Can the Patriots manage time better in Drake Maye's debut?

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Short-term thoughts and notes surrounding the New England Patriots and the NFL:

1. Clockwork: Do the Patriots have a time management problem?

As coach Jerod Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt thought about solutions to hopefully end a four-game losing streak in Sunday's home game (1 p.m. ET, CBS) against the 4-1 Houston Texans, they pondered this question.

Twice in their first five games, the Patriots had the ball deep in their own territory late in the second quarter, with their opponent having all three timeouts each time. The Patriots' approach backfired in both situations.

“Our performance throughout the season at the end of the half simply has to be better,” admitted Mayo.

In a 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks in Week 2, the Patriots were at their own 8-yard line with 1:37 left until halftime. They ran for two yards on first down and the Seahawks didn't call a timeout, allowing the clock to run down to 58 seconds before quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw two incomplete passes.

That left the Seahawks with all three timeouts as they took over at their own 49-yard line after a punt with 35 seconds left. They all used it to set up a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the half – points that made the difference in the game.

After the loss, Mayo said it would be a real loss if the team didn't learn from some of its mistakes, such as this one.

But when a “copy” of the situation emerged in last Sunday's 15-10 loss to the Dolphins, the Patriots didn't change their approach – and their execution didn't improve either.

In this case, they had the ball at their own 5-yard line with 1:50 left before halftime. Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 8 yards on first down and the Dolphins didn't call a timeout. So the clock went down to 1:14 when the Patriots snapped the ball on second down, with Brissett throwing an incomplete throw down the right sideline to rookie receiver Ja'Lynn Polk to stop the clock.

Then, with 1:09 left, Brissett threw incomplete again, eventually giving the Dolphins the ball back at their 44-yard line with 55 seconds left. While Miami fumbled the snap on a field goal attempt, the Patriots' offensive strategy resulted in the defense playing seven extra snaps – which caught up with them in the fourth quarter when they fatigued.

Van Pelt discussed his thoughts on this sequence.

“Personally, I’m still a little torn on this,” he said. “We had two chances to get 2 yards to get a first down. We took a shot there with one of our best wideouts on a corner and gave him a chance. We didn't win on the route and didn't make it. We had to make the third throw and may have had an opponent who couldn't reach it. And now we are confident that we will make it. We decide to run it or pass it.

“In hindsight, you let the ball run there and chew up a little more time on the clock. It's that fine line between being aggressive or saying, 'I'm just going to run the ball here and try to take advantage of the clock and put us in our place.' Half time.' We weren’t productive on offense during the passing game, so I was probably a little more aggressive than necessary at that point.”

Van Pelt's preference is to be aggressive, as is his own style of play as a record-setting quarterback at the University of Pittsburgh, but the Patriots aren't built to play that way right now. The previous regime's personnel missteps put it in a compromising position and will take time to resolve.

So it's a challenge to truly assess the work of Van Pelt, who spoke candidly about his ups and downs in his first year as a full-time playcaller with the Bills since 2009.

“I feel like I put us in some good situations. I've had some bad decisions. “Obviously the Jets game haunts me a little bit, some of the decisions in that game,” said Van Pelt, who admitted he needed to rely on the run more in the Week 3 loss.

“We all want to get better together. I have to get better at situational football,” he said.

2. “Excited for 10”: One of the themes in the Patriots' locker room at the end of the week was summed up by a veteran player who said, “I'm looking forward to 10.” No. 10, of course, is rookie quarterback Drake Maye, who makes his first career start on Sunday and whose agility and strong arm to bring the ball upfield gave players a different feeling at training last week, according to players. Mayo felt a “renewed sense of energy” throughout the team — even without injured running back Rhamondre Stevenson (who was sidelined with a foot injury) — and now the question is whether that will impact the game.

3. Challenged WRs: The Patriots' wide receivers have the fewest catches (39) and receiving yards (342) in the NFL. Will the team's move to Maye — starring Polk, sophomore Kayshon Boutte and standout DeMario Douglas — help boost those numbers?

They have been challenged to show it and a team source said this week: “The ball is coming (on time) so let's see what you've got.”

