DHL Dan CCLXXXIII - Tom Terrific II?

That's where Shank seems to be heading with this week's Picked Up Pieces column:

Will second-year QB Drake Maye do for the Patriots what Tom Brady did 24 years ago? And other thoughts.

Picked-up pieces while waiting for Sunday night’s kickoff at Gillette . . .

⋅ It was 24 years ago in a January snowstorm, and New England’s kid quarterback was a complete unknown, playing his first playoff game, a weekend, prime-time special against a West Coast team that came into the league in 1960, same year as the Boston Patriots. The New England Patriots of 2001 hadn’t won a playoff game in four years, and no one knew what to expect from a quarterback who was only two years out of college.

The Patriots won that night, beating the hated Raiders, 16-13, in overtime — the final game in the history of old Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium — and the next day’s Boston Globe featured a Page 1 story by yours truly, which started, “With wonderboy Tom Brady at the controls, the Patriots magic bus rolled on a carpet of packed powder last night. It appears the football gods won’t stop pushing this team until it arrives in New Orleans for Super Bowl XXXVI.”

Moronic hyperbole, for sure. Only a dope truly believed that Brady and the 2001 Patriots were bound for the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory.

Here we are almost a quarter of a century later, and the Patriots are sending 23-year-old Drake Maye — two years out of college — out to face the Chargers on “Sunday Night Football” at Gillette Stadium. It’ll be the first playoff game of Maye’s young career and it’s hard to know what to expect from a kid who might end up being MVP of the NFL for 2025.

Passing The Torch

... or hopping on the bandwagon?

After Drake Maye’s electric fourth quarter in Patriots comeback, consider the torch passed from Tom Brady

BALTIMORE — This was a Tom Brady/MVP moment for Drake Maye.

The young, upstart Patriots were staggering. They blew a 21-point lead to the Bills last weekend and were on the brink of a disastrous Sunday Night Football loss to a 7-7 Ravens team playing without two-time MVP Lamar Jackson.

The reeling Elvises trailed, 24-13, at the start of the fourth quarter. With five minutes left, they still trailed, 24-21, and were pinned on their own 11-yard line. It looked like they were going to lose a huge December road game to a six-year backup QB named Tyler (Don’t Call Me Chet) Huntley.

It was going to be total exposure. The Fools Gold Patriots would be colored as a nice team that beat the bag out of Tomato Cans all year, but fell short against playoff-tested teams from Buffalo and Baltimore when it mattered.

Then, Maye took over and had his Brady moment. Eighty-nine yards on nine plays in 2:55. Seven completions in eight attempts, all of them dimes. Finally, he handed off to Rhamondre Stevenson, who darted 21 yards to paydirt and history.

DHL Dan CCLXXXI - The Little Brother Column

Shank makes a few interesting comparisons in this week's Picked Up Pieces column:

Note to Boston front-office folks: Draft the player with many older siblings, and other thoughts

Picked up pieces while listening to Mitch Miller Christmas carols …

⋅ There’ll be a lot of pressure on Drake Maye in Baltimore on Sunday night. He’s coming back from a lukewarm game, 5-for-12 passing for 47 yards and a pick in the disastrous second half against the Bills, trying to get the Patriots back on the winning path and perhaps advancing his MVP candidacy. Oh, and he’ll be doing it on “Sunday Night Football” against a talented, desperate team that’s coming off a 24-0 victory.

Maye is still only 23, but I think he can handle it. Never doubt the guy who grew up playing with three talented older brothers.

Call it the “George Brett Syndrome.”

Brett, Kansas City’s Hall of Fame infielder, had three older brothers, one of whom (Ken) broke in with the Red Sox and pitched in the 1967 World Series less than a month after turning 19.

Baby brother George came to the bigs six years later and was never bothered by anything. He almost hit .400 one season (.390 in 1980), won a World Series in 1985, and cruised into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1999.

Same thing with a kid named Larry Joe Bird. Larry had two older brothers and came to Boston with confidence and attitude uncommon for a quiet rookie.

DHL Dan CCLXXV - MVP! MVP!

