The Patriots are coming off a mini-bye week with a bad taste in their mouth following two consecutive losses.

The vibes were high after stunning the Bengals in a Week 1 upset. However, two losses in a five-day span, including a 24-3 loss to the Jets last Thursday night, was a dose of reality: the Patriots are still rebuilding. Following a weekend off, they'll make a cross-country trip to San Francisco for a matchup against the heavily favored 49ers (-10.5).

Despite obvious flaws offensively, the external pressure to start third-overall pick Drake Maye is increasing. Maye made his first regular-season appearance in garbage time in Week 3, with some good and bad on film. Overall, his physical tools flashed on fourth-down conversions via a scramble and a 15-yard completion to WR DeMario Douglas.

Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo put his support behind veteran Jacoby Brissett, as did offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Van Pelt added it's in Maye's best long-term interest to continue learning by watching and working behind the scenes.

"Jacoby is our quarterback until I say he's not the quarterback. I thought last night he showed a lot of toughness, a lot of grit. On protection breakdowns, he tried to do what we asked him to do. I would say as a team, as a coaching staff, we've just got to be better," Mayo told reporters on Friday.

In the interest of full disclosure, we're not at practice or in the meeting rooms. Maye might not be ready. He might be struggling at practice or still developing from a mental standpoint. Van Pelt also pointed to some footwork regression in his 12 drop-backs last Thursday night. Simply put, we don't have all the information.

The other anti-Maye argument is the state of the offensive line. By the numbers, the Patriots have the worst pass protection in the NFL. Brissett has been pressured on a league-high 46.4% of his drop-backs, and the Pats rank dead-last in pass-blocking win rate — it's rough, and it's unlikely that it'll get much better with this personnel.

The hesitation to start Maye isn't necessarily out of fear that the 6-4, 225-pound rookie will get hurt. Instead, it's about him possibly developing bad habits due to constant pressure like a sped-up internal clock, seeing ghosts, and hurting his confidence if things go poorly in a tough situation.

As difficult as patience is, the wise thing to do for the long-term health of the organization is to keep Maye on the sideline. At the very least, we need to see the offensive line settle down before putting the future of the franchise under center, right?

Well, yes and no. There's a compelling case that putting Maye into this environment could break another first-round quarterback, and nobody wants that. Brissett is taking the early-rebuild lumps. He has earned everyone's respect, including this scribe's, for his attitude and toughness. The locker room is behind him, especially given the circumstances. Brissett is a great teammate who is doing his job: play until Maye is ready, and the team is ready for Maye while mentoring the third-overall pick.

However, Brissett isn't just here to mentor Maye and not turn the ball over. The veteran also needs to play competitive football where he is making the right reads, getting the offense out of bad plays, and hitting the layups (i.e., managing the game). If he's not doing that consistently, Brissett is not giving this offense a chance to make the most of this season.

Maye's long-term development is paramount, but Mayo establishing a winning culture with the proper coaches and offensive development around the quarterback are also very important. From a personnel standpoint, the Pats need to come away from this season knowing what they have in rookies Ja'Lynn Polk, Caedan Wallace, Layden Robinson, and Javon Baker, among others, so they know what to prioritize next offseason.

With Maye, the Patriots can also run a more quick-hitting spread offense to mask their O-Line deficiencies. When the rookie is in the game, the Pats have been more gun-heavy, where they run gun runs/RPOs/play-action, quick-game, and middle of the field combinations that Maye ran at North Carolina. Along with those plays hitting faster in structure, Maye's athleticism allows him to create off-script or scramble when necessary.

Although there will be growing pains, Maye's play style could be better for this personnel because it's less reliant on longer-developing plays to scheme open receivers. Between the preseason and his 12 drop-backs last Thursday, Maye's average time to attempt was 2.38 seconds compared to Brissett's 2.80-second release time.

Barring a drastic change, Maye should start as soon as Week 5 and by mid-season at the latest. Keep him away from the 49ers on the road, but a home game against the Tua-less Dolphins is a good landing spot. If you want to wait a few weeks to get your "best five" along the offensive line healthy, fine. Give me LT Lowe, LG Robinson/Sow, C Andrews, RG Onwenu, and RT Wallace, and let's ride.

