I don't really now why they are doing it but I want the Pats to lose the game and then they could the trade the 1st overall pick
I think there's a line between coddling your rookie and just throwing him to the wolves. I think they're way too far on the conservative side of that with Maye this year.
That's more than just this game, but also the idea of calling zero designed runs for him all year and encouraging him not to scramble at all.
I know they want to try to develop his pocket presence, but completely removing one of his weapons seems a short sighted way to do it. Sure you don't want to go all A Rich and just have him being an RB playing QB, but it makes a lot of sense to have him work on his reading of rushes and knowing when to slide early in his career before he gets too settled in without that.