Could the Patriots have handled the debut of Drake's daughter better?

Foxboro, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes surrounding the New England Patriots and the NFL:

1. Clockwork: Patriots have a time management problem?

As coach Jerrod Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt consider solutions to snap a four-game losing streak against the Houston Texans 4-1 in Sunday's home game (1 p.m. ET, CBS), it's a question they've pondered.

Twice in their first five games, the Patriots got the ball deep in their own territory late in the second quarter, forcing their opponents to three timeouts each time. The Patriots' approach backfired in both situations.

“Our execution has to be better throughout the season at the end of the half,” admitted Mayo.

In a 23-20 overtime loss to the Seahawks in Week 2, the Patriots were on their own 8-yard line with 1:37 left until halftime. They ran for 2 yards on first down, and the Seahawks didn't take a timeout, so the clock wound down to 58 seconds before quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw two incomplete passes.

That left the Seahawks with three timeouts when they followed a punt at their own 49-yard line with 35 seconds left. They used them to set themselves up for a 44-yard field goal on the last play of the half — the point that turned out to be the difference in the game.

After the loss, Mayo said it would be a real loss if the team didn't learn from some of its mistakes, such as one.

But when a “carbon copy” of the situation arose in last Sunday's 15-10 loss to the Dolphins, the Patriots didn't change their approach — and neither did the execution.

In that one, they had the ball on their own 5-yard line with 1:50 left in halftime. Ramondre Stevenson ran 8 yards on first down and the Dolphins didn't call timeout. So with the clock down to 1:14 when the Patriots snapped the ball on second down, Brissett threw incomplete down the right sideline to rookie receiver Ja'lin Polk to stop the clock.

Then with 1:09 left, Brissett threw incompletion again, which ultimately gave the Dolphins the ball back at their 44-yard line with 55 seconds left. While Miami fended off the snap on a field goal attempt, the Patriots' offensive approach had the trickle-down effect of the defense playing seven extra snaps — which caught up to them in the fourth quarter when they tired.

Van Pelt addressed his thoughts on that sequence.

“Still torn apart personally,” he said. “We had two chances to get a first down for 2 yards. We took a shot to the corner with one of our best wideouts out there, gave him a chance. We didn't win the route and didn't. The throw we got back on third down and there was a guy open. And now we can't get it we decide to run it or pass it.

“On the other end, you drive the ball out there and chew some more time on the clock. It's that fine line of being aggressive or saying, 'I'm going to drive the ball here and try to milk the clock and get us in. Halftime.' We weren't productive on offense with the pass game, so I was probably a little more aggressive than I should have been at that point.”

Van Pelt prefers to be aggressive, as was his own style of play as a record-setting quarterback at the University of Pittsburgh, but that's not how the Patriots are currently built. The missteps of the workers of the previous regime put them in a compromising position and it will take time to correct it.

So it's really challenging to evaluate the work of Van Pelt, who has been open about his ups and downs since 2009, his first year as a full-time playcaller with the Bills.

“I think I put us in some good situations. I had some bad calls. Obviously, the Jets game kind of bothered me a little bit, some of the calls in that game,” said Van Pelt, who admitted he needed that run in the Week 3 loss. More to rely on.

“We all want to get better collectively. I have to get better at situational football,” he said.

2. 'Excited for 10': A theme in the Patriots locker room late in the week was summed up by a veteran player who said, “I'm excited for 10.” No. 10, of course, is rookie quarterback Drake May, who makes his first career start Sunday and whose mobility and strong hands to get the ball downfield created a different feeling in practice this past week, according to players. Mayo felt a “new sense of energy” throughout the team — even without injured running back Ramondre Stevenson (out with a leg injury) — and now the question is whether that translates into the game.

3. WRs have been challenged: Patriot wide receivers have the fewest catches (39) and receiving yards (342) in the NFL. Will the team's switch to Maye — along with Polk, second-year player Kayson Boote and top slot DeMario Douglas in leading roles — help boost those numbers?

They've been challenged to show it, a team source said this week, saying, “The ball is coming out [on time]So let's see what you got.”

