Drake Maye is heading into Sunday’s trip to Buffalo with plenty of noise around him, and former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer thinks the best thing the young passer can do is tune it all out and play free.
A Wednesday rumor about a possible rift between Maye and head coach Mike Vrabel already put the quarterback under a brighter spotlight, and both men ended up answering for it during their midweek media sessions. But the Patriots’ bigger problem is the football itself. New England is 1-2, and the next stop is a road date with the 3-0 Bills.
Hoyer, speaking recently with Karen Guregian of MassLive, said the matchup might actually be a useful one for Maye.
"I do think it’s a good thing they’re playing Buffalo, and not the (winless) Tennessee Titans," Hoyer said about Maye and the Patriots. "Everyone’s counting you out.
You’re done. You should be benched.
So just go out there, let it loose and play."
That advice comes with some obvious tension, because Maye has not exactly been careful with the ball. He has a league-worst seven turnovers through the first three weeks, including three costly fourth-quarter interceptions in New England’s season-opening loss at the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 9.
The turnover issues have pushed Maye’s decision-making into the center of the conversation. Boomer Esiason, a former MVP and current NFL analyst, went so far as to say Vrabel should at least think about sitting Maye and turning to backup Tommy DeVito for the Buffalo game.
Hoyer doesn’t sound like he’s in that camp. In his view, benching Maye would not help the long-term picture for the third-year pro.
"Everybody’s telling you, 'Hey man, you’re good.' That doesn’t help," Hoyer added about Maye.
"The only thing that helps right now is playing good football, as crazy as that sounds. No one is going to say something to him that’s going to make him feel better.
He’s got to do it for himself, and get back the belief in himself by playing the game. It can go that quickly.
But you can come back that quickly, too. It would be one thing if he wasn’t hitting some of these throws…that’s not what’s happening.
He’s pressing. He’s hoping for good plays.
You just have to play the game. Do whatever the defense directs you to do, and then play the next play.
Right now it’s, 'God, I have to make a play, I have to get back on track,' and then you start to press. That’s clearly what’s going on."
The concern, of course, is how much damage another rough outing could do to Maye’s confidence. If the Patriots get blown out in Buffalo, that pressure only gets louder.
DraftKings Sportsbook had New England listed as a 6.5-point road underdog against the Bills as of Thursday afternoon.
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