Let’s be honest: This isn’t the ideal week for Drake Maye to make his first NFL start.
The New England Patriots rookie, who was officially named the team’s starting quarterback on Wednesday, will face a fierce Houston Texans defense that leads the NFL in pressure rate on opposing quarterbacks (42 percent of snaps) and boasts the league’s lowest opposing QB completion percentage (51.7 percent).
Given the struggles of the Patriots’ offensive line — which has allowed QB pressures on an NFL-leading 48.3 percent of snaps — Maye essentially is being thrown into the fire. But there’s reason to believe he’ll avoid getting burned.
On a new Patriots Talk Podcast with Tom E. Curran, Patriots Insider Phil Perry highlighted an encouraging admission from offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who noted Maye was perfect during a live blitz period at Wednesday’s practice.
“(Van Pelt) told us on Thursday that in the blitz period on Wednesday, so the first padded practice of the week … (Maye) went …