Ignore the mistakes, Drake Maye shows the promise the Patriots were hoping for | Matt Vautour

FOXBOROUGH – Drake Maye was intercepted on a poorly thrown ball and fumbled the ball deep into Patriots territory, leading to a Texans touchdown.

He made mistakes. His stats were messy — two picks, four sacks, one fumble — and the Patriots lost the game.

Yadada yadada yadada.

That doesn't matter. That's not what this week was about.

If the Patriots wanted a cleaner stat line in the rookie's debut, they should have used him last week against a struggling Dolphins team or next week against a bad Jaguars team. There were many reasons not to start Maye this week. But once the Patriots decided to make Maye the Texans' first choice, it was now a matter of starting his development on the field.

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Part of this is eliminating the bugs from his system. These were inevitable against the Texans. You can expect them to do business with a rookie quarterback. If Maye still throws the ball too high or fumbles on November 3rd in Tennessee, then that's a bigger problem.

Given the lack of talent on the roster, the Patriots could have used John Elway, and they probably won't beat this Houston team in Week 6 of 2024. Sunday was about looking for a promise. It was about inspiring hope and giving new energy to the players on offense.

And that was the goal that Maye achieved. He had a game that sold a few number 10 jerseys and probably a few tickets as well, and that brought some light into the dark period of this season. Suddenly some games actually feel winnable.

Pop Douglas was open – VERY OPEN – near the 30-yard line as Maye scanned the field from the Houston 40 with 11 seconds left in the first half. For a split second when Maye didn't throw it, it looked like a rookie mistake.

Instead, Maye hurled the ball deep down the right sideline toward a receiver in single coverage, the type of attempt that Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe and Jacoby Brissett usually saw fail on the rare occasions they attempted it.

But Maye's throw was well out of cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.'s reach but perfectly placed for Kashon Boutte, who was able to run under it and score a 40-yard touchdown pass. Whatever Patriots fans decided late to attend because it was Mayes' first game, they were rewarded in that moment.

Maye looked confident and eager. He made some mistakes but wasn't afraid of them. He was also unwilling to celebrate a good performance that led to a bad result.

“Most of my friends and relatives, after a defeat, are still more worried about the defeat than about encouraging games. These are the people I’m with,” Maye said. “For us it’s about winning. I just hate losing. That's the big thing. I think we can take some good things from this today… We need to play complementary football and we didn't do that.”

The fact that he doesn't feel good about the game is good, but everyone else can, at least for a week.

Next week and in all subsequent games the bar will be raised. Maye is expected to build on his successes while learning from his mistakes. The honeymoon is always short. But the marriage seems to have potential.

Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.