Patriots QB Drake Maye
PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK DRAKE MAYE
PRESS CONFERENCE
January 1, 2025
Q: How are you feeling, and what’s your approach to this final game?
DM: I’m feeling good. I’m feeling good. I’m excited to get out here at practice. One more opportunity. Happy New Year to y’all. I’m excited to get another chance to play an opponent we know. We played them here just recently. One last time with this team. This team, we’ll never be together. Same team, same guys, same squad going out there one more time at home, so looking forward to getting another chance at these guys, looking forward to getting a chance to fight a good opponent.
Q: Would you understand if you didn’t play the whole game? Have you talked at all about that yet?
DM: Yeah. I’m preparing like I’m the starter. I think I’m going to be the starter, so I’m looking forward to being out there. I’m ready to go out there and win and compete in a close game. I want to be out there. You get experiences in these close games that you can’t replicate in practice. You can’t get those reps anywhere else. So, looking forward to, like I said, getting one more chance at these guys and end off on a good note.
Q: Drake, Jerod said basically if you’re healthy, you’ll play. Do you have any reason based on how you feel to think you wouldn’t play?
DM: No, I feel great. I woke up feeling good, thank the good Lord. It’s another day to get out here, and I’m looking forward to getting out there Sunday.
Q: When you met with AVP [Alex Van Pelt], Coach [Ben] McAdoo and [T.C.] McCartney this morning, did they indicate any division of snaps in your meetings in your meetings this morning?
DM: No. We just watched the Bills. We watched the Bills tape and went over the base-down game plan. So, there wasn’t really much talk on that. So, like I said, I’m going out there, I’m healthy to play, I’m going to play, and that’s what I’m focused on.
Q: Drake, with one game left in your rookie season, is there anything in particular you’re looking to show, improve or work on? It’s one last game. What do you hope to accomplish?
DM: Yeah, it’s always another game to work better in situations, work better on third downs, work better in protections on third downs, work better on base-downs, run checks, work better against Cover 0 – the Bills bring some of that. Working against different zones, working with our guys. Hopefully, some of these same guys are going to be out here next year. So, working with the guys, getting game reps, getting reps against 1-on-1 coverage and little things like that. You’ve always got a chance to go out there and improve for next season and going into the offseason. So, looking forward to a chance to give these guys some opportunities and watch them make some plays.
Q: Drake, where do you feel like you’ve improved the most over the course of the year?
DM: I think that’s tough. I think that’s a tough question. I think it’s hard to gauge myself. I think I’m just trying to attack each and every day, try to improve little things here and there throughout games, try to still protect the football better. I think that’s something I need to improve on. What I would improve on, I think just playing the role as quarterback, being a quarterback in the National Football League. I’ve learned a lot from Jacoby [Brissett]. He’s been a huge help with studying the call sheet, studying how to prepare, how to handle guys in the locker room, how to handle a huddle and how to have a kind of voice and command. Shoot, even when I’m up here in the media, don’t sound timid or shy. I think I’ve kind of grown into that, and that’s been my personality, but I think it kind of took a while for it to come out.
Q: Drake, can you believe that it’s Week 18? What’s it like finally being in this final week of the season?
DM: Yeah. I mean, I was just telling them it flies by. It’s like we were just sitting there in the quarterback room and going over some of the base plans before training camp. We even brought up rookie minicamp today where I threw a flat on one play where it’s not even designed to throw a flat and how far we’ve come. So, it’s been awesome. I think there’s a lot of learned experiences. Obviously, it’s been a frustrating season. It’s been a tough season, a lot to learn from, but I’m excited. I can kind of see where it’s going, and I’m excited for these guys to get, like I said, one last chance to get out there and play on Sunday.
Q: Drake, obviously, you weren’t quite as productive or efficient on Saturday. What do you think was affecting your game last week?
DM: Like I said, I just really didn’t get in the rhythm. I think getting in the rhythm, I think that’s part of easy completions, finding these completions. It’s partly on me, and I think just offensively, we didn’t execute. We didn’t execute. They were a good defense; obviously, they’re top defense in the league for a reason. They had good players, and I think we just didn’t execute. We had a chance where we could move the ball on them some and had a chance to make some plays; I think we just didn’t execute. My ball placement can be better, and against the blitz, I can be better and little things in that area.
Q: Drake, one of the things about the growth of a player is avoiding the same mistake twice. Do you feel you’ve done that, or are there mistakes that you’ve made a couple times that you just hit yourself in the head and say, ‘Why did I do that?’
DM: Yeah, I’d like to say that I haven’t made the same mistake twice, but I think there’s definitely times where if you bring up the clip, hold the clicker the last time and say, ‘Hey, this is the same thing twice in a row.’ So, I’ve definitely felt like I’ve improved in certain areas of trying not to take sacks, trying to get in field goal range, trying to protect the ball and not try to throw it into tight coverage or endangered coverage. But at the same time, I think there’s always ways to look back. I think watching film after the season and watch all my sacks or watch all my interceptions and can see, ‘Hey, with this look or this scenario, just sometimes throwing it away, throwing it out of bounds or throwing a check down could be better.’
Q: Drake, when you look over your rookie season and working with Alex Van Pelt, what do you think is the biggest lesson you’ve taken from him directly as somebody who’s helped you develop as a quarterback this year?
DM: I think that’s a great question. I think some of what AVP does every day is he brings it every day. I think that’s part of something that the quarterback, you’ve got to bring it every day. It doesn’t matter. As the quarterback of the team, these guys look to you, and it’s within the title of bringing it every day and bringing juice. Even when you’re 3-13, you’re bringing it every day and still approaching it the same way. I think AVP has done a great job of telling me throughout the games as well, ‘Hey, you just threw an interception; hey, you’re still the same guy. Still go out there and rip it.’ He’s done a great job of kind of putting confidence in me, kind of instilling that and realizing that you’ve got to play with confidence in this league to play quarterback.
Q: Does it feel like defenses are starting to anticipate you rolling out a little bit more, and is there an emphasis at all for you to stay in the pocket, or are you just kind of really trying to play however the defense defends you?
DM: Other than the first one, I think that first throw down I may have left early. But really other than that, I think stunts, I think the guy would have came free regardless. So, I think staying in the pocket. I mean, I’m trying to be a pocket passer, but at the same time, I think there’s times for scramble plays. So no, I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily leaving early at a very high tendency or high number of times. So, I definitely think that’s an area I try to stay – what’s the word?
Q: Disciplined?
DM: Yeah, disciplined isn’t the word I was looking for, but yeah, disciplined to not kind of get out of there. They’re kind of hunting the rush up for me to scramble. So, I’m trying to stay in the pocket and make plays when they come.
Q: If you were to look at the last game at North Carolina, your motion, your fundamentals, all those things, and then look at this previous game, just some of the things, what would be one or two things that would really stand out from the way that you altered anything from then to now?
DM: Yeah, I think just being more definitive in my feet, decisive drops, decisive eyes, decisiveness in general. I think there’s a lot of times I’m kind of hopping back there in college and trying to be decisive, plant my feet and let it go. In the NFL, I think you’ve got to play on time. You’ve got to play with anticipation. So, I think, like I said, I feel like I see it well, and I’ve got good feel. So, I think just getting more and more reps in this offense, being able to change some stuff and hopefully get to that level. So, there’s a lot of area for me to grow in this offense, and I appreciate what AVP, T.C. and those guys have done.
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