Getting to Drake Maye
The Charlotte native is playing his hometown team for the first time in his NFL career. Drake Maye came out of Week 3 in the Top 5 of passing in the league, with 785 yards and a 72.6 completion percentage. The latter is the third-highest in the NFL.
Maye made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, on a team that had four wins. It was largely because of his ability to distribute the ball accurately and keep his team in games. That has continued this year, with Maye being asked to throw his team back into games in which they’ve been down. Just over 41 percent of his passing yardage has come after the Patriots fell behind two scores.
The Patriots drafted left tackle Will Campbell at No. 4 overall this April to protect their quarterback, and he has helped fortify the line.
“Good team,” noted outside linebacker Nic Scourton this week. “A lot of direct runs, you know, talented quarterback, obviously, they drafted Will Campbell. I’ve had competition against him in college.”
The Panthers are currently last in the league in sacks, with just 1.0. Some of that is due to Kyler Murray being considered a runner even when brought down behind the line of scrimmage. But alas, there is only one sack in the column, and the unit is looking for more. Maye was sacked five times against the Steelers, but the Panthers are entering the game without Wonnum and Jones, which doesn’t help.
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