The New England Patriots started Drake Maye at quarterback for the first time and were blown away by one of the best teams in the NFL on Sunday. They were competitive at times, but also struggled to keep up with the Houston Texans for much of the game.

The end result was a 41-21 loss, which wasn’t exactly close. And yet, for once, Patriots fans have something to feel good about: Their offense, for the first time all season, showed some life with Maye at the helm.

That said, here are our takeaways from the game.

1. Drake Maye shows toughness in debut debut: Drake Maye’s debut was not only good, but he also showed why the Patriots made him the third overall pick in this year’s draft. Overall, he completed 20 of 33 pass attempts for 243 yards with three touchdowns and an interception; he also led the team with 38 rushing yards on five carries, had a strip sack and some accuracy issues.

It was clear that Maye can do things physically that many other quarterbacks simply cannot. He threw a fantastic touchdown to Kayshon Boutte for the first-ever NFL score by either player, hit DeMario Douglas with a pass over the middle for another TD, and made perhaps his most impressive play of the day when he hit tight end Hunter Henry while he threw over his body. on a scramble exercise.

The kid can also take a punch, step in and take a ton of punishment from an offensive line held together by duct tape and bubble gum – something that didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.

“I commend his toughness, first and foremost,” Henry said. “His competitiveness was great. It was nice to get some things going, in a positive direction.”

“I think he did a phenomenal job,” Kendrick Bourne added. “He got hit, he kept playing, he didn’t seem too upset. He didn’t just start doing other things, he stuck to what he does, what he practices. I think he understands he’s going to get hit, and that’s huge. “Obviously we’re struggling on the line in a way, as everyone knows, but he’s doing a good job of playing hard.”

Maye’s first NFL start wasn’t perfect, but there were plenty of things to be encouraged about for the future.

2. The high number of hits is a concern: The Texans have a fantastic defense and Will Anderson Jr. is one of the best pass rushers in the league. Still, the Patriots’ offensive line was pathetic on Sunday, which is why Maye had to show his toughness in the first place.

Clearly, injuries have hurt the unit. The Patriots have played five different left tackles at three different centers so far this season and have dealt with injuries at almost every position along the line this season. In that sense you can’t blame the group too much for not playing well. If both of your tackles have been taken off the scrap heap in the last few weeks, those are the expected results.

Patriots O-line coach Scott Peters will have to coach whoever he has available and hope they can stay healthy and possibly get some reinforcements as well. Vederian Lowe, for example, looked good last week but was injured in the second quarter against Houston. If he can bounce back and be ready for Week 7, it could give the unit a boost.

Drake Maye is a tough guy, but you still don’t want him to take too much punishment.

3. Ben Brown is not the central answer: It looked like Nick Leverett would be the Patriots’ starting center this week, but Ben Brown ended up filling that role on short notice. Earlier this week, he was added to the practice squad and was informed of his new role on game day.

Whether that was because Leverett was getting banged up – he was in a suit, but was questionable going into the weekend with an ankle injury – or because they thought Brown would give them a better chance at center is unknown. Whatever the reason, Brown eventually got the job, but didn’t seem like a viable long-term option at the position either.

Unfortunately, Leverett hasn’t been great either and the only other player at the position is practice squad rookie Bryan Hudson. Perhaps Cole Strange will figure into the mix at some point, but his timeline for a return is still uncertain.

Whatever the Patriots decide to do, they need at least replacement level support from their center to be competitive — and to provide Drake Maye with the best possible protection.

4. Patriots aren’t good enough to overcome any turnovers, let alone four: When you bring in a rookie quarterback for his first start, it seems obvious there will be some growing pains, and there were. However, the Patriots also had far too many unforced errors from the entire team on Sunday to win.

The first interception Maye threw was 100 percent on him. The second, however, had more to do with replacement left tackle Zachary Thomas, who left Will Anderson Jr. couldn’t get to the ground with a swing pass, and then a great catch from the defender. Maye also got sacked on a play where he probably should have expected to get hit, but it was another pretty quick push.

The last turnover, meanwhile, went solely to Austin Hooper. Yes, Maye’s pass wasn’t overly accurate, but he still didn’t hold the ball as securely as he should and get it out.

If you’re not a very good team — which the Patriots certainly aren’t — you can’t expect to win games by turning the ball over, let alone four times.

