Poll: How encouraged are you after seeing Maye’s Patriots debut?

Mondays during the NFL season are made for overreactions. Especially when it's the day after your team turns to what hopefully proves to be their franchise QB for years to come.

Yesterday was a mixed bag for Patriots fans, but despite a bunch of turnovers and a 20-point loss, there is no reason for New Englanders not to be excited today. We've got our guy.

It was not the prettiest of starts to the first of Drake Maye's career, as the offense continued to sputter for much of the first half until the rookie riffled a 40-yard bullet to Kayshon Boutte for his first career TD. At risk of sounding hyperbolic, not since TB12 graced the field in Foxborough had such a perfect strike been delivered out of the hand of a Patriots quarterback. In fact, it was just the third Patriots TD pass of 35-or-more air yards since Brady left.

Maye showed the ability to move the ball downfield throughout the second half and also showed off his own mobility, becoming the first QB since at least 1950 to throw 3+ TD passes in his first start while also leading his team in rushing with 38 yards on five carries.

Of course, the three turnovers need to be cleaned up. Granted, one of the two interceptions was not his fault and came off a deflected pass at the line of scrimmage and required an acrobatic catch by the DB.

The footwork popped up at times too, with Maye drifting and fading at times which cause passes to sail inaccurately. Though, you can't tell me the O-Line's inability to protect the rookie didn't play a big factor into Maye having happy feat. To his credit, most of the times he was forced to break the pocket, his eyes remained downfield with his first intention still being to find an open receiver.

Ultimately, Maye went 20-33 through the air for 243 yards, three TDs and two INTs. He led the team's offense to its first 20+ point showing of the season and had more passing TDs in the one game than Jacoby Brissett managed in his five, while doing so against a defense that had largely victimized opposing QBs through its first five games.

Now, despite staring down a transatlantic flight, the schedule softens considerably for the Pats and should provide Maye an easier runway to begin his NFL career.

In the next eight weeks, the Pats meet the struggling 1-5 Jags in London, return home to host the Jets (2-3), play at Tennessee (1-4), @ Chicago (4-2), host the Rams (1-4), go to Miami (2-3), host Indy (3-3) and head to Arizona (2-4). That's just two teams at-or-over-.500 and a combined opponent's record of 16-28 (.364).

There are winnable games on the schedule, especially if Maye can keep the offense at-or-above 20 points on a weekly basis. The question is, how many of the eight can you see the Pats realistically taking?