A knock on risk-averse quarterback Brissett in the first five games was that he sometimes held the ball too long.

Jerrod Mayo: Drake's newfound sense of energy as he's had a good few days of practice. pic.twitter.com/FzEyyfrwdX

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 11, 2024

4. Craft on Chili: Patriots owner Robert Kraft was a guest on “The Breakfast Club,” a national morning radio show, promoting his newly launched “#Timeout Against Hate” campaign and also talked about Jabrill Peppers being placed on the commissioner's exempt list.

“When you read [police report] Initially, it turns your stomach. Once he is on the commissioner's exemption list, they do their independent checking. We are doing our job. If the reports are true, he is gone. There have been some suggestions that this was a set-up and a lot of what has been reported is not accurate … we want to get the facts.”

5. Mapu as FIFA: Safety Marte Mapu, a 2023 third-round pick out of Sacramento State, earned huge respect from coaches and teammates after coming off injured reserve last week and playing all 78 defensive snaps wearing the green dot on his helmet as the primary contact on the sideline Mapu first of training camp. Missed all but practice with what the team later announced was a calf injury.

His quick-but-physical playing style and unique role — part safety / part linebacker — was a reflection of an underrated player in defensive backs coach Brian Belichick's team's early championship years.

“Like a Roman Pfeiffer-type back in the day,” Belichick said. “[Phifer] There was one less [traditional] Linebacker, an athletic linebacker who can cover tight ends. It was clearly a different era — much more '21 workers'. [2 backs, 1 tight end] And you played with three 'linebackers' per snap.

“I like what Marte does for us. Obviously he plays some in the box, but also plays as a safety and can move around the defense. That's a special part of a player who can be versatile for us.”

Q: Any updates on Christian Barmore?

Jerod Mayo: “He's moving on. He still has some checkpoints or hurdles to overcome.”

Q: Do you think Christian has a better chance to play this season than you did a few weeks ago?

Mayo: “I'd say 'yes'.”

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 11, 2024

6.7th May: Since 2000, Maye is the seventh Patriots to make his first career start, joining Tom Brady (2001), Matt Cassel (2008), Jimmy Garoppolo (2016), Brissett (2016), Mack Jones (2021) and Bailey Zapp (2016). Will be a quarterback. 2022). It probably wasn't a coincidence that the Patriots were playing in Brissett's first career start — a 27-0 win over the Texans in Brissett's rookie season last week at the Athletic Room.

“Hopefully he gets the same result,” Brissett said.

7. Andrews/Strange Link: Longtime Patriots center David Andrews is scheduled to go to Colorado for shoulder surgery by Dr. Matthew Provencher, which will give him his best chance to play in 2025. Andrews explained on his “Quick Snap” podcast that he tore his previously repaired rotator. cuff, so the plan is to put a sheath over it in hopes of regrowing the muscle. When he returns to the Patriots after surgery, he plans to rehab and work closely with 2022 first-round pick Cole Strange to transition to learning the center position.

Strange, who has only played guard at this point, is seen as a potential center for the future as Andrews enters his 11th (and likely final) season in 2025. If Strange ends up being his successor, it will be a significant part of Andrews' already impressive team legacy.

8. London Plan: This week will be different for the Patriots from a travel perspective as they face the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London next week. They plan to travel to London after Thursday's practice in Foxborough and then are scheduled for Friday's practice in the UK, with Mayo and May speaking to international reporters that day.

Along those lines, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said he was already preparing for the Jaguars late last week, which is standard operating procedure for him.

9. You know what? Phase I: Mayer will be 22 years, 44 days old on Sunday, making him the youngest quarterback to start a regular-season game for the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe in the team's 1993 Week 18 season finale against the Dolphins. Bledsoe was 21 years, 322 days old.

10. You know what? Part II: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, when Mayo's Patriots host DiMeco Ryan's Texans squad on Sunday, it will be the first NFL game in which a head coach has made multiple Pro Bowls as a player since Sept. 30, 1990 — when Art Schell and the Raiders were led by Mike Ditka. The Bears outshot the team 24-10.