Drake Maye Shares Lesson Josh McDaniels Is Imparting On Him Before First Playoff Action

All signs thus far suggest Drake Maye is ready to play well on a bigger stage, and he’s going to get an opportunity to do that in January.

The second-year quarterback, at the center of the New England Patriots’ remarkable turnaround, will make his postseason debut next month. He, along with a bevy of other Patriots, will be playing in the playoffs for the first time on the heels of a disastrous, hopeless 2024 campaign.

In the meantime, the Patriots still have regular-season business to take care of. Though they already punched their ticket to the postseason, the division and first-round bye remain up for grabs. So, the final two games against lackluster opponents, the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, still mean something for Maye and Co.

To that end, Maye told the media Tuesday how Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is prepping him for his first playoff run as the regular season winds down.

“Yeah, I think it’s really important,” Maye said, via a team-provided transcript, of playing well in the final regular-season games. “Coach McDaniels has talked to me about improving and getting better in practice as you reach the end of the season and reach playoff time. You want to feel like you’re improving in practice, and guys are practicing hard. That translates to the game.

“You want to practice well during the week, and you always feel like you play the best when you have a good week of practice. So, it’s really big on continuing a little winning streak these last couple games, heading into the playoffs feeling good about ourselves and feeling like we’ve still got some work to do.”

Of course, McDaniels would know a thing or two about the subject, given his long history with Tom Brady. Though his quarterback-whispering ability wasn’t on display when the Mac Jones-led Patriots last appeared in the postseason, the fact that team even got to the playoffs was an accomplishment in and of itself.

Now that he has a budding star at quarterback and a team that’s been rolling all season, a perfect opportunity awaits McDaniels to prove once again how he can steer an offense past a gauntlet of the NFL’s best defenses.