Drake Maye's 'unique' trait, Joe Milton's no-look bombs and three more thoughts from the Patriots – Boston Herald

Welcome to Friday Five!

Every week during the NFL regular season, I'll be dropping five thoughts on the Patriots on Friday to recap the week in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.

Ready, set, football.

1. Drake Mayes unique trait

The fact that Drake Maye is taking 30% of the Patriots' starting quarterback reps in practice has raised eyebrows around the league and among those who follow the team.

But it's the snaps Maye sees on the scout team, where he simulates the upcoming quarterback on the Patriots' game plan and competes directly with their starting defense, that draws the attention of coaches.

“He has such a good understanding of different schemes and what people are doing. For a rookie in this league, it's like he's been around a long time and has seen a lot of offenses and quarterbacks,” Pats outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins said. “I think he is unique in that respect. It's not that common in the league for someone to be so conscientious.

“(He) wants to know about a team’s protective rules for the (scout) team and things like that. These are rare qualities.”

Maye's physical attributes – rocket arm, agility and prototypical size – were one of the main reasons the Patriots selected him at No. 3 overall. Thanks to his growing understanding of the NFL offense, those skills now shine on the field.

Fellow rookie quarterback Joe Milton recounted a throw Maye made on Wednesday in which he read off a popular 49ers high-low concept that led to an explosive pass to Kayshon Boutte on the opposite side after he got the safety to do so had brought him to jump his first read.

“The safety was right in the middle of the field and (Maye) dropped back, looked to the right and the safety just flew there,” Milton told the Herald. “He barely looked, came back and threw the backside dig route. (It was) 18 yards, and we're always (upset) about that because sometimes it's hard to manipulate as a quarterback.”

Or as Pats defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington said, “I think (Maye) deserves the trust and respect of his teammates.”

Working with the scout team, Milton also made a splash. More on that later.

Patriots extra points: Drake Maye looks “really good” in practice

2. Barmore, I'm staying busy

It's a long-standing Patriots tradition: Friday Funny.

At the end of the last defensive meeting of the week, a coach or player plays a laughing clip from a movie or television show to end the week on a high note. Nowadays they are often adopted by Instagram or Tiktok.

In recent years, a young assistant has been tasked with projecting Friday Funny onto the screen. Now there is one key player that Jerod Mayo wants to continue to include: Christian Barmore.

“(Barmore) has projects he’s working on, a lot of things like that,” Mayo said this week.

According to some teammates, Barmore — one of the more exuberant players on the team — is awesome.

“Strong, powerful videos,” Wilkins said. “After his playing career he could have a future in video editing there.”

Others have a different opinion. According to a source, Barmore has also been training as the team continues to recover from his blood clot diagnosis two months ago.

3. Play-action power-up

During their self-scouting last week, the Patriots took a close look at their play-action passing game.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jacoby Brissett completed just 10 of 16 for 126 yards on play-action passes, recorded two sacks and posted a passer rating of 87.0. Typically, play-action numbers are significantly higher than those resulting from standard dropback passes, especially for quarterbacks leading run-first offenses. Still, Patriots opponents have yet to allow a single deep completion, with most of them designed to make a play in Alex Van Pelt's offense.

According to Brissett, the Patriots believe they can crack the defense by providing more play-action with their most effective running plays.

“The last few days we've done a good job of 'self-scouting' to be able to say, 'Hey, these are the runs we're good at and these are the runs we're teams at. ' We know we are good at it and we will try to sell the games,” he said.

So what are these running games? According to sports info. Solutions: Of all the run schemes the Patriots called at least five times, their highest yards-per-carry averages came in duo (6.3) and inside zone (5.2).

NFL Notes: Patriots RB Rhamondre Stevenson is primed to live up to his longtime secret nickname

4. The Kyle Shanahan challenge

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is one of the best players and offensive players in the NFL.

That means on paper that Mayo's team will be at a disadvantage on Sunday, even if they have more time to prepare after Thursday night's defeat last week. What makes Shanahan such a difficult opponent?

According to Mayo's defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach, it's a mix of age-old schemes and excellent scouting.

“This is decades and decades, an offense built over time,” Covington said. “So you can look back to when his dad was running the offense and the coaching pedigree that he has throughout the NFL. I have a lot of respect for the way they operate on offense; the style they run, the running game, the complements, the movements, the passing game, everything they do.

Wilkins added: “They scout themselves very well so they understand their tendencies over a four, five or six game period. And then they have the counterattack. And I think that's something they're diligent about formally. As far as the game goes, all those things they do well to not have any tendencies.”