5. Defensive losses begin to take their toll: The Patriots did a pretty good job of stopping the run – if you ignore the two runs of 50+ yards they allowed. Outside of those plays, they allowed just 79 yards on 26 carries. The problem, of course, is that they’ve given up those huge wins and simply can’t allow teams to cash in on such big plays.

The run fits on those plays were terrible, and New England just let the Texans bully them off the spot. For a defense that prides itself on preventing big plays and playing physical football at the point of attack, that was – as Davon Godchaux said after the game – embarrassing.

“The fundamentals of just tackling and running have to improve,” Jerod Mayo said after the game. “They have to improve. I told all those guys, ‘You should feel bad today. You should feel bad.” We had two runs of over 50 yards. That’s just not winning football.”

Of course, they currently have many of their playmakers behind them. Christian Barmore is dealing with blood clots, Ja’Whaun Bentley is out for the season, Jabrill Peppers is on the commissioner’s exempt list and Matthew Judon is in Atlanta. Those losses are starting to take their toll, especially when it comes to defending the run.

The Patriots still need other players to step up and the coaching staff to put them in the best position to win.

6. The kick return unit is bad: The Texans must have seen something on film that they thought would give them an advantage, because instead of kicking the ball into the end zone for a touchback, they let the Patriots return their kickoff. The result went their way: the Patriots couldn’t do anything on the kick return unit, averaging 23.2 yards per running back.

At this point you have to wonder if JaMycal Hasty is the best man to return kicks; he doesn’t threaten with his speed and couldn’t break tackles. It would make sense to have the Patriots return every kickoff, as their unit is anemic at best.

The Patriots need to make big changes if they expect to make things even better and improve their starting position: On Sunday, they started their average drive at the 27-yard line, compared to the Texans at the 41-yard line.

7. Injuries keep piling up: The Patriots have been plagued with injuries all season and Sunday was no different. Vederian Lowe went down with an injury in the second quarter, forcing Zachary Thomas to step into his place at left tackle; Left guard Michael Jordan also went down and was replaced by Sidy Sow, a former starter. who has not played well this year.

Especially when it comes to O-line injuries, the Patriots appear to have already passed the breaking point. The hope is that Lowe and/or Jordan can return soon, as the alternatives continue to look bleak.

8. Young wide receivers a mixed bag: The Patriots got some real contributions from their second-year receivers on Sunday, with DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte both catching touchdown passes and creating consistent separation. Douglas looked like the team’s best receiver, and Boutte hit a fantastic corner kick on a go route – Derek Stingley Jr. – to end the first half.

On the other end of the spectrum was rookie Ja’Lynn Polk. The second-round pick had numerous points drops, and they’re becoming a problem for him: He’s now dropped a pass in back-to-back games, including two on Sunday.

It opened up, but that doesn’t matter if you can’t complete the process of catching the ball. The Patriots need Polk to improve, but the performances of Douglas and Boutte should be very encouraging going forward.

9. Referees were embarrassing: The Patriots didn’t lose the game because of the referees, that’s for sure. That doesn’t change the fact that the service on Sunday afternoon was terrible. The number of missed or wrong calls was far too high and the consistency from one decision to the next was lacking.

Whether it was a questionable ineligible man downfield penalty, a defensive pass interference call, or one of the most egregious facemask penalties you’ll ever see, Ron Torbert’s crew had a forgettable day. It also missed that Drake Maye was hit out of bounds more than once, and the defender pressed his entire body weight on him on his strip sack.

There’s a certain amount of confidence that the officials can actually see what’s happening on the field, but this team just couldn’t do that on Sunday.

Of course, the Patriots didn’t make it easy for themselves either: four of the team’s nine penalties were procedural in nature.

“We talk about it all the time, and at Saturday night meetings we talk about what crew is going to be there, what are they calling a lot, and we knew this was a crew that had big fines,” Jerod Mayo said. “I thought the second half cleared it up a bit, but there were just way too many penalties in the game.”

On the day, New England was flagged nine times for a loss of 50 total yards.

10. A journey across the pond awaits: The Patriots will travel to England to play one of the worst teams in the league, the 1-5 Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags are in England this week, so they have the advantage over the Patriots in that regard, but the Patriots should at least be able to move the ball against them: their defense is terrible and their offense isn’t much better.

The Patriots had some success on offense this week, so the hope is that they can build on that in Week 7. Defensively, the Patriots have struggled in recent weeks, so perhaps this could be a good matchup for that unit as well.