What a Sunday!
The Patriots manage to leave Miami with a win for the first time since 2019.
This was also the first time the team put 30+ points on the scoreboard since October 2022.
Here are my biggest takeaways from an eventful and exciting game at Hard Rock Stadium, with New England leaving with a 33-27 victory under their belts.
The Drake-down
This is the best game of football I have seen Drake Maye play since he entered the NFL, and the analytics seem to support that idea.
He was the 4th-highest-rated starting QB in the league this week per PFF, with a grade of 83.6. He also put up his highest QBR, EPA, EPA/per play and passer rating of his career.
Maye was also responsible for three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) and only four incompletions. Safe to say, it was an excellent performance from a young passer who, contrary to last week, looked comfortable and in control.
Admittedly, it was against a very poor Miami defense, but nonetheless, Drake looked fantastic. As a Pats fan, I will take that right now.
Missed tackles
In my preview of this game, I noted that the Patriots’ tackling in coverage was very poor in Week 1. The primary offenders were linebackers, with Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss missing a combined six tackles.
The good news is that they did not miss six tackles between them this week. The bad news is that they missed eight.
Spillane currently has eight missed tackles – highest in the NFL – in 119 snaps, which is a shock. Last season, he had only 10 in more than 1,000 snaps. Disappointingly, Elliss has the second highest number of missed tackles in the league.
On a more positive note, marquee free agent signing Milton Williams looks like a monster and worth every penny.
