Patriots

The Patriots will throw Drake Maye into the fire against Houston, which leads the league in pressure percentage.

Texas quarterback CJ Stroud chuckled when asked to give Patriots rookie Drake Maye advice for his first NFL start.

“Not this week,” Stroud said.

The Patriots, reeling from their fourth straight loss, opted to replace veteran Jacoby Brissett with Maye earlier this week.

They’ll throw Maye into the fire against Houston, which leads the league in pressure rate (42 percent) and is second in passing yards per game (272.4).

The Patriots (7-0) have never lost to the Texans at Gillette Stadium. Will New England maintain its winning streak in Maye’s first start?

Here are five things to keep in mind.

1. Maye under pressure

There isn’t a lot of film that opposing defenses could use to evaluate Maye’s tendencies.

The Texans excel at pressuring quarterbacks. With 15 sacks they are in the top third of the league. Five of those involved Chicago rookie Caleb Williams, who they beat on 41.7 percent of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats.

Even experienced quarterbacks have struggled with Houston’s pass rush, as Buffalo’s Josh Allen showed last week when he went 9-of-30 for 131 yards and a touchdown.

Meanwhile, few teams have allowed more pressure than the Patriots. Pro Football Focus has New England’s pass blocking rating at 47.7 percent, 30th in the league. Brissett was sacked four times per game during the team’s four-game losing streak.

The Patriots hope Maye’s athleticism will allow him to extend plays and make off-target throws that result in long yardage. Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said he was confident in Maye’s understanding of the offense, his overall football IQ and his work ethic.

“We’ll have to wait and see if it happens in the game, but he did a good job,” Mayo said. “I feel like there’s a renewed sense of energy throughout the team and now it’s just a matter of going out there on Sunday and performing.”

2. The securities of New England

With Jabrill Peppers out indefinitely after being placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, and Kyle Dugger suffering an ankle injury that forced him to miss practice on Wednesday and be limited on Thursday, the Patriots will be in the Secondary school will need some new faces.

Undrafted rookie Dell Pettus tied for the team lead with nine tackles last week. Jaylinn Hawkins contributed six solo tackles.

“I think for us it helps the guys who aren’t necessarily starters get starter reputations and be able to play with confidence and gain the trust of their teammates and coaches,” defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington said. “There’s nothing better than being out there on Sunday and actually winning those reps.”

Marte Mapu, playing his first game off injured reserve, took over the game against the Dolphins.

“I think he’s earned the right to do it because I know he learned in the classroom and on the field,” Covington said. “This is a smart guy. He prepares very, very well. I thought he did a great job communicating with the defense and conveying what we wanted to reflect on the field, and because he hasn’t been able to play a snap since last year, he’s done a great job for us.”

3. Alex Van Pelt’s play call

Mayo said he is not considering changing the offensive coordinator position, even though the team is second-to-last in scoring at 12.4 points per game and suffered a loss to the only team averaging fewer points.

Van Pelt said he was probably a little more aggressive than necessary in calling for passing plays at times during Sunday’s loss.

He mentioned a play just before halftime when the Patriots decided to throw the ball on second-and-2. He said he understood the criticism but was still unsure whether his decision was right or not.

There was also a situation on the Patriots’ second-to-last drive when they were on the Miami 12 first and 10 with all three timeouts and threw four consecutive passes, all of which were incomplete.

“I feel like I put us in some good situations. I had some bad calls,” Van Pelt said. “Obviously the Jets game haunts me a little bit, some of the decisions in that game, but we all have to get better together. I need to get better at situational football and at the same time we all need to improve our game across the board.”

4. Stroud without his top weapon

Stroud will be without his top target for a while. Houston receiver Nico Collins, who has an NFL-best 567 receiving yards and three touchdowns, was placed on injured reserve this week.

Houston’s passing attack remains strong with Stefon Diggs, Tank Dell and tight end Dalton Schultz.

“I think (Diggs) is great,” Stroud said, according to ESPN. “I definitely think he is already a leader, but you can see in practice (Thursday) that he is aware of his responsibilities now without Nico. That’s really the case for everyone, everyone has to step in, including myself, to fill the gap where Nico isn’t playing.”

Stroud is completing 68.9 percent of his passes this season and has seven touchdowns against three interceptions.

5. A team the Patriots want to be on

Two seasons ago, the Texans finished 3-13. They hired a young, defensive-minded former Pro Bowl linebacker (DeMeco Ryans) as head coach and selected their franchise quarterback No. 2 overall.

They made the playoffs last year and started this season 4-1, but it wasn’t long ago that they were struggling.

They have a former Patriots manager, Nick Caserio, as general manager. They are where the Patriots want to be, Mayo said.

“He did a fantastic job,” Mayo said of Ryans. “I would also say Nick has done a fantastic job with this squad as well. Another guy – I’m talking about Nick – who made moves early on and no one could really tell what he was doing and then, bam, all of a sudden they have a good squad.

“I look up to Nick. I look up to DeMeco and the entire organization and hope we can repeat some of that here in the near future and into the future.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports reporter

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Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

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