Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Uproar: Drake Maye Worries Are Overrated | Outpacing MVP’s Early Career

Starting point is 00:00:00 Some are worried about Drake May after his two turnover performance against the Steelers. Well, us, we believe he's right on schedule. We start there. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts network, your team every day. What's happening? host Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, been covering the Patriots for the past 16 years. Also, co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattels and a sports

Starting point is 00:00:40 talk show host veteran. Coming up, we explain the lack of wide receiver production and give you two things, not one, but two things that we would do to change things up. Also, Sunday's game was a reminder of the reality of this football team's youth and what the top priority should be this season. But first, let's discuss the quarterback. We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen. And for being an everydayer, the Lockdown Patriots podcast is a proud partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's episode is brought to by Fandool. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. The quarterback position is incredibly challenging.

Starting point is 00:01:27 women want to be with the quarterbacks, men want to be the quarterbacks. That's been the case since the high school days. But when you really think about how critical the position is, not only in all of sports, but specifically in football, we have to appreciate, we have to embrace the idea that for most teams, the quarterback will touch the football on every single offensive play. Aside from Wildcat or trickery, he's the guy. and if you have one mistake, two mistakes, depending on the game, that could be too many mistakes. It is a very difficult position because the bar is set so high.

Starting point is 00:02:08 And Drake May is still learning. He's still learning to get rid of the dot, dot, dot, if only. He's still learning to cut the butt, BUTT. But let me start here. before I go on about, you know, other quarterbacks in the league and give you a comparison that has been thrown out there before with Drake May and let you know how he actually compares to that other quarterback who just might be in Buffalo. I'm here to tell you that overall, there's no doubt unequivocally, Drake May has improved. He is a better quarterback today than he was two weeks ago. He is a better quarterback today than he was two months ago.

Starting point is 00:02:52 He's a better quarterback today than he was last season. More pluses than minuses. And there's not much doubt about that. Through the first three weeks of this season, Drake May has done much more good than bad. And we've seen some high-level stuff. We've seen the scrambles versus pressure, the bootleg action. We've seen him pick up chunks of yardage with his legs.

Starting point is 00:03:18 We've seen throws like the throw to K. Shan Booty against the Pittsburgh Steelers, third and long, deep dig route, fantastic throw by May. We've seen touch throws like the touchdown to booty in Miami. That's a fantastic throw by Drake May. We've seen the bucket throws from Drake May like the time he dropped it in the bucket to Ramandre Stevenson again in Miami for that 50 plus yard gain. we've seen those highs, his decision-making, his ability on third and fourth down against the Dolphins, at times third down against the Steelers.

Starting point is 00:03:57 There are two to three throws every single week that are borderline, at least borderline elite. Andrew Callahan wrote this about May against Pittsburgh. May was largely decisive Sunday. He beat the blitz. He saw coverage well, hit several first read throws, ripped a couple tight window completions, and through with anticipation. Evan Lazzar gave you a bunch of numbers at Patriots.com. May is scoring well in the advanced metrics.

Starting point is 00:04:23 Eighth in EPA per dropback. Seventh in dropback success rate. Fifth in completion percentage over expected. 15th out of 32 quarterbacks in ESPN's QBR metric. So don't get it twisted. Drake May from 30,000 feet is absolutely improving. Then there's the butt. Then there's the if only, the couple of decisions, the couple of mistakes that many just can't shake.

Starting point is 00:04:55 And at times, transparently, I can't shake some of those decisions that absolutely kill you, the butt. Drake May threaded the needle on that throw, but he didn't float that end zone interception pass into the corner. Made a mistake. Man, did Drake May do some awesome scrambling? to convert on third downs or pick up chunks of yards, but he held out of the football a little too long, got a little too cute and had that costly fumble. There's that butt.

