Drake Maye Embarrases Patriots Coaches With Repeated Blunder in Week 10

The New England Patriots turned over the starting QB job to rookie Drake Maye in Week 6, making him the offense’s new leader.

The rookie quarterback has shown flashes of good plays but has had an issue with turnovers, tossing six interceptions in his first four starts. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, the Patriots were looking for Maye to play a clean game from under center.

However, that didn’t happen as Maye threw an inexcusable interception with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. Maye tried forcing a pass to tight end Austin Hooper despite Bears linebacker TJ Edwards sitting in front of the veteran pass catcher the entire time.

Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was asked about Maye’s being good at not being an error repeater. Van Pelt said it's one of Maye’s qualities, per Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal. He also said the rookie quarterback is a “very intelligent guy” and “learns from his mistakes.”

However, as Taylor Kyles of CLNS Media points out, it was the second straight week the rookie QB forced a throw to an underneath defender.

In last week’s overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans, Maye tried to force a throw to rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, but Titans safety Amani Hooker was sitting there waiting for the throw.

While it’s not good to see the rookie quarterback making the same mistakes consistently, at the end of the day, this is only his fifth-ever NFL start. Maye will continue to see different defenses and looks that he’ll hopefully make adjustments to throughout the season.

Nonetheless, the Patriots must live with some of these mistakes and hope Maye won’t become a habitual error repeater.

More Patriots news and analysis: