Notes and thoughts on Drake Maye, the trip to London, and more.

In the midst of a five game losing streak, the New England Patriots head across the pond to London where they’ll take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in Wembley Stadium.

With Drake Maye looking for his first win as a starter, let’s empty out the notebook from the week in this week’s Sunday Patriots Notes.

1. Maye’s mental game: To the naked eye, Drake Maye’s first career NFL start looked similar to his time at North Carolina. Deep touchdowns, first-down scrambles, off-script plays, etc. etc. etc.

But to those who have worked closely with Maye behind the scenes over training camp and the start of the regular season, the rookie is a different quarterback. “Completely different,” according to his offensive coordinator.

Much of that has to do with Maye’s mental work, which continues to shine on the practice and game field.

“We had a period [Wednesday], again another start-fast period against our defense, good-on-good in the red zone,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt shared. “I didn’t give him an answer for a zero-blitz look that the defense presented and he got himself out of trouble with the right protection adjustment and the route change and threw a touchdown.

“So to me — wow. He can get in there and he can protect himself. He knows the calls he needs to make. I don’t know if we’d have gotten that done in Week 1.”

Starting the season as the backup, Maye was able to observe veteran Jacoby Brissett both on and off the field through the first five weeks of the season. That allowed time for the 22-year old to continue to grow the mental side of his game — which was an underrated quality of his to begin with by many draft pundits.

When Maye then took the field last Sunday, one area of growth in particular stood out.

“I think the biggest thing is kind of the run checks and the different looks that get us in the best run. I think that’s the biggest thing. Watching Jacoby do it, watching how he does it and bringing in guys that block the right guys, I feel like that’s kind of the thing that I didn’t really look at until I look at the film. I feel like in the run game, I did mostly everything that got asked and the right execution.

“So, I think that was the biggest kind of sigh of relief of seeing all the different run looks under center, seeing it and getting the guys blocked up. So, just got to continue to do that. I think the passing game, I feel like I was seeing it well, just got to make some better throws.”

Since Maye’s arrival back in April, coaches and teammates have been impressed with his work in the classroom. Van Pelt has not seen a change in the rookie’s approach has been named the starter, which perhaps played a large role in Maye throwing 243 yards and three touchdowns in his starting debut.

“He’s very natural. He’s a natural leader. He’s a great studier,” Van Pelt said. “Very intelligent guy that can ask great questions in the meeting rooms. He’s everything you want in a young quarterback. I think sitting and watching the preparation of Jacoby for the first five weeks was a big piece of that, seeing how the quarterback room operates at the pro level, the questions that need to be asked, the concerns, the comments throughout the week. I think that just helped build up his inventory of how to go through meetings and ask the questions that he needs to get answered.

“But very impressive with his approach. He studies hard at night, you can tell that. When you call a new play in a Wednesday practice, he’s already digested the verbiage and can spit it out easily so I know he’s putting the work in. You get texts throughout the course of the evening on certain looks — ‘What’s this mean here when they do this?’ or ‘What do I need to do in this look?’ So I know he’s putting the time in.”

2. Youthful energy: Alex Van Pelt is in his 29th season in the NFL as a player or coach. So while the coordinator has been impressed with Maye’s work ethic, he often has to remind himself that the rookie is still just a 22-year old.

“Absolutely, he’s a young pup,” Van Pelt responded when asked if Maye brings a youthful energy. “My daughters are 22 and 25 so I have to put that into perspective. He’s still young. He does have that youthfulness to him. But again, from a pro approach he’s doing it the right way of getting himself ready each week.”

3. International success: The Patriots will play in their fifth international game this week which will be tied for fourth-most in the NFL. New England is currently 3-1 in the NFL’s International Series, with the lone loss coming last year to the Colts in Germany.

In the Patriots previous two games in London, they have allowed just one touchdown and have scored over 30 points in each of those games.

4. London support: Standing in Winston Churchill’s old boarding school in London on Friday, both head coach Jerod Mayo and quarterback Drake Maye were asked why NFL fans in the U.K. should follow and support the Patriots.

“One thing I would say is that we’re hitting the reset button and looking forward to building something special,” Mayo responded. “Building the next dynasty, and it starts with, obviously, through the draft and developing, but also through free agency. We look to get back on top here pretty soon.”

Maye took a different route with his response.

