Poise has been a common word to describe Drake Maye through his second NFL season.
New York Giants Pro Bowl pass rusher Brian Burns agrees, but ahead of a Monday night matchup against Maye and the Patriots, Burns thinks the young quarterback can almost be “too poised” at times.
“He’s talented, talented arm. I’m not really too sure yet about how quick he is to process everything, but I do feel like he makes the right plays at the right time,” Burns told Giants reporters Tuesday. “He does seem a bit poised, maybe a little bit too poised in the pocket, but just overall he’s been showing his talent for sure.”
What does it mean to be too poised?
“Really just getting to him, getting in his blind spots, like his backside. I feel like at times he’s so caught up in making the right play or getting so caught up in his routes downfield, he just forgets about somewhat of who’s rushing him, if that makes sense,” Burns explained. “What I mean about poised, it could be a bad thing, could be a good thing. But what I mean by poised is that he takes his time and he makes the right reads, he tries to make the right play. It can also bite you in the butt at a certain amount of times if you’ve got edge rushers coming and you’re not really too cognizant of where they are.”
Through all of Maye’s success this season, the 23-year old has been sacked the third most in football (37 times). Several weeks back, Maye took the blame for the majority of those and has since been sacked just once in each of his last three games.
When asked about Burns’ comments, Maye was not entirely sure of the meaning.
“Shoot, I’m not 100 percent \[sure\] what that really means,” Maye said on Wednesday. “I try to keep my eyes down the field with feeling the pressure. I think that’s part of playing the position, so just trying to make the right play.”
Burns’ 13 sacks and 21 quarterback hits leads a Giants pass rush that features several other big names such as Dexter Lawerence, Kayvon Thibodeaux and third overall pick Abdul Carter. The group has overall been rather underwhelming this season compared to expectations as they rank 23rd in pressure rate and 15th in pass rush win rate.
They will now try to take advantage of a Patriots offensive line that will be down left tackle Will Campbell and left guard Jared Wilson to try and get after Maye Monday night.
“Man, they’re good. They’re good up front,” Maye said. “You all, all five of them, all six of them that get in there and play, seven, they rotate them in and they’re good inside, too. They got some good players that make plays. You know, Big Dexter’s done it for a long time in there… And Burns and Carter, the young kid, he’s explosive on the edge. I think they do a good job of sending those guys and help to try to get home and they’re good on third down.”
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