Patriots' Drake Maye shows clear improvement in Week 2 - ESPN

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — In a celebratory New England Patriots locker room following a 33-27 win over the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, where music was blaring and players celebrated owner Robert Kraft presenting Mike Vrabel a game ball for his first win as New England head coach, receiver Stefon Diggs took stock of another top storyline of the day.

A top question was how quarterback Drake Maye would respond after an up-and-down season opener.

"[He's] growing up. I feel like he made a jump from last week, just settling in," Diggs said. «It's hard being a young quarterback, but I feel like he is doing the best job he can, and obviously four incompletions, that's something to be happy about.»

Maye finished 19-of-23 for 230 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions, while adding 10 rushes for 31 yards and a touchdown. He was the first Patriots player with two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in a game since Tom Brady in Week 2 of 2019, also against the Dolphins.

Unlike last week, when he threw high on the initial third down of the game, Maye was dialed in early leading to touchdowns on the Patrfirst two drives to help achieve their goal of a faster start.

But he might have been at his best late in the third quarter when the game seemed to be slipping away from the Patriots. The Dolphins led 20-15 and the Patriots took over at their own 17-yard line and after their sixth penalty of the quarter — a holding infraction by rookie left guard Jared Wilson — it set up second-and-12 from the New England 15-yard line.

The home crowd was rocking, and in a game Vrabel described as a «street fight,» Maye delivered a jab and haymaker to showcase the growth Diggs referenced.

Instead of trying to get it all in one