Patriots Analysis

Ten Takeaways From the Patriots 41-21 Loss to the Texans

Published

1 month ago

October 13, 2024

New England Patriots quarterbacks Drake Maye, Jacoby Brissett, and Joe Milton III

The New England Patriots started the season with an improbable road win over the Cincinnati Bengals and a Gatorade shower for head coach Jerod Mayo for his first NFL win. The good times did not last long in New England. They lost in overtime to Seattle in Week 2. The Jets embarrassed them on Thursday Night Football in Week 3. San Francisco beat them with ease in Week 4. Miami looked awful against New England in Week 5 but was still good enough to beat the Patriots.

New England headed into this week’s game against the Houston Texans on a four-game losing streak and in jeopardy of falling out of contention before Columbus Day. They turned to rookie quarterback Drake Maye in the hopes of sparking something for the Patriots or at least distracting people from everything that was going wrong for the franchise. Maye did excite in his starting debut, but it was far from enough to overcome the superior Texans, who prevailed 41-21.

Ten takeaways from the Week 6 matchup:

Also Read – Kelley: Is Starting Drake Maye a PR Move for the Patriots?

Excitement, Anticipation for Drake Maye’s Starting Debut

The New England Patriots started the season with a road win against the Cincinnati Bengals. They lost four consecutive games since then. Losses to the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers were not competitive. Their 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 5 was only competitive because both teams looked awful.

Patriots fans were more excited for Week 6 because it was Drake Maye’s first NFL start. Perhaps that was a reason for starting the rookie? Regardless, there was an obvious shift in enthusiasm around the team because of Maye getting the start. Having an excellent team like the Houston Texans coming to town or the team’s four-game losing streak did not damper the anticipation. Perhaps even diehard fans were not expecting miracles, but people seemed genuinely interested in the team, a feeling that hasn’t been present in recent weeks.

Here. We. Go.@DrakeMaye2 | @NFL pic.twitter.com/urf6JCjjFS

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 13, 2024

Discouraging Start for the Defense

The Houston Texans received the opening kickoff of the game. It took them 14 plays and 5:47 of the game clock to go 65 yards downfield and score the game’s first touchdown. New England then went three-and-out and punted back to Houston, putting the defense back on the field after only 1:39 time of possession.

Houston’s second drive ended their second touchdown. It looked like New England held Houston to a short field goal attempt, but Marte Mapu was called for a questionable (incorrect) defensive pass interference call. Two drives, two touchdowns, 14-0 Houston Texans lead. The Patriots’ defense did exactly nothing to help keep the enthusiasm of the home crowd high, with the offense doing nothing to give them a rest. It was as poor of a start as New England could have envisoned for themself.

Drake Maye’s First Interception

Jacoby Brissett threw only one interception while starting the first five games for the New England Patriots. It took Drake Maye only two drives to equal that total. On the Patriots’ second drive, Maye overthrew DeMario Douglas and the pass landed in the hands of Texans safety Calen Bullock.

CALEN BULLOCK INT 🔐

📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/4ewEK9U2st

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) October 13, 2024

Maye finished the game with three turnovers, another interception, and a lost fumble. It should have been expected that turnovers would increase with Maye replacing Brissett at quarterback. Fortunately for New England, there were more positive plays with Maye at quarterback as well (more on that below).

New England Dodges Some Bullets

Houston did not extend their lead beyond 14 points despite their next two drives going deep into New England territory. Following Bullock’s interception, the Texans had the ball at the Patriots’ 27-yard line. Keion White made a nice stop on a Joe Mixon run, then pressure forced C.J. Stroud to throw the ball away on third down. It set up a 40-yard field goal attempt for Houston, but the usually reliable Ka’imi Fairbairn missed it wide right.

The Patriots could not capitalize on the miss. Their offense went three-and-out again (with two penalties to the offensive line thrown in). After Bryce Baringer punted it back, the Texans quickly got back into New England territory. Joe Mixon ran the first down play 59 yards to the Patriots’ 22-yard line. After an incomplete pass, Stroud found tight end Dalton Schultz in the end zone. It appeared Schultz was going to score, but the pass was knocked loose by Marte Mapu and intercepted by Marcus Jones.

The score easily could have been 24-0 Texans, but instead was only a two-score game at 14-0.

Life Before Halftime

The New England Patriots got the ball back at their 16-yard line with 53 seconds remaining in the first half. They handed to Antonio Gibson for a two-yard gain on first down. It looked like the Patriots were content heading into halftime with a 14-0 deficit. However, they opted to try and move the ball.

