Joe Milton impresses and other quick takeaways from Patriots’ preseason win over Panthers  (2024)

Patriots

Drake Maye only played one series, while Joe Milton gained 76 total yards in the second half.

By Conor Ryan

August 8, 2024

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.

New England’s defense took care of business against a Carolina roster that rested most of its starters, with the Panthers gaining just 151 total yards.

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 getreps

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 injectedplenty 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.

9:40: Yet another impressive scramble for Milton, this one goes for 18 yards.

9:28: Joey Slye connects on a 42-yard field goal. 10-0 Patriots.

9:24: End Third: Patriots hold a 7-0 lead.

9:21: Milton has more than just a rocket arm. He scrambles for 12 yards and a first down.

9:15: Milton now in at QB for New England.

9:10: Joe Milton is warming up on the sideline.

9:08: Caedan Wallace was cooked on that pass rush, with Zappe getting slammed into the turf.

9:00: Looks like Zappe will get another look for New England’s second drive of the third quarter. One has to wonder if the Patriots are trying to showcase Zappe for a deal, although his regular-season reps last season probably hold more value.

8:53: A nice catch from Javon Baker while fighting through contact, but it’s called back due to a hold against Calvin Anderson.

8:51: Zappe once again leads New England’s offense to start the third quarter.

8:36: HALFTIME: Patriots hold a 7-0 lead. Story of the night so far is the limited reps for Maye.

8:31: Kayshon Boutte has had a good night. A 16-yard pickup for the second-year wideout moves the chains.

8:17: Bailey Zappe once again slots right back into the game on offense. Looks like Maye’s night is done.

8:07: Kevin Harris runs it in from 3 yards out. Ryland’s extra-point is good. 7-0 Patriots.

8:06: Patriots offense has life! Kayshon Boutte reels in a 28-yard catch off a throw from Zappe. Patriots on the 3-yard line.

8:02: Shaun Wade nearly gets an interception on a late throw — Panthers punt yet again.

Looks like Zappe is back in the game.

7:58: More boos for Zappe after a deep ball on a 3rd down. Four straight punts for New England.

7:50: Zappe back in for the second quarter. He’s the first Patriots QB to log more than one series.

7:44: End First: 0-0 game.

7:42: Six drives, six punts between the Patriots and Panthers.

7:38: Bailey Zappe enters the game and the crowd boos. Much like Brissett, Maye only gets one drive before New England switches things up.

7:31: Jeremiah Pharms brings down Plummer for New England’s second sack of the game. Was initially ruled a fumble with New England gaining possession, but the following review gives the ball back to Carolina.

7:26: Patriots eventually punt, but Maye completes two of his three pass attempts for 19 yards.

7:24: After back-to-back handoffs, Maye hits Gibson on a screen for a 13-yard pickup. First down.

7:22: Okorafor whistled for a false start.

7:21: Maye working with top O-line.

7:20: Just one drive for Brissett, as he takes to the field with New England’s top unit on offense.

7:18: Yet another 3-and-out from the Patriots defense.

7:13: Patriots end up punting after that 11-yard pickup. A deep throw from Brissett to Thornton didn’t have enough juice on it.

7:11: Brissett gets the start, while Stevenson opens the drive with an 11-yard run.

7:09: Patriots defense opens the game with a 3-and-out. Wise with the sack against Jack Plummer. No Godchaux, Judon, Bentley, or Peppers on defense to start the game.

7:07: 19-yard kickoff return for the Panthers. Man, those new kickoff rule changes are going to take some time to get used to.

7:05: Carolina wins the coin toss and will receive the opening kickoff.

6:59: Jacoby Brissett leads the Patriots onto the field. The QB1 is expected to get the start tonight.

6:50: Someone surprising to see Okorafor play tonight, considering he missed the last few practices due to injury. The tackle position is absolutely worthy monitoring throughout the preseason.

6:48: Will be interesting to see if Judon plays tonight.

6:39: While the Patriots are expected to play plenty of starters, the same can’t be said for the Panthers.

6:37: A look at some of the expected inactive players for New England.

6:27: Looks like both Pop Douglas and Marcus Jones aren’t playing tonight. They’re in sweats along the sideline.

5:50: Plenty of eyes will be on Drake Maye, but I can’t wait to see Milton get a few snaps. That arm is something else, even if he has plenty of work to do at the NFL level.

5:45: Greetings from Foxborough! Some solid football weather, with the temps expected to hover around the high 60s by kick-off.