Amid a blowout loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night, the New England Patriots got a brief glimpse of the future when Jerod Mayo pulled veteran starter Jacoby Brissett out of the game and thrust first-round rookie Drake Maye under center. This wasn’t technically a benching of Brissett as the game was out of reach and Maye entered the fray in garbage time, but it was enough of an opening to wonder if a changing of the guard at quarterback is on the horizon.
When asked the morning after the loss if there was a status change at quarterback, however, Mayo signaled that Brissett will remain QB1 going into Week 4 when New England travels to Santa Clara to face the San Francisco 49ers.
“Jacoby is our quarterback until I say he’s not the quarterback,” Mayo said to begin his presser. “I thought last night he showed a lot of toughness, a lot of grit. On protection breakdowns, [he] tried to do what we ask them to do, but I would say just as a team, as a coaching staff, we just got to be better.”
He later added: “Look, everything is always under evaluation, but just so I’m clear, Jacoby is still our starting quarterback until I say he’s not.”
New England’s offense struggled mightily in this 24-3 loss to the Jets. Brissett completed 12 of his 18 pass attempts, but for only 98 yards. While he wasn’t prolific through the air, the fault of the Patriots’ stagnant offense doesn’t solely fall on Brissett. The veteran was under siege from the jump playing behind a depleted offensive line and was sacked a total of five times in the loss.
Maye, the No. 3 overall pick at the 2024 NFL Draft, entered the game with less than five minutes to play in regulation, completed four of his eight throws for 22 yards, and was sacked twice.
“He’s another guy who has athleticism,” Mayo said when asked to evaluate Maye’s performance. “He can make all the throws. Coming off the bench at that time is always tough, no matter what position but especially at the quarterback position. I thought he handled himself well and tried to put a drive together and something to build off of. I thought it was a good opportunity for him to go out there and get some live reps.”
Last week, Mayo revealed that Maye has been receiving roughly 30% of the first-team reps during practice while Brissett takes on the remaining 70% as the starter. The first-year coach was asked on Friday whether or not that could change, with Maye seeing even more of an uptick in reps to potentially prepare him for an ascent to QB1.
“Right now, I would say it’s still status quo,” Mayo said. “Kind of said it earlier, Jacoby’s still our starting quarterback, and we just got to be ready to support him. … So to answer your question, that’s not under consideration at this time.”
This latest loss to the Jets drops New England to 1-2 on the season after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in the Week 1 opener and then falling to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime on Sunday.
