Drake Maye's seven turnovers through three weeks will dominate the postgame narrative after Jacksonville's win, and rightfully so. A rookie quarterback can't survive on negative plays like that. But here's what's getting lost in the box score: the Patriots' offensive line, specifically the right side, is becoming a genuine liability—and it's making everything else worse.
Greg Van Roten went down with a thigh injury in the second quarter against Jacksonville. Morgan Moses was also in the mix with issues. That's both your right tackle depth getting dinged up in the same game. When you're already thin at a position that's foundational to protecting your young QB, losing contributors in the rotation isn't a minor inconvenience. It's a compounding problem. Maye's holding the ball too long because he doesn't trust his protection. His offensive line isn't giving him clean pockets. Pick your angle of blame—they're related.
The snap count data reveals that the OL instability isn't isolated to one bad performance. It's a pattern. When you're rotating bodies through right tackle because of injury and performance concerns, your communication breaks down. Assignments get muddled. That's how sacks happen. That's how clean pockets disappear. And that's how a young QB's confidence erodes fast.
Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf inherited a roster that needed work across the board, but the offensive line was supposed to be foundation-level construction. Instead, three weeks in, we're seeing depth chart shuffles and injury concerns on the right side that suggest this unit isn't close to stable. Garrett Bradbury in the middle has to have eyes in the back of his head diagnosing who's next to him.
The Jaguars game isn't just about Drake Maye's turnovers. It's about a team that can't protect its quarterback, and that's a coaching and roster problem combined. That needs to tighten up fast, because no amount of offensive firepower masks a broken line.