Patriots OC intends to increase tempo this season

It was a defensive slugfest for the Patriots and Steelers in Week 2, with neither team passing for a touchdown on the day. Maye added 17 rushing yards on four carries but took three sacks, including one in the red zone in the second quarter. His interception was a floater in Steelers territory in the third quarter, tossed right to Patrick Queen to end a drive. He ends the day with 44-percent of his passing yards coming on two third-quarter chunk plays to Romeo Doubs. Maye has had a rough start to the season, following up a three-interception Week 1 with a scoreless, one-interception Week 2. He faces another solid defense in the Jaguars for Week 3; Maye’s rushing upside keeps him in the low-end QB1 territory for next week.

Maye once again struggled with Seattle’s ironclad defense, routinely making poor decisions when attempting to push the ball downfield. His third, and worst, interception of the night came when he lobbed a pass off his back foot at Mack Hollins with under 30 seconds left. The throw fell well short of his target and Josh Jobe made a toe-tapping pick in the end zone. Maye only threw multiple interceptions once last year, including the postseason. That came in his Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks. His multi-pick total is already at one this year, again at the hands of Seattle. It’s a long season, but Maye did nothing to silence the “schedule merchant” claims tonight. He will look to rebound as a mid-range QB1 versus the Steelers next week. That could be without A.J. Brown, who left this game with an ankle injury and did not return.

Maye and Brown have already begun generating highlight plays together against Patriots defenders. Coaches and players from both sides of the ball are highly complimentary of the new receiver, and Brown has taken on a leadership role within the offense. It sounds like things are coming together for Brown and the Patriots. Treat him as a WR2 with upside.

Reiss spoke with TE Hunter Henry and former Patriots QB Brian Hoyer about how McDaniels’ scheme “demands a lot” from the quarterback position. As simple as it sounds, learning the “what” under McDaniels can happen quickly. Learning the “why” takes time. Hoyer notes that reports on Maye’s development last spring and summer were hardly glowing, but the young quarterback made strides in-season and defenses had a harder time fooling him with “different looks, fronts and blitzes” as the season progressed. Patriots newcomers, FB Reggie Gilliam and WR Romeo Doubs, are reportedly impressed with Maye’s mastery of the offense as well. Maye was the MVP runner-up last year, completing 72 percent of his passes and finishing as the overall QB2 in total fantasy points.

It’s a Super Bowl rematch for the two teams, who will get the new league year started on Wednesday, September 9th on NBC, the preferred broadcasting network for football watchers. Sam Darnold and the Seahawks will look to get the season started on a strong note against the Patriots and Drake Maye, who looked wildly out-matched the last time these two teams met. It’s one of two games the Seahawks will play on NBC this season, as they will also take on the Chiefs in Week 7 on Sunday Night Football.

The Seahawks will reportedly begin their title defense at home with a rematch against the Patriots. Seattle won the Super Bowl matchup handily, cruising to a 29-13 victory to hoist the Lombardi trophy. The teams will look mostly the same, with some key differences. The Pats won’t have 2025 leading wide receiver Stefon Diggs, while Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker left the Seahawks for the Chiefs. Still, the NFL is starting strong with an immediate Super Bowl rematch.

It’s a matchup of two potentially high-powered offenses for the NFL’s annual Munich matchup. This will mark the Pats’ second trip to Munich — they played in the first-ever Munich regular season game — and the organization’s sixth overall international game. Drake Maye will look to continue his hyper-efficient ways in 2026 while Jared Goff and the Lions look to bounce back from a down 2025 campaign in which the team ranked ninth in EPA per play and 12th in success rate, just behind the Bengals and Bears.

The Patriots released Diggs this month before free agency began. Last year Diggs led the Patriots with a 20 percent target share and finished the regular season with 1,017 yards and four touchdowns. Doubs, Graf said, “can play on the outside. He can make up for a lot of the production over the middle that Stefon Diggs brought last season. He should help the offense’s red zone woes (20 of his 23 career touchdowns have come in the red zone). He can pull down deep balls, which Maye thrives at.” Doubs in 2025 led the Packers with five end zone targets and 17 inside-the-20 targets. He could have some touchdown-based upside in New England’s balanced offense in 2026. The Patriots could still acquire A.J. Brown in the coming weeks depending on the Eagles’ asking price. That move would likely make Doubs a distant WR2 in the Pats offense.

Maye, following his Super Bowl meltdown against the Seahawks, said the right shoulder issue hampered his ability to throw the football against Seattle’s elite secondary. He had been on the Patriots’ injury report for two weeks ahead of the Super Bowl. Maye picked up the shoulder ailment in the Pats’ AFC title game win over the Broncos. He said he did not expect to require surgery on the shoulder. Maye will likely enter 2026 fully healthy.

Facing his fourth defensive onslaught in as many playoff appearances, Maye fully wilted, losing 43 yards on six sacks and coughing up a fumble-six. Although the Chargers, Texans and Broncos were all tough matchups, the Seahawks proved to be something else entirely, routinely getting home with just four pass rushers. Maye did not play well, but he also never had a chance. Things were much different during the regular season. After a stunning Week 1 dud against a Raiders squad that would go on to claim the No. 1 overall pick, both Maye and his Patriots started on a Super Bowl warpath and never let up. Despite a curious lack of 300-yard performances, Maye was shockingly consistent, finishing below 200 yards only two times all season. He lapped the field in NextGenStats’ completion rate over expected, and finished top five in average intended air yards. Despite running less often than he did as a rookie, Maye was a big-play machine, and it helped carry a Pats offense running low on standalone playmakers. It was all about Maye, an extremely bullish sign for a 23-year-old second-year pro. If this is what Maye can accomplish with a skeleton crew skill corps, we would love to see what he’s capable of with a more fleshed-out unit. Expect that to arrive for 2026, keeping Maye in the MVP mix after this year’s top-two finish.