Patriots QB Drake Maye showed clear improvement in win over Dolphins

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- In a celebratory New England Patriots locker room following a 33-27 win over the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, where music was blaring and players celebrated owner Robert Kraft presenting Mike Vrabel a game ball for his first win as New England head coach, receiver Stefon Diggs took stock of another top storyline of the day.

A top question was how quarterback Drake Maye would respond after an up-and-down season opener.

"[He's] growing up. I feel like he made a jump from last week, just settling in," Diggs said. "It's hard being a young quarterback, but I feel like he is doing the best job he can, and obviously four incompletions, that's something to be happy about."

Maye finished 19-of-23 for 230 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions, while adding 10 rushes for 31 yards and a touchdown. He was the first Patriots player with two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in a game since Tom Brady in Week 2 of 2019, also against the Dolphins.

Unlike last week, when he threw high on the initial third down of the game, Maye was dialed in early leading to touchdowns on the Patrfirst two drives to help achieve their goal of a faster start.

But he might have been at his best late in the third quarter when the game seemed to be slipping away from the Patriots. The Dolphins led 20-15 and the Patriots took over at their own 17-yard line and after their sixth penalty of the quarter -- a holding infraction by rookie left guard Jared Wilson -- it set up second-and-12 from the New England 15-yard line.

The home crowd was rocking, and in a game Vrabel described as a "street fight," Maye delivered a jab and haymaker to showcase the growth Diggs referenced.

Instead of trying to get it all in one chunk, Maye dumped off to running back Rhamondre Stevenson for 9 yards, and then on third-and-3, he evaded pressure and delivered a strike to Stevenson up the right sideline, with Stevenson making a grab for a 55-yard catch-and-run crowd silencer.

"I thought I overthrew it at first, and he made a great play," Maye said.

Stevenson felt the play was made from repetition on the practice field.

"That's a play me, all the running backs and Drake and all the quarterbacks have been working on all offseason," he said. "Just dialing that up. So I was excited to be in the game when they called it and make a play."

Two plays later, Maye scrambled around right end for a 6-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 23-20 lead, which set up a wild fourth quarter including a 73-yard Dolphins punt return for a touchdown by Malik Washington to go up 27-23, before running back Antonio Gibson answered immediately after with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put the Patriots back on top 30-27.

In the perfect Patriots world, Maye and the offense would have drained the clock after linebacker Marte Mapu's interception with 2:21 remaining, but they instead turned to Andy Borregales for a 53-yard field goal and leaned on the defense to hold on.

Vrabel, who had mentioned that Maye needed to be "precise and not perfect" in the week leading up to the game, referenced the team's 12 accepted penalties (including four false starts) when assessing Maye's performance.