Curran: Maye’s lack of snaps vs. Panthers was ‘huge missed opportunity’

Curran: Maye’s lack of snaps vs. Panthers was ‘huge missed opportunity’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

New England Patriots fans hoping to see Drake Maye play a couple drives in Thursday night’s preseason opener versus the Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium ended up being disappointed.

After veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett started the game, Maye got his first chance to play in front of Patriots fans by taking over the offense for the team’s second drive in the first quarter.

He connected with running back Antonio Gibson for a 12-yard pickup and a first down on a screen pass on his third snap. The drive ended four players later, and so did Maye’s night.

The No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft played just one series. He played six snaps and completed two of three pass attempts for 19 yards.

The lack of reps for Maye was puzzling, to say the least. NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots insider Tom E. Curran took it a step further when discussing the topic Thursday night on Boston Sports Tonight.

“Huge missed opportunity,” Curran told co-host Michael Felger, as seen in the video player above. “And I had a former coach text me and say, ‘What are they doing?’ This is a missed opportunity.

“This is the kind of thing that you wanna be able to get a massive amount of tape on and spend the entire day, entire weekend working on corrections, all the things that you can do. Nothing beats a preseason game because nothing is scripted and it’s full contact. So a huge missed opportunity, I think, on the part of the Patriots.”

One of the popular explanations for Maye’s lack of snaps is that the Patriots’ offensive line starters didn’t play much after that drive. And given the offensive line’s lack of elite talent and sometimes-shaky play in training camp so far, why put Maye at risk of getting hurt?

Curran, however, isn’t buying that explanation.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with the offensive line because you can game it up, you can scheme it up, you can block it up well enough…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/curran-mayes-lack-snaps-vs-200028999.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-08-09 20:00:28

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