Brissett's performance in the team's first three games was admirable — he has taken a beating. However, the Patriots must come out of the 2024 season with positive momentum, moving the franchise in the right direction.

Without further ado, let's empty the Patriots Unfiltered mailbag heading into Week 4:

Q: What are your early impressions of OC Alex Van Pelt's as a play-caller? - Everyone

I have zero doubt that AVP's offense would work if the Patriots had an above-average offensive line, like Van Pelt had in Cleveland, but they don't; it falls on the play-caller to mask their weaknesses.

The Pats have started to build in some good early-down wrinkles, like Hunter Henry's fullback package, an orbit motion package for Pop Douglas, and different blocking techniques for receivers in the run game (sniffers, wraps, kick-out on duo, etc.). Those should build to play-action plays by using them as window dressing, but Van Pelt's seven-steppers and bootlegs take too long to develop behind a shaky line.

Plus, they need to set those plays up better to create conflict in the defense. At times, the play-calling feels random rather than like it's building up to create doubt in the defense. That's why you get unblocked edges screaming towards the quarterback on bootleg plays. Here's one sequence from the Seattle game as an example:

• Q2 14:30: 19-yard run by Gibson on outside zone weak (good).
• Q2 13:47: (shotgun) HOSS Juke from empty formation gains 7 yards (fine, but not building on a successful under-center run).
• Q2 13:14: Reverse to Polk off trap-action for no gain (we are back under-center. It's not showing zone action to the defense to build on Gibson's run, and why is Polk running the reverse? Where's Pop or Thornton?).
• Q2 12:40: Gun-run (trap) to Gibson, who runs over a safety in the hole to pick up a third-and-3 (successful, but barely).
• Three-straight shotgun passes: incomplete wheel route to Rhamondre, two-yard shovel pass to Rhamondre, incomplete out to Henry on third down, field goal.

Going from a 19-yard zone run from under center to empty on the next play was inconsistent. Then, five of the next six plays were out of the gun without play-action, while the one under-center play was questionable use of the personnel. The Patriots are limited offensively, but they could be better if Van Pelt built on what works and called plays to protect the O-Line.

Right now, teams are teeing off on them because their offense isn't keeping the defense guessing. Ultimately, that falls on the play-caller, even if some of the designs Van Pelt has installed are exciting.

Q: Is there anything the Patriots can do to address the offensive line? Are there players out there they can bring in? - Kelly V

At this stage, the Patriots external options are very limited. Teams aren't trading starting-caliber tackles these days, let alone in-season. They could call veteran free agents like Donovan Smith, David Bakhtiari, Charles Leno, or DJ Humphries, but why would they sign with a non-contender unless it's for a massive overpay? It seems unlikely for both sides.

The realistic path forward for the Patriots is to get everyone healthy and build some continuity with their best five. As mentioned, we'd lean toward that being LT Lowe, LG Robinson/Sow, C Andrews, RG Onwenu, and RT Wallace. Lowe and a rookie at the two tackle spots is not ideal, but at least everyone is playing their natural positions, and that interior trio has a chance to be solid. On paper, that's their best group for the time being, and it could also be four-fifths of their line for 2025, so you're building toward the future as well.

Q: Should we be concerned about the defense, or was Thursday night a fluke? - Josh B

My concern level for the defense is growing for a few reasons. One, the run defense without Barmore and Bentley is going to take a step back. And two, their pass defense hasn't been good enough for two consecutive weeks.

The Patriots tackled well in the first two weeks and the last several years, so I'm willing to give them the short week excuse for the 13 missed tackles. However, the Pats blew six edges, allowing Rodgers outside the pocket. This was also an issue against Seattle, where Geno Smith torched their pass defense on extended plays. According to NextGen Stats, New England has allowed the third-highest EPA per drop-back on extended plays (4+ seconds) at +0.36 (9-12 for 126 yards, 10.5 YPA).