“First off, I think it comes from the team name, New England. I think it’s easy for U.K. fans to be attracted to that,” he said. “Our colors are pretty sweet; they represent a lot of different things. From there, just kind of the excitement for the team. I think we’re on the come up, and we’ve got a lot of things to look forward to, a lot of bright futures ahead. Shout out to all the fans that are already Patriot fans over here and look forward to having some more.”

5. 30 points: Speaking of 30 points, the Patriots hold the longest streak in the NFL as they have gone 34 games without scoring 30+ points. That dates back to Bailey Zappe’s second career start against the Browns on Oct. 16, 2022 where the Patriots posted 38 points.

In London could be a strong time for New England to snap their streak, as the Jaguars’ struggling defense allowed 35 points to fellow rookie quarterback Caleb Williams last week.

“Watching Caleb, had a big win over the Jags out here and just seeing – I think Caleb made some plays on the move. The biggest thing with him, I thought he made some nice throws,” Maye said Friday. “That’s the thing last week that I feel like I had some throws that I wish I had back.

“But as always, I think it’s pretty cool watching the Texans, how they handle Caleb and now watching the Jags, what they did against rookie quarterbacks, it’s good for me watching what they do.”

6. Fast start: The Patriots have faced first quarter deficits in each of their last four games, which has left them highlighting faster starts in practice this week. That included a “start fast period” to begin practice that features top offense vs. top defense out of the gate.

One idea to help correct the issue could be putting the offense on the field first if given the opportunity, as New England has deferred the four times they’ve had the choice this season.

7. Polk’s struggles: Following last Sunday’s game, Jerod Mayo noted rookie Ja’Lynn Polk, who had a pair of drops, needed to get over the “mental hump.” Speaking this week to MassLive’s Mark Daniels, the rookie said he was “not dealing with [any] mental problems” and was “limited” in what he can currently do.

While only Polk knows what he means by limited, it may be a fair assumption to point to his role. Despite playing mostly the Z/slot role in college, Polk has been used at the X plenty to start the season.

“We’re trying to find the best guys that we can put out there right now, the three guys that work best together. That combination, just like the O-line, could change week to week, positionally as well,” Van Pelt said Thursday. “I thought he could give us the best chance at the X to win one-on-one matchups, especially the 3-by-1 sets when you’re isolated on the weak side. But he can do great things in the slot as well. The Z as well.

“He’s a very smart guy. He can play multiple positions. So for us as a staff, it’s trying to find the pieces in which ones work best together and how to use those guys with their skillsets in mind.”

Van Pelt additionally noted that the offense has put plenty on Polk’s plate, which can be tough for any rookie. New England may try to lighten the load on the receiver, but still have full confidence he’ll get over the mental hump.

“Success always gets you over that. He had a couple drops in the game, uncharacteristic of him,” Van Pelt said. “He’s a rookie. They’re all young guys right now. Just got to figure a way to overcome that, get back to focusing on what he can do well, and that’s a lot of things.

“But he’s going to make plays for us as the year goes on, there’s no question about it.”

8. Layden’s return: After starting the first four games of the season, rookie guard Layden Robinson reverted to the bench in Week 5 before landing on the inactive list last week. With injuries elsewhere on the offensive line, Robinson is now slated to return to the starting lineup this weekend.

“The first thing I would say is Layden is one of the hardest practicing guys on the team. He always shows tremendous effort,” Mayo said. “Sometimes, you hit a wall, and he’s gone through that wall, and he’ll play tomorrow. He’s a very tough player, and I look forward to his future as well.”

That sets the stage for a starting offensive line of: LT Trey Jacobs – LG Michael Jordan – C Ben Brown – RG Layden Robinson – RT Mike Onwenu — which will be New England’s seventh starting offensive line combination in as many weeks.

9. Lefty center: Elsewhere along the offensive line, New England added center depth in Lecitus Smith after the release of Nick Leverett. Smith, who comes from the Packers practice squad and is set to serve as the top backup this week, is unique as a left-handed snapper.

“He has upside. Once again, we look at the practice squad as a place where we want to develop those players. Hopefully they become starters at some point, or rotational players,” Mayo said of Smith. “I did learn left-handed snappers, it’s a little bit different. I never knew that, which I thought was interesting. This guy definitely has potential to be a good player for us.”

10. Setting up the week ahead: Despite being across the pond, the Patriots will not have a bye week upon their arrival back to the states. They will be back to work for a normal week that includes practices Wednesday through Friday as they prepare to welcome Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and the New York Jets to Foxboro in Week 8.