The New England Patriots' abysmal 34-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 12 guaranteed they would finish with a losing record for the third straight season.
The Patriots are 3-9 and sit at the bottom of the AFC East standings. Despite the setbacks in Sunday's win, plus the fact that the Patriots have zero chance to make the playoffs, the final five games of the regular season are still important to the team's future.
Each game is a chance for rookie quarterback Drake Maye to develop his exciting skill set and gain valuable experience. Maye has only started seven games, but he's already shown plenty of signs that he's capable of becoming a franchise quarterback in the near future.
The No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft has completed 65.6 percent of his pass attempts for 1,458 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He's also used his athleticism to great effect, tallying 286 yards (8.7 per carry) and one touchdown on the ground.
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What things must Maye and the offense as a whole work on over the remainder of the season?
Former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer highlighted a couple key areas during Wednesday night's episode of NBC Sports Boston show The Gameplan.
One of them was simply: Do the little things right. More specifically, get rid of pre-snap penalties. It's incredibly tough to beat any NFL team when you have so many self-inflicted wounds, such as penalties and turnovers. For example, the Patriots had 10 accepted penalties for 75 yards, in addition to two turnovers, in their loss to the Dolphins.
"I think the easiest thing to do is just do the little things right. No pre-snap penalties," Hoyer explained. "Don't put yourself in bad situations, because ultimately, who that makes it hardest for is the quarterback, because when you're first-and-15, second-and-20, whatever that is, the quarterback, for the most part, is gonna have to make some plays to kind of dig you out of that hole.
"Let's just see what they do when they run the ball. What can you do to get the offense going? Well, let's run the ball, kind of stay on track, keep moving and then just play turnover-free football."
Not every turnover has been Maye's fault. For example, some of his fumbles lost were the result of him getting crushed because the offensive line failed to block the pass rush. But he does have 12 turnovers -- seven interceptions, five fumbles -- in seven starts, and that number is way too high.
The Patriots are not a high-powered team offensively, and because of that, their margin for error is very slim. This makes each possession vital, and it also helps explain why turnovers hurt this team so much.
"Look, as a quarterback, you're not trying to turn the ball over, but you don't wanna go in the game and say, all right, I'm gonna protect the ball today, because then you play timid," Hoyer said.
"I think it just comes with experience and Maye understanding when I can take a chance, when I can't take a chance, how to hold the ball in the pocket, things like that. But doing the little things will go a long way in building towards next year."
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Another objective for the Patriots over their final five games should be to evaluate every player and determine which guys will make up the core going forward. This is especially true for the rookies, including wide receivers Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker. Polk has one or zero catches in seven straight games and has struggled with penalties. Baker has barely earned any playing time at wide receiver. The Patriots need to find out what they have in these players so the front office can make informed decisions over the offseason.
"One big thing is gonna be -- you have to evaluate some of these young guys because you gotta know if they're gonna be a part of the team next year," Hoyer said.
"So that's Ja'Lynn Polk, Kayshon Boutte, Javon Baker. At some point, you're gonna have to say -- all right, put them out there and either sink or swim, because your big offseason projects are gonna be, who are you putting around Maye to allow him to be successful going forward?"
The Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in a winnable Week 13 matchup before getting a much-needed Week 14 bye. They end the season with two games against the Buffalo Bills, plus matchups versus the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Chargers.
These opponents give the Patriots the second-toughest remaining schedule in the league. It's a challenging road to the finish line. But these are important games for the franchise. If Maye takes positive steps forward over these six weeks, the team will benefit greatly in the short and long term.
