Patriots

The Patriots will throw Drake Maye into the fire against Houston, which leads the league in pressure.

Texans quarterback CJ Stroud chuckled when asked to give Patriots rookie Drake Maye advice before his first NFL start.

“Not this week,” Stroud said.

The Patriots, reeling from their fourth straight loss, opted to replace veteran Jacoby Brissett with Maye earlier this week.

They’ll throw Maye into the fire against Houston, which leads the league in pressure percentage (42 percent) and is second in passing yards per game (272.4).

The Patriots (7-0) have never lost to the Texans at Gillette Stadium. Will New England keep its streak alive in Maye’s first start?

Here are five things to look out for.

1. Maye under pressure

There aren’t many films that can use opposing defenses to evaluate Maye’s tendencies.

The Texans excel at pressuring quarterbacks. They rank in the top third of the league with 15 sacks. Five of those came against Chicago rookie Caleb Williams, who drained 41.7 percent of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats.

Even veteran quarterbacks have struggled against the Houston pass rush, as Buffalo’s Josh Allen showed last week, going 9 for 30 with 131 passing yards and one touchdown.

Meanwhile, few teams have allowed more pressure than the Patriots. Pro Football Focus has New England’s pass-blocking grade at 47.7 percent, 30th in the league. Brissett was sacked four times per game during the team’s four-game losing streak.

The Patriots hope Maye’s athleticism allows him to extend plays and make off-the-scheme throws that lead to long yardage. Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said he was confident in Maye’s understanding of the offense, overall football IQ and work ethic.

“We’ll have to wait and see if it happens in the game, but he did a good job,” Mayo said. “I feel like there’s a renewed sense of energy throughout the team, and now it’s just about Sunday, going out there and executing.”

2. The safety of New England

With Jabrill Peppers out indefinitely after being placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt list and Kyle Dugger suffering an ankle injury that forced him to miss practice Wednesday and be limited Thursday, the Patriots will be able to rely on some new faces in the secondary competition.

Undrafted rookie Dell Pettus tied for the team lead in tackles last week with nine. Jaylinn Hawkins had six solo tackles.

“I think for us, it helps the guys who aren’t necessarily starters to get starter reps and be able to go in there and play with confidence and earn the trust of their teammates and coaches,” defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington said. “There’s nothing like being out there on a Sunday and actually getting those reps.”

Marte Mapu, playing in his first game back from injured reserve, took over play-calling duties against the Dolphins.

“I think he earned the right to do that because I know he studied both in the classroom and on the field,” Covington said. ‘That’s a smart guy. He prepares very well. “I thought he did a great job of communicating with the defense, echoing what we wanted to resonate on the field, and not being able to play a snap since last year, he did a great job for us.”

3. Alex Van Pelt’s play calling

Mayo said he is not considering a move to offensive coordinator despite the team being second-to-last in scoring (12.4 points per game) and losing to the only team averaging fewer points.

Van Pelt said he was probably a little more aggressive than necessary when it came to calling for passing plays at times during Sunday’s loss.

He mentioned a play just before halftime when the Patriots elected to throw the ball on second-and-2. He said he understands the criticism, but still has doubts about whether or not his call was the right one.

There was also a situation on the Patriots’ penultimate drive when they had first-and-10 on the Miami 12 with all three timeouts and threw four straight passes, all of which fell incomplete.

“I feel like I put us in some good situations. I’ve had some bad calls,” Van Pelt said. “Obviously the Jets game is haunting me a little bit, some of the calls in that game, but we all have to get better together. I need to be better at situational football and at the same time we all need to improve our play across the board.”

4. Stroud without his top weapon

Stroud will be without his main target for a while. Houston receiver Nico Collins, who has an NFL-best 567 receiving yards along with three touchdowns, was placed on injured reserve this week.

Houston’s passing attack remains potent with Stefon Diggs, Tank Dell and tight end Dalton Schultz.

“I think (Diggs) is great,” Stroud said, according to ESPN. “I definitely think he is already a leader, but you can see in training (Thursday) that he now knows his responsibility now that Nico is out. That actually applies to all of them, everyone has to go a step further, including myself, to catch up where Nico is not playing.”

Stroud is completing 68.9 percent of his passes this season and has seven touchdowns against three interceptions.

5. A team where the Patriots want to be

Two seasons ago, the Texans finished 3-13. They hired a young, defensive-minded former Pro Bowl linebacker (DeMeco Ryans) as head coach, and they selected their franchise quarterback No. 2 overall.

They made the playoffs last year and are off to a 4-1 start this season, but it wasn’t that long ago that they were struggling.

They have a former Patriots executive, Nick Caserio, as general manager. They are where the Patriots want to be, Mayo said.

“He did a fantastic job,” Mayo said of Ryans. “I would also say that Nick did a fantastic job with that selection as well. Another guy – we’re talking Nick here – who made moves early on, and couldn’t really tell anyone what he was doing, and then bam, suddenly they have a good roster.

“I look up to Nick. I look up to DeMeco and that whole organization, and hopefully we can replicate some of those things here in the near term and in the future.

Khari A. Thompson

Sports reporter

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Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

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