In this week's Picked Up Pieces column, is Shank a week or two away from jumping on the Drake Maye bandwagon?

NFL MVP Drake Maye? Probably not, but his candidacy is no joke, and other thoughts.

Picked-up pieces while remembering days when Notre Dame at Boston College was a big deal around here . . .

⋅ Drake Maye for MVP?

Patriots fans certainly believe. They love the Drake. They were chanting “MVP!” late in the third quarter of last Sunday’s rout of the Browns at Gillette. Days later, oddsmakers listed Maye as the third-leading candidate for MVP, trailing only two-time winner Patrick Mahomes and last year’s winner, Josh Allen.

Count me as one who doesn’t think it’s going to happen. It’s fun, and a far cry from this time last year, when Maye had three starts under his belt for a rudderless, 2-6 team bound for 4-13, and a head coach firing. The Patriots have had only one NFL MVP in their history: Tom Brady, who won the award in 2007, ’10, and ’17. Boston Patriots Gino Cappelletti and Jim Nance were AFL MVPs in 1964 and ’66, respectively.

The NFL MVP tends to be a quarterback. Peyton Manning is the league’s MVP king with five trophies, followed by Aaron Rodgers (four), and Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, Jim Brown, and Brady, who won three each. Vikings tackle Alan Page (1971) and Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor (1986) are the only defensive players to cop the award since the Associated Press made it a regular thing in 1957.

If the Patriots keep on winning, Shank's singing a different tune in about a month.

DHL Dan CCLXVIII - Fair Or Unfair

Seeing this is a column from Shank, I'll go with unfair:

Fair or unfair, the pressure is quickly mounting on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces en route to a “big game” for the Patriots in Miami . . .

⋅ Fair or unfair, it feels like every Patriots game now is a referendum on second-year quarterback Drake Maye.

Love the Drake? Hate the Drake?

Drake is the next Drew Bledsoe. Swell.

Drake is the next Mac Jones. Boo.

Maye just turned 23. He has played only 14 NFL games, starting 13. Only once has he won a game in which he started and finished (19-3, at Chicago in November).

He is earnest, athletic, has three older brothers who are all athletes, and was anointed our franchise quarterback when the Patriots made him the third pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.

We know we have to be patient with any young NFL quarterback not named Tom Brady. We remember Bledsoe losing eight of his first nine games in 1993, then finishing his rookie season with four straight wins and taking the Patriots to the playoffs (a 20-13 loss to Bill Belichick’s Browns) in his second. Two years later, Bledsoe had the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

DHL Dan CCXXXVIII - What Might Have Been

Shank's wondering whether a late season win by the New England Patriots might've shaken up the draft board:

If not for a late-season win in 2023, the Patriots may have drafted playoff hero Jayden Daniels, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while praying the pipes don’t freeze …

▪ Three questions on this cold conference championship weekend:

1. Did Bill Belichick and Bailey Zappe inadvertently crush the Patriots on the way out the door when New England beat Denver on Christmas Eve 2023?

2. Had the Patriots drafted second instead of third last spring, would they have selected Drake Maye over Jayden Daniels?

3. At this hour, would Patriots fans rather have Daniels than Maye?

The performance of Daniels in these playoffs coupled with the nonstop news spilling out of Foxborough has me wondering how we’re going to be feeling 15-20 years from now when the dossiers of Daniels and Maye are complete.

Maye certainly made a strong showing in his limited time as New England’s starting quarterback in 2024. Surrounded by the worst roster in the NFL, he demonstrated good pocket poise, completed 67 percent of his passes, and averaged 7.8 yards when he ran. He didn’t start until Week 6 in Houston, and wound up throwing 15 touchdown passes with 10 interceptions while being sacked 34 times.

DHL Dan CCXXX - Grogan's Heroes

Shank takes a look back at the last New England Patriots quarterback who ran a lot:

Steve Grogan can tell Drake Maye all about a scrambling quarterback, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while laughing at reports that the Red Sox “have interest” in Juan Soto . . .

