It’s safe to say Bill Simmons doesn’t want the Drake Maye era to begin for the New England Patriots on Sunday.
The media personality and Patriots fan certainly isn’t alone with nearly everyone weighing in about whether it’s the right time to bench Jacoby Brissett in favor of the 22-year-old rookie quarterback.
But Simmons went a step further Tuesday with New England’s decision prompting an epic rant from him. Simmons was ready to rejoice about the New York Jets firing Robert Saleh, but instead, he ferociously ripped the Patriots for what Simmons sees as a colossal mistake in starting Maye against the Houston Texans.
“I’m here in New York City, where they just fired the Jets coach and I was feeling all good about the fact that I’m not a Jets fan and then my stupid ass team who didn’t start Drake Maye last week against the Dolphins, who suck — it would have been the perfect spot to play him even if the offensive line is terrible, at least you’re getting his feet wet against probably the other worst team in the league except for Carolina,” Simmons said. “You wait a week, oh, it turns out Jacoby Brissett is still terrible. Wow, we had no evidence of that. And then a week later, guess what they do? They start Drake Maye against Houston’s defense, which is probably a top five or six scariest defense and they can really rush the passer.
“And they’re just putting this guy now in a terrible position because this is the dumbest, most incompetent ownership, front office group we’ve had since Victor Kiam since I was in college. Go Pats.”
That’s certainly tough criticism for Patriots owner Robert Kraft and executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, but Simmons made a valid point.
The Patriots seemed to alter their plan of giving Maye time to develop from the bench and are rushing him into action. They could have done Maye a favor by making his first career start come against a more favorable opponent, like the one New England just had on its schedule.
Instead, Maye will try to look like the No. 3 overall pick against a defense that held NFL MVP candidate Josh Allen to just 9-of-30 passing for 131 yards and one touchdown. And then there’s also the issue of New England’s porous offensive line and lackluster wide receiver group.
That’s usually not a recipe for success. And by the end of Sunday, perhaps more, even all Patriots fans, will feel like Simmons.