FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots are reeling from five straight losses, but rookie quarterback Drake Maye gave them a glimmer of hope in his first career NFL start.

Maye finished 20-of-33 for 243 yards with three touchdowns, two interceptions and one lost fumble in Sunday’s 41-21 loss to the visiting Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium.

After a slow start, Maye found a more consistent groove on a 40-yard touchdown pass to receiver Kayshon Boutte late in the second quarter. Maye added five rushes for 38 yards in the game, demonstrating the mobility and athleticism that enticed the team to select him with the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL draft.

“It’s definitely encouraging,” first-year coach Jerod Mayo said. “From a team-wide perspective, we have let him down at the moment.”

Maye, who has been fired four times, acknowledged that he was “certainly a little excited at first” and “got goosebumps for the first time when he went out.” He regretted some of his mistakes — including an interception on a turnover late in the first quarter after the Patriots fell behind 14-0 — but added, “Sometimes it was a lot of fun on offense.”

The Patriots entered Sunday averaging 12.4 points per game, which ranked 31st in the NFL, while averaging 119.4 passing yards per game. Easily eclipsing those numbers in Sunday’s defeat, some of the players in charge were encouraged about Maye, even while playing behind a mix-and-match attacking line.

“I think he did a phenomenal job,” veteran receiver Kendrick Bourne said. “He got hit, he kept playing and didn’t seem too upset. He stuck to what he was doing, and I think that’s huge because obviously we’re struggling on the line, as everyone knows to some extent .”

Some of Maye’s best work came late in the second quarter, when the team was on a rushing attack, starting at its own 16-yard line with 59 seconds left. A 22-yard connection with receiver DeMario Douglas on second-and-8 was a catalyst for setting up perhaps his best throw of the day: a 40-yard high arc pass that Boutte hit in stride down the right sideline to finish off the Texans to cut. ‘ led to 14-7.

Late in the third quarter, Maye escaped the pocket to keep a play alive and hit tight end Hunter Henry on a 30-yard catch-and-run, one of the other plays that caught Bourne’s attention.

“The way he ran the ball was impressive. His athleticism and his ability to throw while running; it’s how he runs with his body – he runs to the left but looks forward to throw the ball. I think that those traits are what you see all over the league, Patrick Mahomes, these new-age quarterbacks are throwing the ball on the run and extending playing time,” he said.

Bourne also noted the energy that Maye, 22, brought to the attack and together.

“He’s a natural leader,” he said. “He has an appearance, and that is important in football. He is that guy. You notice that when you see him.”

The Patriots (1-5) visit the Jaguars (1-5) next Sunday (9:30 a.m. ET) at London’s Wembley Stadium.

“We care about winning. We just hate losing. That’s the most important thing,” Maye said. “I think there are some good things we can take from the game, but we have to play complementary football and we haven’t done that.”