▪ Before Tom Brady was born, Steve Grogan was the Patriots’ franchise quarterback. And he ran with the football. A lot.

Tough guy Grogan gave the Patriots 16 hard-nosed seasons, running amok, throwing his body on the line, and living to play another week. When he retired in 1991, Grogan was the Patriots’ all-time passing leader, and his 35 rushing touchdowns still rank fourth in team history.

Like Drake Maye, Grogan was not a fan of giving himself up at the end of a run. There was no “slide rule” to protect quarterbacks in the first decade of Grogan’s career, and when the rule was introduced in 1985, Grogan didn’t like it.

“I only slid once in my career,” Grogan said from his Missouri home this past week. “It was in Pittsburgh. I got hit under the chin and got a concussion and woke up in the shower. I don’t think they even threw a flag on that play. That was the last time I slid.

I think Grogan could've played a few more years with the new rules. I remember he used to get the crap kicked out of him every other scrambling run. Here's hoping Drake Maye's a bit more judicious with his running and sliding.

The Real Deal?

That's what Shank's wondering after last week's New England Patriots loss to the Tennessee Titans:

Love or hate the Drake, you will always remember Maye’s Music City Miracle — and he looks like the real deal

NASHVILLE — Drake Maye did it all Sunday in Tennessee.

All except for the winning part.

One week after being sidelined by a concussion in the first quarter against the Jets, New England’s new franchise quarterback made his fourth career start and did a lot of everything.

With little concern for his personal safety, Maye ran the ball eight times for 95 yards, eschewing the safety slide on most occasions and coming within 5 yards of being the first Patriot quarterback in 48 years to rush for 100 (Steve Grogan, 1976).

Love the Drake!

He completed 29 of 41 passes for 206 yards and orchestrated two second-half touchdown drives.

Love the Drake!

He fumbled twice (losing one) and was intercepted twice.

Hate the Drake!

Time To Tune In

Last week the New England Patriots announced Drake Maye as the starting quarterback. Shank's happy that he can now tune into these games:

Thanks to Drake Maye, there’s finally a reason to watch these Patriots

We have seen Patriots Future and its name is Drake Maye.

Fifty years ago, The Real Paper’s Jon Landau famously wrote something like this about Bruce Springsteen and the future of rock and roll.

So let’s give it a shot now. Barring injury to Maye, or other unforeseen catastrophe, those of you who filled rainy, raw Gillette Sunday are going to be able to say you were there for the beginning of the next Patriots playoff run.

We are natural-born cynics here in New England. We have standards. We are not yahoos.

So why does a 41-21 home-field beatdown at the hands of the Houston Texans feel so good? (Yikes, who gave Rochie my laptop?)

Seriously, folks. The last-place Patriots are 1-5. They are 7-23 since November 2022. They have lost eight consecutive games at Gillette. Bob Kraft is needier than ever (CBS, please stop with shots of the owner high-fiving after TDs!) and there is little to indicate that rookie head coach Jerod Mayo or retread offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt know what they are doing.

Well, having a chance to take shots at Bob Kraft's another reason for Shank to tune in...

Starting Time

The 2024 New England Patriots are 1 - 3 at this point of the season. Shank wants to throw caution to the wind:

We have seen enough: Drake Maye should take over as the Patriots’ quarterback. Now.

MayeDay! MayeDay!

The SS Kraft is taking on water. The good ship and crew are in peril and the gales of October may come early.

Serious football scholars insist we’re not supposed to talk about playing Drake Maye over Jacoby Brissett because the rookie quarterback would be permanently damaged if he were thrust into the starting role Sunday against Miami at Gillette Stadium. The No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft needs to learn by watching and it’s too much to ask him to start his NFL career behind the Swiss Cheese Five, a.k.a the Patriots’ offensive line.

We don’t care. We have seen enough. And it just keeps getting worse.

Remember Steve Martin playing Neal Page in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”? After many hours enduring John Candy’s Del Griffith character (the boring shower curtain ring salesman), Neal finally explodes and says, “I could tolerate any insurance seminar! For days, I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They’d say, ‘How can you stand it?’ I’d say, ‘Cuz I’ve been with Del Griffith. I can take anything.’

