye dropped back to pass as most of his options sprinted past the sticks. Instead of forcing something down the field, he hit Rhamondre Stevenson on a checkdown that gave the Patriots nine yards. 

Can’t go broke taking a profit, as McDaniels might say.

They then faced a third-and-manageable. And Maye didn’t stop there.

On the third-down snap, Morgan Moses was beaten off the snap, forcing his quarterback to move off his spot behind center. Maye did quickly, with both hands on the football, sliding up in the pocket and keeping his eyes down the field. He hit Stevenson again, this time with an in-stride strike down the sideline that led to a catch-and-run 55-yard gain.

Call it the play of Maye’s young career. 

That’s playing the quarterback position.

Maye later ran it in for a score when an unblocked Matthew Judon chased him off the offensive left edge, capping a short drive that showed Maye has multiple tools in his toolbelt at the sport’s most important position.

He took the conservative route and picked up the yards that were there for him. He protected the football. He drilled an accurate pass down the field. He played a little backyard ball to punch it in. 

After a week of discussion of whether or not Maye was ready for the McDaniels scheme, Sunday’s performance — and that second drive in the second half, in particular — he showed he could handle what’s on his plate.

McDaniels did plenty to help his QB

Maye wasn’t the only one with something to prove in Week 2. McDaniels was asked this week if there was anything he could do to adjust and make life easier for his quarterback.

Would he shrink his menu of plays? Would he give Maye fewer check-with-me plays at the line of scrimmage? Would he call for more Maye runs, get him hit, and get the young scrambler to settle in that way? 

It appeared as though McDaniels wanted to take advantage of Maye’s athleticism in Week 2. Whether or not McDaniels knew on-the-run types of throws would help Maye feel at ease early in the game is unclear. But Maye had multiple bootleg throws on the first drive alone — one on a throwback to Austin Hooper, who had leaked out to the back side of the play and, one that went for a touchdown to Mack Hollins — and made them work.

Maye later scrambled off a bootleg look for six yards and hit Hunter Henry on a roll-out throw for nine more. Good thinking by McDaniels to get Maye moving, which seemed to help him feel comfortable early in the game, setting him up for success throughout. 

McDaniels also deserves some credit for the timing of his screen calls. After a week against the Raiders in which the screen game was dead on arrival, McDaniels called for two that attacked the teeth of Dolphins blitzes and led to key gains. 

Sticking with the run: Good idea

What might have helped Maye more than anything — particularly when comparing Week 1 against Week 2 — was that the Patriots were able to run the football. 

Maye had 46 pass attempts in Week 1. Not the formula. That number was cut in half in Miami. And the reason was because the run game was an option in a way that it was not back at Gillette Stadium a week ago. The Patriots ran 29 times for 122 yards (4.2 per carry), including 11 attempts for 54 yards for Stevenson.

Clearly, the Patriots wanted to make a statement to themselves and anyone watching that they were going to be more balanced against the Dolphins. They hit the field with two tight ends and ran three times on their first three snaps of the game for 18 yards. And on their second drive, when they ran for just 11 yards on their first three carries of that series, they stuck with it.

On that go-ahead second drive of the second half, the Patriots got on the doorstep of the end zone thanks to a 15-yard run right up the gut from Antonio Gibson — who had some help from a “Wham” block by Hunter Henry on a Miami defensive lineman — that took advantage of what looked like a tired Dolphins front. 

Time to give the kicker a push?

Two missed extra points from kicker Andy Borregales may lead to conversations about whether or not the Patriots want to keep their options open at that position. He also missed a 40-yarder in Week 1.

To his credit, Borregales drilled a 53-yarder in the fourth quarter, and Vrabel said he had no hesitation calling on his sixth-round rookie at that moment, giving the Patriots a 33-27 lead.

But Borregales also picked up a penalty immediately after making his long field goal because the ensuing kickoff didn’t fall in the landing zone. That gave Miami possession at the 40-yard line, trailing by six. 

Borregales performed relatively steadily in practice when going kick-for-kick with Parker Romo in training camp. Romo is now with the Falcons, but would some new competition perhaps benefit Borregales? Would it give the Patriots another option if they feel the University of Miami product isn’t ready?

Those questions are worth asking after a bumpy start for the Patriots kicker.

Flags, flags everywhere

The Patriots were just barely good enough to take advantage of the “bad football” they were inundated with by the Dolphins. But the Patriots provided plenty of bad themselves.

They were penalized 12 times for 75 yards in the win, and they had multiple repeat offenders over the course of the afternoon. Morgan Moses picked up three false-start penalties. Will Campbell had one after his two-fer last week. Jared Wilson was called for a hold. TreVeyon Henderson was caught holding on three separate occasions, and Craig Woodson was flagged twice on back-to-back special-teams snaps (block in the back on a kickoff, hold on a punt). 

Rough day, particularly for the rookies, on the penalty front. Might be easier to try to make those corrections coming off a win as opposed to a loss.

But as Vrabel said after the game, you’d rather not test your team’s collective resolve in that fashion by continuously putting yourself behind the eight ball.