The New England Patriots are making a quarterback change and will start Drake Maye over Jacoby Brissett on Sunday against the Houston Texans. A source confirmed to MassLive’s Karen Guregian that the rookie will make his first NFL start in Week 6.
It’s unclear what went into the decision to start Maye at this point in the season, but Dan Orlovsky is someone who isn’t a fan of putting the No. 3 overall pick in.
“Absolutely not. This is a bad decision in New England. One, their offensive line is the worst pass-blocking offensive line in the NFL. Right now, it is the worst. Jacoby Brissett, who has been their starting quarterback, he has been pressured on 47% of his dropback passes,” the former NFL quarterback said Tuesday on “NFL Live.” “That 47% is the highest number for a quarterback since 2006. You want to take a rookie quarterback and set him up to struggle? Put him behind this New England offensive line.
“On top of that, it’s a bottom probably five or six group wide-receiver-wise when it comes to getting open. There’s a couple things I always say young quarterbacks need to go play well and survive. They need to have a really good scheme and play-caller,” Orlovsky continued. “Alex Van Pelt, I like his scheme, there’s been moments when he’s shown to be a good play-caller, still unknown. Really good offensive line, really good skill players. Again, New England has at least two of those three missing. This is not the right choice.”
Maye will likely face a lot of pressure from the Texans especially with Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter in the fold. The rookie could be the spark the offense needs, or he could find himself in the same kind of trouble behind the offensive line that Brissett was in through the first five weeks of the season.
The offensive line has allowed sacks on 13.29% of their pass attempts. But there have been plays where Brissett has held onto the ball too long, causing him to miss wide-open receivers. Through five games, Brissett has completed 58.5% of his passes and thrown for 696 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Maye made one appearance this year in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ blowout loss to the New York Jets on “Thursday Night Football.” He completed 4-of-8 passes for 22 yards and added 12 rushing yards on two carries.
The Denver Broncos kept the momentum rolling as they steamrolled the Las Vegas Raiders, 34-18, on Sunday. The Denver defense hammered the Raiders so severely th
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