Drake Maye found DeMario Douglas for a 22-yard gain. After an incompletion, Houston was called for defensive pass interference (13-yard gain for New England). Maye found Douglas for another seven-yard gain. With 11 seconds remaining and the Patriots at Houston’s 40-yard line, the Texans’ defense looked like they were protecting against the New England setting up a field goal attempt. Instead, Maye found Kayshon Boutte deep for a 40-yard completion, his first NFL touchdown pass. It cut the deficit to 14-7 with New England receiving in the second half. The Patriots got dominated for most of the first half, but suddenly had life.

.@DrakeMaye2's first @NFL TD is to @KayshonBoutte1 🏈

📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/Oi7BpFvq6H

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 13, 2024

Rough Start to the Second Half

The New England Patriots carried momentum into the second half after the Boutte touchdown. But two plays into the second half, Drake Maye was sacked and fumbled on the play. Houston recovered at New England’s 10-yard line. C.J. Stroud found Stefon Diggs in the end zone two plays later for a touchdown. The Texans’ lead was back up to 14 points (21-7). New England would never get closer than the seven points they trailed by at halftime.

New England punted on their second possession of the half and Houston drove for a field goal. Austin Hooper fumbled on the first play of the next possession for the Patriots with the Texans turning that into another field goal. With 5:22 to play in the third quarter, the Houston Texans lead had increased from 14-7 at halftime to a 27-7 advantage, despite the Patriots beginning the half with the ball.

Drake Maye Didn’t Disappoint

If anyone was expecting Drake Maye to single-handedly carry the Patriots into contention, it was beyond unrealistic. That said, the New England Patriots rookie gave fans plenty to feel good about in his first NFL start. Yes, there were three turnovers. However, there were also more positive plays by the Patriots offense than New England had shown in their first five games of the season combined.

Drake Maye completed 20 of 33 passes (60.6%) for 243 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. After finding Kayshon Boutte for a touchdown to end the first half, he delivered second-half touchdown passes to Hunter Henry and DeMario Douglas.

Third Drake Maye touchdown pass of the day!

📺: #HOUvsNE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/wx1KyxB7uR

— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024

Maye led the Patriots in rushing as well, picking up 38 yards on five carries, which doubled the total of any New England running back. It was not a perfect performance from Maye by any means, but it was something to give the team and their fans something to get excited about, which has been sorely lacking in Foxboro of late.

Slopiness and Scheme Issues

The Patriots offense committed four turnovers. The defense allowed multiple big gains, failing to get containment on the edge. New England committed nine penalties in the game. Quite frankly, the Patriots are not a good enough football team to continue shooting themselves in the foot. This is especially true when they are playing a good football team like the Houston Texans.

Furthermore, the schemes of both sides of the ball left were puzzling at times. the Patriots left tackles facing Texans star edge Will Anderson Jr. one-on-one. Anderson repeatedly made New England pay for it. New England’s tight ends and/or running backs need to provide help against such mismatches. The offensive line receives a lot of blame for their pass protection, but Alex Van Pelt must scheme up something to help them out.

DeMarcus Covington’s defensive scheme relied on a lot of zone schemes. C.J. Stroud was able to pick that apart on the first two drives of the game. The lack of talent on the defensive side may have left Covington with no choice (reviewing the film will be interesting). Christian Gonzalez struggled noticeably for the first time this season. The lack of discipline has been blamed on the selfishness of players. Today, things just never seemed difficult for the Houston Texans offense. That is a problem.

Do the New England Patriots Care About Winning?

With the Patriots sitting at 1-5 and riding a five-game losing streak, people are going to start talking about tanking this week if the chatter has not already begun. Jerod Mayo has emphasized playing the best players and giving New England the best chance to win. Is that going to keep being the strategy moving forward? At some point, if things continue on this trajectory, giving players who could help long-term an opportunity makes the most sense.

Does playing K.J. Osborn over Javon Baker make sense? Austin Hooper over Jaheim Bell? The New England Patriots largely ignored the defensive side of the ball in the 2024 NFL Draft, so there aren’t many rookies who fans are craving to see on that side of the ball (rewarding players like Jaquelin Roy would be nice though).

Jaheim Bell EXTENDS for a nasty one handed grab at practice today

The Rookie Tight End got some hands 👀#Patriots #NFL #NEPats pic.twitter.com/kI9zrhcTuw

— Patriots on CLNS Media (@PatriotsCLNS) October 11, 2024

Tanking will never be encouraged here, but allowing some young players signed beyond 2024 a chance to show what they can do in place of veterans who aren’t making a positive impact needs to be considered ASAP. New England has made the switch at the quarterback position already. They can’t be afraid to make changes elsewhere as well.