Starting point is 00:05:29 Back to Evan Lazzar. May had four turnover worthy plays on Sunday. One pick, one sack fumble, two dropped interceptions, one was negated by a penalty. Andrew Callahan. May simply has to rid himself of the impulse to create something out of nothing when the walls are closing in. Greg Bedard at Boston Sports Journal made played flawless after halftime until his sack slash fumble. And the question still remains, is Drake May going

Starting point is 00:05:59 to simply be that tantalizing talent who just made one too many mistakes one too many times and could not get over the hump? I am here to tell you, I am here to stress to all of you, have some patience with Drake May and you might say Nick we had patience last year we heard you know be patient be patient be patient when's this guy going to learn to not have these silly turnovers and these mistakes when's he going to figure it out and that's when I remind all of you Drake May has started 15 NFL games in his career he has not even finished his rookie season on the field, 15 starts. And you can really say 14 starts because is anybody counting week 18 last year against Buffalo when he just went out there to play one series? In reality,

Starting point is 00:06:54 he's had 14 legitimate starts. You can even say he's had 13 because of the Buffalo Bills game and the New York Jets game. The Bills game gets one series. The Jets. The Jets. game at Gillette gets one quarter because he ends up concussed. So in reality, I look at Drake May and say he has started and finished 13 NFL games. And let's not forget, he's still dealing with a lot of new talent, a lot of young talent, including himself who's young, and he's dealing with a new system with Josh McDaniels. So here's the comparison I want to give you. Josh Allen. Everybody talked about Josh Allen when Drake May was drafted.

Starting point is 00:07:36 Drake May could be the next Josh Allen. So I've got some numbers. Josh Allen in his first 11 starts, that was actually through his rookie season. He didn't start one game. He missed four others. So Josh Allen started 11 games in his rookie season. He completed 53.4% of his passes, 2,000 yards, 10 touchdowns, 12 picks. He had eight fumbles, 2 lost, 605 rushing yards, 8 touchdowns.

Starting point is 00:08:06 His passer rating was 68.5. Drake May in his first 11 starts, that includes the Jets game, which again, he played one quarter that does not count the Buffalo game with the one series. Drake May through his first 11 starts. His completion percentage is 67.2 compared to Allen's 53.4. He has 254 more yards than Alan did in his first 11 starts. He has five more touchdowns, two 11. interceptions. He has one more fumble, but he's lost four more. And you could say that's just

Starting point is 00:08:42 bad luck, frankly. He has just about 200 rushing yards less, six less rushing touchdowns. But as his passer rating through his first 11 starts, you've got Drake May at 89.1, Josh Allen was 68.5. And then let's kick it into the second year. Because a lot of people say, well, Josh Allen got better in his second year. And we hope that Drake May gets better in his second year. And all of that is true. Josh Allen did improve. But let's look at the first three starts of that second season. Allen's first three starts of his sophomore year, he completed 64.1 percent of his passes. Drake May is at 72.6. Allen threw for 750 yards. May has thrown for 785. Through the first three weeks of his second season, Josh Allen threw three touchdowns. Drake

Starting point is 00:09:34 May's thrown five. But Nick, what about the turnover worthy plays? Josh Allen got better in his second year with those turnovers, right? He improved. Drake May should be improving. Let's look at the first three weeks. Josh Allen threw three interceptions. Drake may has thrown two. What about the fumbles? Josh Allen fumbled the ball four times in his first three games of his second season. And he lost two of those. Drake May has fumbled twice, losing one on Sunday against the Steelers. Passer rating. Josh Allen's passer rating through the first three weeks of his second season was 83.4. Drake May is in a different universe at 101.3. So if you look at Josh Allen versus Drake May, and Josh Allen, by the way, had the same offensive coordinator from year one to year two. We know that's not the

Starting point is 00:10:32 case with Drake May. But when you look at the rookie season and then combine it with the first three games of the second year of each of these quarterbacks, Drake May has unequivocally, undoubtedly been the better quarterback. I'm not telling you he's going to be Josh Allen. I'm saying this because I just want to make sure that we're being patient. That's the key. Drake May has continued to improve. Drake May, when you look at the numbers, even when you look at the turnover numbers and the decision making, is ahead of Josh Allen when Josh Allen was at this point of his career.

Starting point is 00:11:12 So I remain optimistic and I expect improvement because, yes, Josh Allen continued to improve, just like I believe Drake May will continue to improve. Coming up, the wide receiver position is off to a slow start. We'll tell you why in what we do about it, starting this week. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Let's talk about Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move.