And The New England Patriots Starting QB Is...

Shank takes a look at the soap opera like debate over the starting quarterback position for the Pats:

Should the Patriots play Drake Maye over Jacoby Brissett? It’s not about who starts, it’s who finishes.

These are days of agonizing reappraisal in Patriot Nation. Who is the starting quarterback?

Veteran Jacoby Brissett or rookie Drake Maye?

Before the start of the preseason schedule, beginner coach Jerod Mayo said there was going to be a quarterback competition. With the preseason come and gone, Mayo says that Maye has outperformed Brissett. (Third-year backup Bailey Zappe, who started eight games over the last two seasons, was cut Tuesday morning.)

So who starts? And who sits?

It is a question of the ages … for the ages.

Most of you know the history. The Bill Belichick Patriots heaped too much too soon on 2021 first-round draftee Mac Jones, and Mac has been banished to NFL Siberia (Jacksonville).

The history of NFL rookie quarterbacks taking charge immediately is not great.

From there, Shank does a good job of looking back at similar situations with previous high draft pick QB's and doesn't draw a conclsion on the current Patriots' QB situation, a situation that's now moot with this morning's announcement that Brissett will be the starter for Week 1.

DHL Dan CCXX - The Heat Is On

After Thursday's preseason game with the Philadelphis Eagles, Shank points out the obvious - that New England Patriots' top rookie quaterback played fairly well (and a whole lot more then in six snaps the previous game) and it might be decision time in Foxborough:

There is going to be a lot of pressure — and soon — for the Patriots to play Drake Maye, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while reminding you that the King of Rock and Roll (Elvis Presley, 1977), the Queen of Soul (Aretha Franklin, 2018), and the Sultan of Swat (Babe Ruth, 1948) all died on Aug. 16 …

▪ Welcome to the 2024 New England Patriots, also known as “Tomato Cans R Us.”

This is Season 5 of Life After Brady and Season 1 of Life Without Bill. The Patriots are projected as NFL bottom-feeders, and it’s pretty obvious there’s going to be a lot of noise about Drake Maye between now and January.

Maye, the anointed franchise quarterback, got his first meaningful snaps of the preseason in Thursday’s 14-13 loss to the Eagles, and it gave desperate New England fans something to get excited about.

After leaving Maye on the shelf for all but seven plays of the first consumer-fraud exhibition against the Panthers (every other 2024 first-round quarterback got meaningful minutes in Week 1 of the preseason), New England’s rookie head coach, Jerod Mayo, let the 21-year-old Maye play two quarters against Philly, and it made us want to see more.

“Tomato Cans R Us” - is this the schtick Shank's gonna roll with all season? Stay tuned!

DHL Dan CCVII - Drafting Drake Maye

The New England patriots selected the North Carolina quarterback third overall in Thursday's NFL Draft, so let's see how Shank likes the pick:

Drafting Drake Maye feels very much like a Patriots ownership selection, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while remembering when the Cubs playing at Fenway would have been a really big deal . . .

▪ After the botched Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”

Strap yourselves in for the Drake Maye Experience.

In the final years of the magnificent, two-decade Tom Brady/Bill Belichick/Bob Kraft championship run, there was a lot of emphasis on legacy, on who would get the most credit for nine Super Bowls, six Lombardis, and an unmatched run of NFL dominance.

Once Brady left for Tampa, the Patriots’ narrative pivoted dramatically. Since the beginning of the 2019 season, it’s been all about carving up the blame pie. Who’s most at fault for a 29-38 record in four seasons without a playoff win? Who gets the blame for 4-13 in 2023?

The post-Brady decline of the Patriots gave birth to a wave of books and documentaries, each assigning blame and/or credit to the coach, the owner, and sometimes even the departed GOAT. It got really messy this spring with “The Dynasty,” a Kraft vanity project (described by one wiseguy as RKK’s “home movie”) that pretty much pinned all the bad stuff on the evil Hoodie.