The New England Patriots were defeated by the Washington Commanders on Sunday night at FedEx Field to drop their record to 1-2 in their first preseason under head coach Jerod Mayo.
New England has struggled through the three exhibition matchups and will need to quickly improve before their Week 1 battle with the Cincinnati Bengals if they want a chance at a somewhat successful season.
After this preseason finale, let’s take a look at who performed the best and who performed the worst for the Patriots:
WINNER: QB Drake Maye
Maye took the field for New England’s second offensive series and drove his unit down the field for a touchdown, which was a pass from the rookie quarterback to running back Kevin Harris.
The third-overall pick finished the day (five drives) with 126 yards and that lone touchdown, while completing 65% of his passes. It would’ve been nice to see more sustained drives from the offense under his command, but he looked better than the two other quarterbacks (Jacoby Brissett and Joe Milton III) who threw passes.
LOSER: The entire offensive line
It’s hard to imagine a worse effort from one positional group in a game than the one this offensive line put up on Sunday.
The unit was called for 11 penalties, had multiple failed pass protection attempts and failed to get the ball securely into the quarterback’s hands twice.
Yes, New England was without David Andrews, who likely would be better with his snaps, but that’s no excuse for the rest of the issues. The most annoying problem was the illegal formation penalties because the group was told multiple times and continued to do it anyway. Mayo said they showed a “lack of discipline” in his post-game press conference.
WINNER: LB Christian Elliss
Elliss was everywhere on the field in this one. He led the team in tackles (11) and was one of four players to record a tackle for a loss. That performance alone may be enough to earn a practice squad spot.
Unfortunately, Elliss left this game with a head injury after taking a teammate’s leg to the helmet.
LOSER: Young defensive backs
Marcellas Dial and Azizi Hearn were targeted early and often by Trace McSorley down the stretch. They were beaten multiple times and were each called for two defensive pass interference penalties, allowing Washington to score 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
New England’s secondary had a number of injuries last season, so the young players could be called on.
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