Image courtesy of Jaiden Tripi/Getty Images
FOXBOROUGH – Well, that certainly was something on Thursday night in Foxborough.
The Patriots handed Jerod Mayo his first NFL win as a head coach, beating Carolina 17-3, but the real story was the lack of action the fan base got to see from Drake Maye. On the flip side, Joe Milton only fanned the flames of the chatter surrounding him early on in camp.
Maye played just the second series of the game, throwing two screens after Jacoby Brissett started the game and played one series. Meanwhile, Milton had two different scoring drives in the fourth quarter and made some highlight reel plays too.
Stunningly, the fans got a huge dose of Bailey Zappe, who has barely gotten any reps in team periods so far during training camp.
Entering the team’s fifth drive of the night in the second quarter, the Pats had -12 passing yards. Thanks to a nice punt return by David Wallis, Zappe came out for his third drive at the Carolina 30. Facing third-&-long, Kayshon Boutte went up and made a great grab along the left sideline, setting the offense up with 1st-&-G at the three. Two snaps later, Kevin Harris finally broke the scoreless stalemate, punching it in from the two with Chad Ryland adding the PAT.
Former Holy Cross superstar wide receiver Jalen Coker made his first NFL appearance on the ensuing Carolina drive and immediately had a three yard catch. Aside from an impressive half for the defense – giving up 70 and three first downs – against guys that probably won’t be in the league in a few weeks – there was nothing else to write home about.
“Yeah, that was always the plan,” Mayo said postgame of the QB snap distribution. “The plan was to get him in there for one series, to get Jacoby in there for one series and then really turn it into the Zappe show and the Joe show. That was the plan going in.”
“Coach Mayo lets the offensive coaches decide,” said Maye. “(The quarterbacks) talk to AVP and then Coach Mayo. From that point on, the conversation was kept in-house.”
For those hoping Milton would at least get the crowd going in the second half, it was Zappe again for the first two drives of the half, both quite uninspiring. Milton finally made an appearance with 4:12 left in the third. It didn’t take long for Milton Magic to electirfy Gillette Stadium.
After hitting Javon Baker for a five yard hitch on his first snap and then finding Terrell Jennings on a little roll out, Milton pulled off his best Tommy Castellanos impression. The big QB found himself in trouble, rolled out, then had to run backwards before finding a lane and sprinting for 12 yards and a first down. The crowd roared and everywhere, radio and TV hosts salivated at the idea of programing on Friday revolving around a QB controversy between this year’s two first rounders.
Ultimately, the 11 play drive stalled early in the fourth quarter and Joey Slye banged home a 42 yard field goal to make it 10-0. Milton’s second drive came about three minutes later and included another impressive scramble early. Jennings put on a nice display with some chunk runs and the offense quickly found itself at the Panthers’ 40. With 9:00 remaining, Milton fired a seed to JaQuae Jackson for a 38 yard touchdown on a double move to make it 17-0.
What felt like a showcase to hopefully find a trade partner and move on from Zappe turned into an “oh, what do we have here?’ night for Milton. Ultimately, Drake Maye is most likely still the future, but the only thing anyone will be talking about locally until Philadelphia rolls into town for practice and a game next week is what we didn’t see from the No. 3 overall pick and what we did see from the sixth rounder.
“I had a lot of fun” said Milton. “It’s a blessing. A lot of people where I’m from, they dream of being in this situation. It means a lot.”