The Patriots will host the Texans in the divisional playoff round on Sunday.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has been quick to correct mistakes this season.
In his playoff debut, the mistakes included Maye losing a fumble — while putting another ball on the ground — despite a 16-3 win. As the attention has turned to correcting those for round two, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is confident that his quarterback will bounce back.
“There’s a lot we’ve talked about this all year, the balance of, we love that he ran for 66 yards and handled the ball in those situations and converted on third and short and all the rest of it. I’ve tried really hard not to talk out of both sides of my mouth, where I’m saying, ‘Hey, don’t do this, but do that.‘ Or clap when it goes good and be upset when it doesn’t,” McDaniels said.
“He knows the priority. He knows the importance of taking care of the football and ending every drive with some form of a kick would be ideal for us this week. He understands that. So I trust him implicitly to do the right thing for our football team. I know he’s prepared. I know he’s preparing his butt off right now, and he’ll be ready to go.”
Maye’s preparation is centered on a Texans defense that McDaniels called the best and fastest across all three levels that they’ve faced all season.
That unit is led by the “best duo” in the league along the edge in Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter, who will look to get the ball out of Maye’s hand for the second straight week.
“They have length, they have speed, they have power. I think the thing nobody talks enough about is the effort they play with. That’s elite,” McDaniels said. “The effort that they play with is elite and we’re going to have to match the effort and play to the whistle on every play because they make a lot of plays because they play harder than you do. They play longer than you do. We’ve seen that. It’s clear to see — put on any Texan game.”
To walk out of Gillette Stadium Sunday with a win, McDaniels said the Patriots will need to play their best game of the season offensively. With Drake Maye under center, the offense is confident that will happen.
“With him at quarterback anything is possible,” Kayshon Boutte said.
Category: General Sports
