R-E-L-A-X: Just Because Drake Was Bad Last Night Doesn't Mean He's Bad

I hate to go Aaron Rodgers on you all, but New England needs to take a collective deep breath. This guy in particular.

Chill out dude. Let's all do three box breaths.

Inhale for four...hold for four...exhale for four...hold for four. Repeat.

Last night sucked. I'm not here to sugar coat it. I'm not here to defend Drake Maye's poor decision making in the fourth quarter when he did the only thing that would've cost us the game three separate times, each one seemingly worse and dumber than the last.

I'm not here to stomp my foot on the ground and proclaim him to be the world beater, superstar stud that we all thought (and some - me - still think) he might be.

What I am here to say is that it's one game, the first game of the season. I'm here to plead that we don't rush to blanket judgement because of it.

In for four...hold for four...out for four...hold for four...

I'm here to say I don't think the Patriots fans have a Drake Maye problem - I think Drake Maye has a Seahawks problem.

He's not alone in that, as Seattle has the second best defense in the league behind Houston and makes a lot of QBs look bad. But if you look at some of these stats, it's clear that the Seahawks live rent free in Drake's head.

There's more too, but I can only take so much. It's clear this defense more than any other has Drake lost in the sauce.

I actually think the Pats came out with a pretty solid offensive game plan. They used the blitzes that killed them in the Super Bowl against Seattle, and got the ball out quick and in open space as much as they could. The offensive line was better than February, but still couldn't handle the Seahawks relentless pressure. McDaniels knew it, and called the game the only way the Pats had a chance.

So the first point is this: Drake needs a break from playing the Seahawks. Starting the new season against the defense that gave him nightmares all offseason was not ideal. The team that's known for creating pressure in unique ways, that Drake is still very inexperienced in seeing, clearly exposed his immaturity or lack of professional experience. This is only his second full season of playing. I'd like to think that being done with Seattle for the foreseeable future will be a breath of fresh air for the kid.

Which brings me to point 2.

Again, this is not to excuse the decisions and poor play, but this is kind of what the Patriots asked for by not playing him or any of the offense for a single snap of the preseason.

A unit that rebuffed the offensive line and brought in two new weapons on the outside you'd think would benefit from playing even one series of live football before going into one of the hardest places to play in the league on opening night. I know the joint practices get good reps, but it's still practice. You won't convince me that's the same.

Call me old school, but sitting QBs for the entire preseason is for players like Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff; veterans who've proven themselves in the league for a long time, and are truly in a high-risk no-reward situation.

A third year QB, who's only played one full season behind center, shouldn't be in that club. There's so much Drake still has to learn about the NFL (clearly), and more reps, regardless of where they come from, should be treated as a positive.

I said it in my Pats preview last week that I hated him not playing in the preseason. And last night sort of proved my point.

You think he could've used a confidence boost before going into the lion's den against the same team that flummoxed him the last time he played football? You really think the offense's first real reps of the season being live, meaningful action on the road in a hostile environment was the recipe for success?

I'm getting riled up again.

In for four...hold for four...out for four...hold for four...

I know this is the new NFL, where preseason is completely thrown aside for starters. But last night, as does every week 1 in recent memory, showed that getting first team reps before games start to count needs to count for something.

One more time, as if I haven't made myself clear, there's no excuse for that last interception (or any of them really), and this point is not referring to that specific throw. But in general, I don't think the offense was set up to succeed last night. And they certainly didn't.

If the struggles continue, my tone will change. But I'm not going to act like the sky is falling after one bad game.

Deep breaths. We're on to Pittsburgh.