Drake Maye and the Patriots have already run into the kind of defense that can turn their offense sideways, and now they’re about to see another version of it.
That’s the issue heading into Sunday’s home opener against the Steelers. The book on New England is getting easier to read: take away the deep ball, flood the field with zone, and make Maye string together the kind of patient drives the Patriots still haven’t consistently shown they can finish.
The clearest warning sign came back in Week 15 of the 2025 season, when former Bills coach Sean McDermott went zone-heavy and leaned on Cover 6 against a Patriots attack that had been lighting up teams downfield. Buffalo’s approach forced Maye to work underneath and deal with post-snap disguise.
It did the job. New England still scored four touchdowns in a 35-31 loss, but all four came on the ground.
Maye ran for two of them, TreVeyon Henderson added two more rushing scores, and Maye was held to a regular-season-low 155 passing yards.
That formula has stuck. Opponents have kept playing more zone, taking away the explosives and daring Maye to beat them in the short game or with his legs. After Wednesday’s fourth-quarter collapse against the Seahawks, Maye said his patience is still a work in progress, and the Patriots’ rushing attack remains a concern.
So yes, this week looks like a chance to reset. But it’s not going to be easy. Per Patriots reporter Evan Lazar, the Steelers were the only team in Week 1 to play 100 percent zone on defense.
That fits the direction Pittsburgh appears to be taking under defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. Graham was with the Raiders in 2025, and New England’s 2025 opener loss to that Las Vegas team may have been more revealing than it looked at the time. Lazar noted that Graham kept his defense in zone on more than 90 percent of snaps in that game.
Maye’s numbers against zone last season were strong overall - a 103.1 passer rating, plus NFL-leading marks in yards per attempt, completion percentage and passer rating. He was especially dangerous when defenses played man. But the matchup that has given him the most trouble is the deceptive Cover 6 look, the same kind of coverage Seattle used.
That scheme, as Next Gen Stats research analyst James Reber explained for NFL.com in February, is “Cover 6, the favorite of Macdonald and the Seahawks, is a hybrid of Cover 2 and Cover 4. It's often called quarter-quarter-half, with one safety covering the boundary side of the field, the other safety splitting the field side with a cornerback and four players underneath.
While Cover 6 is the least common of the split-safety schemes (with a 9.2% usage rate in 2025), it has been a hallmark of the defenses run by the last four Super Bowl champions.”
Pittsburgh isn’t Seattle, but Graham’s background matters. He comes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree, and deception before the snap is part of the DNA. In Las Vegas, that approach was aided by Maxx Crosby’s ability to create pressure on his own, and the Raiders still finished 21st in total EPA per play on defense in 2025.
The Steelers have more punch up front with T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward.
There is one obvious advantage for New England: a 100 percent zone rate is not exactly subtle, and the Patriots have had 11 days to get ready after playing Wednesday night. But if Pittsburgh stays on that track, Maye should expect a heavy serving of Cover 6 until he proves he can stay patient and take what’s there.
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