Drake Maye showing growth as leader of Patriots

FOXBORO — Drake Maye didn’t have a great game for the New England Patriots on Sunday, but the rookie did enough against the Bears as his defense really led the charge in a 19-3 victory in Chicago. And though he made some mistakes on the field Sunday, the 22-year-old rookie is continuing to grow as a leader in the locker room for the Patriots.
Maye was good-not-great on Sunday, completing 15 of his 25 passes for 184 yards and a touchdown. He had a bad interception in the first half, which looked a lot like one of his interceptions against the Titans last week. It’s one of the repeat errors that Maye needs to cut out of his game.
But he played a solid second half, and Maye continues to make strides as a leader in New England. His biggest step in that department occurred before the Patriots even left for Chicago. 
Frustrated with how the offense looked in the team’s Wednesday practice leading up to their Week 10 tilt with the Bears, Maye addressed the team in the locker room to make sure everyone was focused on the task at hand.
During Sunday’s broadcast, Laura Okmin of Fox Sports shared that Maye asked offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt if he could address the team following Wednesday’s practice. Maye didn’t like the focus of the group during the session, and wanted to discuss it with his teammates.
“This week was a big step for Drake,” said Okmin. “He was frustrated with how practice went — he didn’t think they were as locked in as they needed to be. So he asked Alex Van Pelt if he could address the offense for the first time. Alex said, ‘The floor is yours.’ He said it was his first time he got in front of the offense. Alex said, ‘Great response. Everyone really reacted well to it.'”
Sunday was only the fifth start of Maye’s career, but the Patriots have been rallying around the rookie since Jerod Mayo made the switch from Jacoby Brissett in Week 6. The team appeared to respond to his mid-week chat in the locker room too, as they cut out a lot of the mental errors that have been plaguing them all season.
Asked about his message for the team after the win, Maye said that he wanted to make sure everyone understood how important the “little things” can be in a game. If the focus is lacking on the practice field, it will be lacking come Sunday. 
Maye said addressing the team was his way of taking “the next step” as a leader of the team.
“I think just taking that next step of being the quarterback in the offensive meeting room,” said Maye. “These little things that are adding up and hurting us in practice that are leading to game day. Just little details and focus. 
“I think sometimes you get into practice mode where you’re just running plays and not really tuned in and trying to execute specific plays. Trying to just get into a groove,” he continued.
Maye wanted to make sure that players didn’t think they were out on the practice field running plays for “nothing.”
“Just really trying to challenge those guys and challenge myself to take each play and know that when the game comes and this play is called, it matters,” he said. “There are so many times throughout the game you see how much that play can impact the turnout of the game. So, I was just trying to get through to them. 
“I probably fumbled some words trying to do it, but I think those guys respected it,” added Maye.
Maye is the first to admit that he has to make better decisions on the field. And he didn’t want to take much credit for Sunday’s win, leading off his postgame press conference by getting everyone to applaud the New England defense, which racked up nine sacks on Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams. 
 But Maye is very clearly growing as a leader of the New England Patriots.
While Van Pelt told Fox that it was the first time that Maye had addressed the offense, Mayo said after the game that it’s happened before. And each time, the team listens to what the quarterback has to say. 
“Drake has addressed the offense numerous times, I think it goes back to now he’s starting to really take control of the offense and the team,” said Mayo. “When you go out there and perform at a high level, that’s the first step. The next step is to bring others with you, and I think he’s on his way to doing that.”
While the Patriots are just 3-7 on the season and Maye is 2-3 as a starter, the future is looking bright with the young quarterback leading the charge.