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Starting point is 00:12:23 All-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV so you can drive with confidence through almost any season. And, of course, we know how important that is up in the Northeast. Like players, Mazda sweats every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved. The Patriots are not getting a ton of production out of the wide receiver position through three weeks. That much is obvious, but I'll give you the numbers just to prove that point. Zach Cox recently posted after the Pittsburgh Steelers game, outside of Kishan Booty's big game in week one, the Patriots have gotten very little out of their wideouts.

Starting point is 00:13:08 Here are the totals for that group over the last two games. Stefan Diggs, seven catches, 55 yards. Mack Hollins, five for 35. Kishon Booty, three for 41 in the touchdown in Miami. Pop Douglas, three for 15, Kyle Williams, one catch, eight yards. Not a lot of production the last couple of weeks. Just not a lot of production. It's not a huge surprise to me for a number of reasons.

Starting point is 00:13:41 I've said this, and if you've been watching or listening to this podcast, then you know I've been saying this throughout camp, and I kind of warned everybody before the season kicked off. Stefan Diggs is going to need some time. I don't know if he will ever get back to what he was even in Houston last year before the ACL. But he's coming back from an ACL. He's in his 30s. And I had said, I'm going to give him six weeks or so, five or six weeks, if he starts the season, which he did.

Starting point is 00:14:15 If he started the season active, I'm going to give him about six weeks until I start really looking at his play as far as snap in, snap out, and what he's bringing to the table athletically, physically, etc. So I keep that. I keep that on the table for Stefan Dix. I'm not rushing to judgment with him given his specific circumstances. Matt Collins, good football player, seemingly great teammate, does the little things well. But Matt Collins is no better than a 3B receiver. And so we have to temper expectations when we discuss Matt Collins and understand he's not going to be out there giving you 75, 80 yards, you know, week in and week

Starting point is 00:15:04 out, and maybe he'll never give you 75, 80 yards in a single game this year. He is who he is. He is being used an awful lot as a run blocker. And so he's filling his role. Kyle Williams is a rookie. And I'll talk about this a little bit later about, you know, the rookie class, the young players on this team. As I just went through with Drake May last segment, you got to have patience. And I know it's very difficult to have patience, especially in 2025, especially with social media.

Starting point is 00:15:37 But you've got to have patience. Kyle Williams, it's all about will he improve where he needs to improve to get on the field more? will those snap counts grow throughout the season and can we look at him later on this year as somebody who you can depend on? He's a rookie. It's been three weeks. And frankly, Drake May, as we discussed last segment,

Starting point is 00:16:02 he's had misses. He has missed wide receivers. He has not thrown to open receivers at times. And so that is also part of this story. You need to make sure that your quarterback hits your open receiver when your receiver is open, and that hasn't always happened through the first three weeks. You also have to, when having the conversation about wide receiver production within this Patriots offense,

Starting point is 00:16:32 we have to be honest about what this offense has been, especially the last two weeks. Against Miami, against Pittsburgh, we're looking at an offense that has been pretty heavy with two tight end sets. Josh McDaniels has been playing two tight ends the majority of the time. He wants to establish the run game. He wants to establish balance within this offense. We saw it against Miami. They tried against Pittsburgh. They were not nearly as effective against Pittsburgh than they were in Miami,

Starting point is 00:17:02 but they are trying to run the football. They are trying to bring that balance to the offense. And the best way that they can run the ball is the two tight end sets. I bring you back to Pop Douglas conversations that we've had in the past. How much is Pop Douglas going to play? And I have consistently said he's not going to play as much as other people think he's going to play because the Patriots are going to run the football or at least try to run the football. And when you're trying to run the football, Pop Douglas is a smaller guy.

Starting point is 00:17:34 He's not a great run blocker because of his frame. He's just not going to be out there. So when you go two tight ends and when you try to run the football, it's going to directly impact the production from the wide receiver position. Now, some have brought up the lack of explosiveness. Few things on that. I understand what the stats say. I understand that we haven't seen many big plays downfield.

Starting point is 00:18:01 I'm watching the same games that you're watching. However, there are some devil in the details type stuff here. It's not that the Patriots are not calling for shots down the field. I believe it was the Miami game. First snap was actually a designed deep shot to Kyle Williams. Didn't execute it up front. Didn't have the time. Couldn't get to Williams is what it is.

