Watching the Boston Media Freak About Drake Maye's Slow Start to Camp is the Feel Good Hit of Summer

Anthony Nesmith. Shutterstock Images.

As I reported the other day from Patriots training camp, Drake Maye has struggled at times:

For every time he's shown off his considerable and obvious arm talent:

… he's missed someone on a timing route, sailed a throw, or seemed to be slow as he went through his progression. As I'm saying this, by all accounts Maye is having a terrific bounce back day after the team had Wednesday off:

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But whether he's connecting on the entire route tree with his entire platoon of young receivers (today) or looking somewhat lost (Tuesday), how you react to his day-to-day performances in camp says very little about the rookie quarterback. And speaks volumes about you. 

And by "you," I mean the sports media. The Boston sports media specifically. They have wasted no time forming the Drake Maye Panic Industrial Complex, and have wasted no time operating at full capacity. Here is just a random sample. And as you watch these reactions, bear in mind this was after SIX practices. With a grand total of TWO of those in pads:

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And here's an "Et tu?" for my old WEEI co-host Michael Holley, who is as rational and measured when it comes to these situations as any media person I've ever met or listened to:

Just to be fair before we go any further, not everyone with a press pass is freaking the fuck out about Maye. While it's never the Molten Lava Take that will get you a million clicks and guest shots on NFL Network, some media members are actually taking a level-headed, analytic approach:

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On a certain level, I get the temptation to lose your shit after a week of training camp. Yes, patience is a virtue. But like all virtues, it doesn't give you nearly as much instant gratification as a good vice. So to that extent, losing your mind before we've even gotten to August makes sense. 

Which is the only extent to which it makes sense, when no one on earth, inside the Patriots organization or out, tried to sell anyone on the idea Maye would be under center at Cincinnati on September 8th. Sure, Jerod Mayo left the door open to the possibility weeks ago if Maye came in and lit the world on fire. But if you were expecting that, or even counting on it, let me recommend BetterHelp sessions. Because you are a danger to yourself and others and seriously in need of counseling. Any sane person understood that Mayo was talking in extreme hypotheticals and this is what the plan has been all along:

Today is August 1st. Which is significant for two reasons. Taking them in reverse order because means that nothing that happens between the goalposts behind Gillette will ever matter or be remembered beyond tomorrow morning's position meetings. First, and most importantly in a big picture sense, it means that four weeks from tomorrow is Drake Maye's 22nd birthday. If you're anything like me, when you were about to turn 22, no one could've trusted you to look after their house plants while they were away for a few days, much less run an NFL offense. Particularly an NFL offense that is undergoing a major, top-down overhaul. 

Anyone going all ADD and demanding Maye be put in the lineup as soon as possible aren't throwing him to the wolves as much as they're throwing him into the volcano while he's still a virgin (metaphorcally) in hopes the crops will grow. With all due respect to my 16th century Mesoamerican readers, that practice not only isn't effective, it costs you some really good talent you'll nee down the road. And it's worth noting that Tom Brady not only sat at the bottom of a four-quarterback depth chart for a full season, when he was finally pressed into duty he was 24.

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Just to drill down into the new system thing, Alex Van Pelt has a lot still to sort out. With the exception of David Andrews at center, the entire offensive line is up in the air. He's relying on a whole wide receiver room of first- second- and third year guys who, with the exception of Pop Douglas, haven't produced much. And he's presumably installing Kevin Stefanski's West Coast passing game with an outside zone run approach. Which is new to virtually everyone on his roster with one notable exception. 

Jacoby Brissett. Which is precisely the reason he was brought in here. 

To expect Maye to go from UNC's Air Raid system, which put him in shotgun full time and spread the field on every down, then suddenly have a full grasp of AVP's scheme five weeks before the season is fecking lunacy. Franchise suicide. The equivalent of Yoda telling Luke he's all set on the whole Force thing after a week of running around the swamps on Dagobah, and it's "Off to face Vader, you must be." 

But then again, no one ever accused the football media, Boston or otherwise, of having the patience of a Jedi Master. And once again, the hysteria is strong with these ones.