Jacoby Brissett got hit, harassed and frustrated all night by the New York Jets‘ swarming defense.
Then the Patriots‘ veteran quarterback was pulled in favor of rookie Drake Maye, who made his NFL debut late in a lackluster 24-3 loss Thursday night.
It all left some uncertainty about who’ll be under center for New England moving forward.
“I don’t know,” coach Jerod Mayo said. “We talk every single week that you’re competing for a job. We’ll get together as a coaching staff and see where it goes.”
The Patriots (1-2) could stick with the 31-year-old Brissett, who’s looked at as mostly as a placeholder for Maye. Or New England could get the No. 3 overall pick on the field to start a bit sooner than expected. The Patriots play at San Francisco next Sunday.
“I don’t make personnel decisions,” Brissett said. “My job is to go out there and get ready to play.”
When asked what he thought about Mayo saying he was unsure whether he might make a quarterback change, Brissett refused to fuel any speculation.
“I’m not going to overreact to something I didn’t hear,” he said. “He told me he was going in. I’m not going to argue.”
Brissett was 12 of 18 for just 98 yards and was sacked five times before being pulled with 4:24 left in the game.
“I’m a big man. I can take it,” Brissett said of all the hits he took. “I always get back up. Finding ways to make plays, that’s what it comes down to. It’s football. You’re supposed to get hit. You don’t sign up for this sport to not get hit.”
Maye came in and moved the Patriots’ offense down the field during their final drive. The former North Carolina star went 4 for 8 for 22 yards and was sacked twice, with the last one ending the game.
“I thought it was a good opportunity for him to go out there with the [first-team offense] and put a few drives together,” Mayo said. “We’ll watch the film and evaluate.”
Another thing for Mayo to consider is the state of the Patriots’ banged-up offensive line.
Starting left tackle Vederian Lowe (knee) and left guard Sidy Sow (ankle) didn’t play after both were ruled out earlier in the week. Center David Andrews (hip) and right tackle Mike Onwenu (wrist) played after being listed as questionable.
Against the Jets, left tackle Caedan Wallace — starting for Lowe — and left guard Michael Jordan — starting for Sow — didn’t finish the game after being injured in the fourth quarter.
“I thought the offensive line today had a hard time,” Mayo said. “There were times early in the game when the pockets looked pretty clean. As the game went on, similar to last week [against Seattle], it started falling apart as far as the protection.”
New England was manhandled by the New York defense, and then Aaron Rodgers sliced through the Patriots for long drives throughout the night.
New York finished with 400 yards to New England’s 139 and had 27 first downs to the Patriots’ 11.
“It was bad. Bad in all phases,” Andrews said. “We didn’t play like how we wanted to play. They dictated what we wanted to do. Hats off to them. They had a good plan and played a lot better than we did tonight.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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New England Patriots
Drake Maye
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