Starting point is 00:18:26 So just because you don't see the quarterback chucking the football down the field doesn't mean that Josh McDaniels and the Patriots aren't trying to get the ball down the field. You need things to work to actually make that happen. Some of these play calls are long developing play calls from Josh McDaniels. Some of these play calls just take time. You just need time for your receivers to get down the field. And sometime the blocking isn't up to snuff. And so you don't have enough time for Drake May to sit in that pocket and find somebody 30, 40 yards down field.

Starting point is 00:19:01 The protection, right? The protection has to be there. So the play call has to be dialed up. The execution has to happen up front. Drake May has to see it, and he has to make the throw. He has to pull the trigger, and then he's got to make a good enough throw to complete it downfield. So it's not just, oh, well, they have no explosives because they're not trying to throw the football down the field. They're trying at times.

Starting point is 00:19:28 Now, are they trying as much as other teams? No, because that goes back to the two tight endset, run game, and balance. So here are two changes I would make. I would give Kyle Williams five to ten more snaps this week against Carolina. I would put him out there five to ten more times to see what he's got, to see what he can give you. He's got the yak ability. He can get downfield. Give him just a little bit more opportunity and see what he can do with it.

Starting point is 00:20:01 I would also look at Pop Douglas, who runs way too hot and cold. I mean, he was open, for example, he was open for two plays, could have been explained. close of plays, Drake missed them on one. The other one was called back because Michael went who was five yards downfield, ridiculously. But then you have mistakes. You have Pop running the wrong route at the end of the half during one of those three plays where you didn't punch it into the end zone

Starting point is 00:20:29 and you ended up with an interception. Pop Douglas ran the wrong route on one of those three pass attempts. And we all know what happened at the end of the game. I've talked enough about it. So, yes, I would activate Efton Chisholm. I would make Efton Chisholm active against Carolina, and I would give him 10 to 15 snaps.

Starting point is 00:20:49 I would play Kyle Williams, five to 10 more snaps in place of Mack Hollins, and I would give Efton Chisholm 10 to 15 snaps in the place of Pop Douglas. I would start there and see what your two rookies look like. Do they give you a little bit of extra? That's where I start. Meanwhile, hoping Stefan Diggs continues to knock the rust off.

Starting point is 00:21:16 Speaking of youth, youth brings excitement, but it also brings a lot of something else. Find out what that is next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The NFL season is here. Fandul is making sure you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using Fandul because it fits however I like to bet.

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Starting point is 00:22:25 So are you ready to play? Download the Fandul app now by visiting Fandul.com to get started. That's Fandul.com to place your first $5 bet. I was excited about the draft. You were excited about the draft, and I am still excited about the 2025 draft. We have to remember, development, improvement doesn't happen in a straight line. Just doesn't go that way. It's not just that easy.

Starting point is 00:22:54 Guys just improve week to week to week to week with no downs. There are ups, there are downs. It's a roller coaster. And when you are a team like the Patriots and you are putting your rookies in big spots, you have to be ready for the mistakes. And we've seen some of the mistakes. You've got to live with it. You've got to hope that the young players can learn from the mistakes that they make.

Starting point is 00:23:19 Will Campbell against the Steelers? More good than bad. You know, I rewatched the game on Monday morning. And when I was watching it, I expected Campbell to be just roasted. If you're paying attention to social media, If you hear some people out there that are following this team and cover this team, you might expect Will Campbell to be a turn style. I am here to tell you, Will Campbell was not a turn style. Now, he did give up four, five, six pressures, depending on how you count it.

Starting point is 00:23:50 I will say that not every pressure is on Will Campbell, not every pressure is on an offensive lineman. Drake May did drift into one or two pressures in this game. but when you look at the totality, Will Campbell gave up five to six pressures, and I thought the final drive of the game is when Campbell had major issues consistently. Nick Herbig beat him not once, not twice,

Starting point is 00:24:18 but three straight times. Up until then, he was much more solid than not. And of course, yes, he has to be better, but that's the ups and downs. He was very good in week two.

Starting point is 00:24:30 He was solid in week one, and I thought he was mostly solid in week three. We have to understand he's not going to be flawless. He's going to give up pressures, but he was not a turnstile. You've got to live with the downs if you're going to live with the ups. We wax poetic about Will Campbell last week because he deserved it. This week, learning experience. You give up a handful of pressures against a pretty good defensive front that blitzes a lot and brings a lot of pressure. You learn from it.

