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Joe Milton Shines Bright: Key Highlights from Patriots’ Preseason Victory over Panthers

- by qbruc

The Patriots opened their preseason slate on Thursday night with a solid 17-3 win over the Carolina Panthers.

In what stood as Jerod Mayo’s first official game as New England’s head coach, the Patriots allocated reps to each of their four quarterbacks — although the limited usage of Drake Maye might raise a few eyebrows.

Despite some early struggles on offense, New England did enough to separate itself from Carolina, especially after rookie QB Joe Milton entered the game in the third quarter.

New England took a 7-0 lead into halftime off of a two-yard touchdown run from Kevin Harris, while Milton hit wideout JaQuae Jackson for a 38-yard score in the fourth quarter. Joey Slye also connected on a 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

Here are a few early observations from the first game action for the 2024 Patriots:

Drake Maye only plays one series

With Jacoby Brissett seemingly entrenched as New England’s QB1 through two weeks of training camp, Thursday stood as a prime opportunity for Drake Maye to get an extended run under center.

Despite some ups and downs during training camp, playing a full quarter or two against a Carolina roster resting plenty of its starters would have given New England’s potential QB of the future some much-needed reps with few stakes involved.

But New England’s slow-and-steady approach with Maye appears to have carried over into preseason action, with the 21-year-old QB only playing in one series during Thursday’s win.

After New England’s presumed starter in Brissett exited the game after just one drive (four snaps), Maye was handed the keys to New England’s offense in the first quarter.

Maye ultimately completed two of his three pass attempts on Thursday, including a 13-yard pickup off a screen to Antonio Gibson, before New England ultimately punted on its own 45-yard line.

 

It was a promising start for New England’s young signal-caller, but that was it for Maye on Thursday, with Bailey Zappe (who likely won’t be on this roster come September) running the next five drives for the Patriots to close out the first half.

Maye’s limited reps were a bit of a head-scratcher in a rather inconsequential preseason game.

Did New England not want to keep it rolling with Maye with the Patriots’ O-line backups on the field? That might be the only valid reason why New England’s top asset barely touched the field in this one.

Milton stars as all New England QBs get reps

As for the rest of New England’s quarterbacks?

Jacoby Brissett, much like Maye, only played four snaps in New England’s opening drive before spending the rest of the night on the sidelines. He did not complete any of his three throws.

Even though Zappe has played sparingly during training camp as New England’s fourth QB on the depth chart, the third-year pro earned plenty of reps for the Patriots under center on Thursday.

Zappe completed 12 of his 20 pass attempts against Carolina for 108 yards and zero touchdowns. Perhaps New England’s decision to give him heavy reps was rooted in showcasing him for a trade? The Patriots aren’t going to be rolling with four QBs on their roster next month.

New England finally closed out its QB carousel in the third quarter by turning to Joe Milton III, who injected plenty of energy into the Patriots’ offense.

Milton completed four of his six pass attempts for 54 yards, headlined by his 38-yard feed to Jackson for a fourth-quarter touchdown. While Milton’s strengths usually revolve around his rocket arm, he also gained 25 yards on the ground off of two scrambling plays.

Much like Malik Cunningham in New England’s 2023 preseason opener, a backup QB in Milton stole the show in this one.

 

O-line remains in flux 

The interior of New England’s O-line to start the 2024 season appears to be in a good spot with David Andrews, Mike Onwenu, and Sidy Sow.

The tackle position is a different story.

Even though New England was hampered time and time again by porous O-line play in 2023, the Patriots still have plenty of question marks regarding that area of the roster this fall — especially with Vederian Lowe and Chukwuma Okorafor standing as the projected starters at left and right tackle, respectively.

Okorafor missed the last few practices due to injury but started alongside Lowe on Thursday — with the results largely mixed for New England’s reshuffled O-line.

New England’s QBs weren’t under duress by Carolina’s pass rush to the same degree as the misery endured by Mac Jones and Zappe in 2023. But Okorafor was whistled for a false start in the first quarter, while Lowe was beaten clean on a few snaps, including the play where Maye hit Gibson for a 13-yard gain.

New England’s blocking up the middle was solid for the most part, with Sow landing a nice hit on Gibson’s 13-yard gain, and backup guard Nick Leverett landing a crushing pancake block on Harris’ touchdown run in the second.

 

Still, a starting tackle group anchored by Lowe and Okorafor doesn’t instill much confidence, even during preseason action. Rookie tackle Caedan Wallace also had some struggles — coughing up a sack that left Zappe in some pain midway through the third quarter.

Boutte flashes in first half

With New England’s pursuit of Brandon Aiyuk coming up short this week, the Patriots will have to roll with this current grouping of young (but intriguing) pass catchers.

Even though New England’s overall offense labored for extended stretches on Thursday, (eight punts), a few wideouts still flashed at times.

Second-year pro Kayshon Boutte has been steady throughout training camp — and that strong play carried over to Thursday with a three-catch, 53-yard performance. But he couldn’t sustain his strong play as the game went on.

 

Boutte could have further padded his stats, but failed to reel in a deep ball from Zappe in the second quarter. Then, he couldn’t hold onto a strong throw from Milton in the fourth quarter that would have moved the chains.

Rookie wideout Ja’Lynn Polk caught all three of his targets on Thursday, albeit for just 14 total yards, while fellow first-year WR Javon Baker had a nice catch fighting through contact in the third quarter that was wiped out by a holding call against Calvin Anderson.

 

Defense dials up the pressure 

Jack Plummer and Carolina’s third-string players aren’t exactly Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Still, a New England defense playing without some key starters (Christian Barmore, Matthew Judon, Jabrill Peppers, to name a few) did its job against Carolina, holding the Panthers to just four seven total first downs.

New England’s pass rush feasted against Carolina’s O-line on Friday, with defensive tackle Jeremiah Pharms Jr. putting together a strong night. The 27-year-old Pharms recorded a sack against Plummer while also drawing back-to-back holding penalties later in the game.

 

Deatrich Wise, Christian Elliss, Oshane Ximine, and John Morgan III also recorded sacks in Thursday’s win, while Ximines also forced a fumble and landed two QB hits.

LIVE UPDATES:

9:42: Joe Milton hits JaQuae Jackson for a 38-yard touchdown. After a pretty quiet night for New England’s offense, Milton has given the Patriots a spark.

17-0 Patriots.