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By John Sapochetti
NEFJ Contributor

In wins over the Chargers and Texans, Maye completed only 58.9% of his passes, far below his league leading 72% completion rate during the regular season.

Maye has thrown 4 touchdowns in the two playoff wins, however, he’s also thrown two interceptions.

But, the biggest concern has been ball security within the pocket. In the two playoff games Maye

has fumbled 6 times, losing three. This is the area that the potential NFL MVP has to clean up immediately and going forward.

As the Patriots prepare for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Broncos in Denver, I got the opportunity to speak with former Boston College and Patriots quarterback Scott Mutryn about Maye’s ball security.

“His hand size, although smallish, is not the issue. It’s how he climbs the pocket and the way he holds the ball when he runs. He needs to have two hands on the ball when he climbs and hold it closer to his body so defenders can’t swipe it away. When he decides to run he needs to tuck the ball better. Control the three points hand, elbow and chest.”

“It’s more lackadaisical than anything but in the pocket he needs to be tighter with the ball.”

Mutryn, the current Boston College Football Radio analyst also reminded us that Drake Maye is still a work in progress.

“This is part of the learning curve for him. NFL guys get there quicker and his athleticism got him away from others so he didn’t worry about guys chasing him. His clock needs to be better and he needs to understand sometimes you just have to take the sack.”

Mutryn added: “His turnovers in the pocket are him trying to do too much and not taking the sack, but sometimes defense wins and you need to get to the next one. His climbing the pocket this year has helped him a ton and too many young QBs want to go outside which doesn’t work in NFL. But when you climb in the pocket you need two hands on the ball.”

Maye acknowledged on Wednesday that he needs to make ball security a priority.

“I think just work on it in practice. Be mindful back there and just know that my job is to protect the football, and that’s every game. I think one of the biggest things with the guys up front is it’s my job to have a timer in my head, and those guys have done a great job all year. So, I haven’t lost trust in those guys up front, and I know that we faced some pretty good edge rushers in the past couple weeks. I know we’ve got another good set of edge rushers coming up this week. So just know, have a feel for it and just protect football because that’s my job.”

This week’s opponent, the Broncos, led the league in quarterback sacks (72). In the two playoff games Maye has been sacked 10 times.

This matchup of the Patriots pass protection against the Broncos pass rush will go a long way in deciding who will represent the AFC in Super Bowl LX.