Starting point is 00:25:03 How do you respond the next couple of weeks? Then you look at somebody like Craig Woodson. And my biggest question about Craig Woodson before the season began was, can he really handle all of this responsibility? Because during the preseason games and joint practices and at camp, Patriot staff, they were asking a lot of Craig Woodson. And when Gibral Peppers was cut, it was one of the first questions I had. Is Craig Woodson truly ready?

Starting point is 00:25:30 And I also had said, and I still feel it. I felt it at the time, and I feel it right now. Craig Woodson's going to make mistakes. He's going to make mistakes. And we saw it. We saw it against the Steelers. Craig Woodson was a no man's land for both the Kenneth Gainwell touchdown run and the Calvin Austin touchdown catch.

Starting point is 00:25:53 He was a no man's land. If you watched the Gainwell run, Caleb on Chase on, first of all, loses edge. he pursues inside big mistake doesn't contain edge at the goal line makes it easier for gainwell to turn the corner on the outside but watson could have covered up for that but he didn't it's kind of lost the austin touchdown against marcus jones marcus jones gets beat at the line of scrimmage it's a back shoulder throw so good throw by iron rogers tough play to make But Craig Woodson, again, if you're just watching him, he's just lost. Doesn't look like he has any idea where to go.

Starting point is 00:26:36 And when you're the last line of defense, when you are lost, not going to be great for the defense. Inconsistency will hurt you significantly. But it's all a part of the learning process. When you start a rookie, you drafted him in the fourth round, you feel. felt good enough to draft him on that Saturday after sitting there all Friday night thinking about it. He had a good enough camp. He had a good enough preseason joint practices, all of that stuff. But you had to know. I knew. We all knew. Craig Woodson was going to make some mistakes. And if you're going to make mistakes during your rookie season, it just stands to reason. Those

Starting point is 00:27:20 mistakes are going to happen more likely early in the season than late in the season. If things are going along according to the plan. So Craig Woodson was an issue against the Steelers. And when you have that inconsistency as the last line of defense to go along with the mistackling that we've seen up front on the second level, second level especially, that's going to be a huge issue. Because now if guys are making their way through the second level and you're the last dude standing, you better be able to make that play. And if you're not in the right position to

Starting point is 00:28:01 even make the play for the beginning, you're going to have some problems. And you can even look at somebody like Marte Mapu. He's not a rookie, obviously. He's in his third season, but he's transitioning to linebacker. And Marte Mapu gave up a third and long conversion to Jono Smith. And Greg Bedard did a great job of pointing this out, said, look, if you look at Marte Mapu during that play, he does one of those hard fake blitzes and he doesn't get back. in time in position to defend that pass. Rogers sees the hard fake blitz, hits Jono Smith, and you get a big time first down. Travion Henderson, we talked about the flags, the pass protection. He loves running into piles, and it's because he's not showing great

Starting point is 00:28:45 patience. And it's probably because the game is going really fast for him because it's the beginning of his NFL career. These are the things that you see. We can include Drake May's mistakes. Again, he hasn't even finished his first season on the field when you look at games started and games finished. But the top two priorities, and I will hang out of these all year long, the top two priorities for the Patriots in 2025, number one was Drake May improving. We discussed that in the first segment. Number two is that the football team gets better as the year goes on, especially the young players. And we've seen ups, we've seen downs, we will see how they grow or not grow as this

Starting point is 00:29:37 season moves forward. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listening for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter, will you? It's at Nick C Radio. Don't forget to help us. Throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that like button.

Starting point is 00:29:53 give us the thumbs up if you're watching on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe, trying to get to 7,000 subscribers here on Lockdown Patriots. And for your second listen, you want to get a double dose of the Lockdown NFL podcast with Tyler the Madman Roland and Tony Wiggins. Find Lockdown NFL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day. And we will see you tomorrow for a crossover edition. We start to get you ready for Patriots, Panthers,

Starting point is 00:30:23 Sunday. We'll see you then.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Uproar: Drake Maye Worries Are Overrated | Outpacing MVP’s Early Career

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