One criticism of risk-averse quarterback Brissett in the first five games was that he sometimes held the ball too long.

Jerod Mayo: New feeling of energy as Drake Maye has had a few good days of training. pic.twitter.com/FzEyyfrwdX

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 11, 2024

4. Power on Paprika: Patriots owner Robert Kraft was a guest on “The Breakfast Club,” a national morning radio show, where he promoted his just-launched “#TimeOut Against Hate” campaign and also discussed the safety of Jabrill Peppers, who is on the commissioner's exempt list were set.

“When you read the (police report) for the first time, it turns your stomach. “Once he gets on the commissioners' exemption list, they will do their independent review. There is some evidence that this was a fabrication and a lot of what has been reported is not accurate… We want to know the facts.”

5. Mapu as Phifer: Safety Marte Mapu, the 2023 third-round pick from Sacramento State, gained widespread respect from coaches and teammates after coming off injured reserve last week and playing all 78 defensive snaps while also wearing the green dot on his team as the primary communicator Helmet wore the sideline. Mapu had missed all but the first practice of training camp due to a calf injury that the team later announced.

His quick but physical style of play and unique role — part safety, part linebacker — had defensive backs coach Brian Belichick thinking about one of the underrated players of the team's early championship years.

“Like a Roman Phifer type back in the day,” Belichick said. “(Phifer) was less of a (traditional) linebacker and more of an athletic linebacker who could cover tight ends. That was obviously a different era – a lot more '21 personnel' (2 backs, 1 tight end) and you played with three 'linebackers' per snap.

“I love what Marte does for us. Obviously he plays in the box some of the time, but he also plays safety and can move around the defense. That’s what’s special about a player like that, who can be so versatile for us.”

Question: Any news on Christian Barmore?

Jerod Mayo: “He’s making progress. He still has to overcome some checkpoints or hurdles.”

Q: Do you think there's a better chance of Christian playing at some point this season than there was a few weeks ago?

Mayo: “I would say 'yes'.”

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 11, 2024

May 6th 7th: Since 2000, Maye will be the seventh Patriots quarterback to make his first career start, joining Tom Brady (2001), Matt Cassel (2008), Jimmy Garoppolo (2016), Brissett (2016), Mac Jones (2021) and Bailey Zap (2022). It was probably no coincidence that last week in the gym the Patriots played Brissett's first career start – a 27-0 victory over the Texans in Brissett's rookie season.

“Hopefully he has the same result,” Brissett said.

7. Andrews/Strange Link: Longtime Patriots center David Andrews is scheduled to travel to Colorado to undergo shoulder surgery from Dr. Matthew Provencher, giving him the best chance of playing in 2025. Andrews explained on his “Quick Snap” podcast that he tore a previously repaired rotator. So the plan is to put a protective cover over it in the hopes that the muscles will grow back. When he returns to the Patriots after surgery, he plans to rehab and work closely with 2022 first-round pick Cole Strange in his transition to learning the center position.

Strange, who has exclusively played guard at this point, is viewed as a potential center for the future as Andrews begins his 11th (and possibly final) season in 2025. Should Strange ultimately become his successor, it would be a notable part of Andrews' already impressive team legacy.

8. London Plans: From a travel perspective, this week will be a different one for the Patriots as they face the Jaguars at London's Wembley Stadium next week. They plan to travel to London after Thursday's training in Foxborough and then have training in the UK on Friday, where Mayo and Maye will also speak to international reporters that day.

With that in mind, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said he was already preparing for the Jaguars late last week, which is standard operating procedure for him.

9. Did you know? Part I: Maye turns 22 years, 44 days old on Sunday, making him the youngest quarterback to start a regular-season game for the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe in the Week 18 1993 season finale against the Dolphins. Bledsoe was 21 years and 322 days old.

10. Did you know? Part II: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this will be the first NFL game in which Mayo's Patriots team hosts the DeMeco Ryans' Texans team on Sunday since September 30, 1990, when Art Shell and the Raiders defeated Mike Ditka Leading Bears team 24:10.