The Pats must do a better job of containing quarterbacks to alleviate the stress on the secondary. To me, it starts in the trenches, as it usually does. You can't ask the backend to cover forever.

Q: Is losing LB Ja'Whaun Bentley a bigger deal than a lot of people originally thought? - Ryan H

Not to toot our own horns but we discussed Bentley being a major loss on PU/Catch-22 last week. His limitations in coverage get overstated and miss the point of his role in the defense. Along with wearing the green dot, Bentley is an elite run defender who allows them to two gap and play a man down in the box because he can compress space like a DT.

Bentley's ability to take on lead blockers climbing to the second level was sorely missed vs. the Jets, leading to a soft middle against the run. Tavai is a solid linebacker, but he's more see ball, get ball rather than a point-of-attack defender. The Patriots might need to tweak their front mechanics without Bentley while relying more on Dugger and Peppers at the second level to bring some physicality to the front seven. Bentley is a significant loss. He does a ton for this defense that goes unnoticed in a box score.

Q: Do you expect WR Kendrick Bourne to have a big impact when he returns? What does the WR rotation look like with KB? - Bob

Bourne is not a savior. However, he's an upgrade over KJ Osborn and Tyquan Thornton as an every-down X receiver. You don't need a big-bodied 'X' in this offense because they run a decent amount of condensed formations and in-breaking routes from the outside. Instead, what you need is someone who can beat single coverage in a 3x1 or run the deep route in their layered concepts. That's why the Browns were productive with Amari Cooper as the 'X' rather than a prototypical outside receiver who wins with size on the vertical route tree. Bourne fits the mold relatively well, is an upgrade over what they have, and should be a top-3 receiver alongside Ja'Lynn Polk and DeMario Douglas in 11-personnel.

Q: How many draft picks should the Patriots use on the offensive line in next year's draft? - Cory P

My hope is they'll only really need a left tackle and a center of the future. The Pats should be able to find two starting guards between Onwenu, Strange, Sow, and Robinson. We already know Onwenu is starting-caliber, so it's three guys competing for left guard. If they don't hit on one of Strange, Sow, and Robinson, that's a huge development problem — they should be set at guard.

The wildcard is Wallace at right tackle. Fingers crossed, he proves to be a long-term answer on the right side. Then, you go into next season with R1 LT, LG Robinson/Sow/Strange, C Andrews, RG Onwenu, and RT Wallace. Although there's hope for Wallace, realistically, the Patriots are probably double-dipping at tackle to bring in some competition. So, we're likely looking at three O-Line picks: round-one left tackle, mid-round RT/swing OT, and a day-three center.

Q: Are you still confident in Eliot Wolf going forward? - FF Strat

I'm an innocent until proven guilty kind of guy, so I'd say my assessment of Wolf is incomplete. His biggest misstep so far was signing Chuks Okorafor as the bridge left tackle, which was a major whiff. Okorafor struggled at both tackle spots, played 12 regular-season snaps, and then left the team — that's about as bad as it gets. For me, that's strike one for Wolf, who needed to hit on that bridge-LT signing to make this offensive line viable for 2024.

That said, I'm willing to give him at least another offseason to plug the remaining holes on offense (left tackle, possibly right tackle, outside/X receiver). We'll see what he does with another high first-rounder, four picks in the first three rounds, and a boatload of cap space. The Patriots should be very active in upgrading the roster significantly in 2025.

Q: Should the Patriots tank the rest of the season? - @RwBurnett

For the record, I'm anti-tanking unless it's for a franchise-altering quarterback. Who are they tanking for? A left tackle (Will Campbell or Kelvin Banks)? Travis Hunter? Those are high-level prospects, but it's unlikely that a left tackle or WR/CB will be enough to make them a contender. The Patriots will likely organically lose enough games to have a top-half of the first-round pick in 2025, where they'll be able to find their left tackle or WR1. They shouldn't tank and should instead focus on building positive momentum with Maye and a young nucleus so that they're finding pieces to finish the puzzle next offseason to get back to playoff contention quickly.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer