Patriots OC Josh McDaniels makes strong Drake Maye declaration after loss to Raiders

Second-year New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye sparked some concerns among fans when he still looked like a work in progress during the club's 20-13 Week 1 home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

While speaking with reporters on Thursday, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels defended the 23-year-old who has made only 13 total regular-season starts as a pro.

Drake Maye is still learning

"The biggest thing for me is he’s a young quarterback," McDaniels said about Maye, per Chad Graff of The Athletic. "He’s learning through all these experiences, and he’s the right guy. And so we’re going to have an opportunity to continue to grow and improve and get better. And I think I’d be really … jumping the gun if I try to sit here and pinpoint one or two things (he needs to improve). We work on a lot of things to try to get better every day. And he’s going to improve."

Maye wasn't terrible against the Raiders, as he completed 30 of 46 passes for 287 yards with a touchdown on Sept. 7. He was also responsible for an awful interception that he tossed in the game's third quarter. That said, it's worth noting that the New England rushing attack somewhat hung him out to dry by accumulating just 60 yards on 18 attempts. 

"Obviously, we want to stay balanced as much as we can," McDaniels acknowledged about the New England offense. "You look back and there are things you wish you did differently here and there."

Maye should have an opportunity to bounce back when the Patriots play at the 0-1 Miami Dolphins this Sunday. The Dolphins seemed to be an absolute mess as they suffered a 33-8 blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday, and Graff noted that "Miami’s defense ranked 27th in (expected points added) per play in Week 1 and 26th in success rate."

Drake Maye still has a fan in Josh McDaniels

Understandably, McDaniels isn't panicking after Maye failed to look like Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen on the first Sunday of the season. 

"I’m focused on the process of him getting better every day," McDaniels added during his comments about Maye, per Mark Daniels of MassLive. "Because the view of it is, it’s got to be a long-term vision of where this guy’s going to be. He’s going to be a really good player."

As of Friday morning, ESPN Bet had the Patriots as 1.5-point road underdogs against the Dolphins.