FOXBORO — Maybe it was the carefree scramble on his second play from scrimmage.

Or simply playing in another preseason game.

Or maybe it was motivation he mustered from getting embarrassed in a two-minute drill that closed Tuesday’s joint practice, when he took three sacks in four plays and the Eagles pecked him to death.

Whatever it was, for one night, Drake Maye shook the quarterback cobwebs that have slowed him this summer.

He looked ready.

Calm, cool and in control.

Like a gunslinger playing on instincts instead of by the book and a prospect worthy of the No. 3 overall pick, who may one day carry the franchise. Like the kid from North Carolina again.

For spurts, anyway.

Maye played a solid game over 24 snaps and four drives in the Patriots’ 14-13 loss to the Eagles. His final stat line (6-of-11 for 47 yards, plus 15 rushing yards and a touchdown) belies the fact his longest completion was screen pass JaMycal Hasty zipped 23 yards against a busted coverage. And it omits Javon Baker lost what should have been a 48-yard catch in the third quarter, a bomb Maye effortlessly dropped with GPS precision.

On that same play, Maye demonstrated expert pocket presence, sliding away from interior pressure while keeping his eyes downfield, then stepping up to fire away. The Patriots’ starting left tackle and left guard helped build Maye’s pocket; a rarity this summer. Maye has only worked with the team’s starting offensive line in the preseason – never once in 14 training camp practices – and it’s no accident he led back-to-back scoring drives behind multiple starting linemen.

Not that they were always of great help.

Before Maye scrambled on his second snap, a play early in the second quarter, left tackle Vederian Lowe false-started. Then, facing second-and-11, Maye made up for it by taking off for six yards and creating a manageable third down. This led to his best completion of the night.

Flanked by two receivers to either side, Maye took the snap and glanced right at a pair of out-breaking routes. His first read was covered. So was his second.

Resetting his feet, Maye turned left, spotted Baker running a 12-yard dig route over the middle and fired at the exact moment Baker broke inside.

After the game, Maye admitted he recently failed to pull the trigger on this throw in practice and missed the window. Not tonight.

First down.

This is good work by Maye. In previous Van Pelt offenses, they called the dig-stick route combination at the top “Hammer.”

Maye starts right, reads back left, throws for the 1st down. https://t.co/0ghlFlfFvG pic.twitter.com/3YTgDGDnf5

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) August 15, 2024

Progress. Clean footwork. An anticipatory throw. That’s NFL quarterbacking.

Seconds later, Maye booted left on a play-action pass and found Eagles edge rusher Nolan Smith in his lap as soon as he turned his head. No matter.

Maye took a short hop backwards to create space and whipped the ball around Smith for a completion into the flat, flashing the second-reaction playmaking the Patriots are betting one day elevates their offense to another level.

A year ago, the sight of a free rusher like Smith would have sent Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe spiraling, ducking for cover or melting into a puddle. Not anymore.

“If you look at the best quarterbacks in the league,” coach Jerod Mayo said post-game, “they have to be able to make those off-schedule plays.”

Of course, it should go without saying that two plays – let alone two preseason plays — do not a quarterback make. Throw in the incomplete Baker bomb, the touchdown run and a couple other snaps, and six plays is still not remotely close to a legitimate case for Maye to start Week 1.

What we learned in Patriots’ 14-13 preseason loss to the Eagles

Sure, Maye’s first drive ended in a field goal attempt, and his second a 4-yard touchdown run off a zone-read concept; another dimension Maye’s athleticism has unlocked for the Patriots’ offense.

But he also dropped a snap in the second half. He completed one pass longer than 10 yards downfield. And before taking a sack on his final play, Maye cocked his arm to throw, then tucked the ball in a moment of indecision and get clocked from behind. From snap to sack, Maye had 3.1 seconds to pass, and couldn’t unload it.

He’s done that almost daily in training camp, when reads are cloudy and hesitancy has occasionally been a problem, but goes unpunished because quarterbacks can’t be touched. Meanwhile, in the preseason, quarterbacks are fair game, and reads are clearly defined because coaches work from vanilla playbooks. No gray areas.

Context, like this, is key to understanding Maye’s performance and development, same as noting his lack of protection in practice. Mayo admitted there is a “dramatic drop-off” between the Patriots’ starting offensive line and its backup units. It shows.

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Maye deserves more time with the Patriots’ top offensive line. He is owed the basic protection all quarterbacks need to perform, and especially grow. Period.

The coaching staff is at least trying to meet Maye halfway schematically, putting him in shotgun on 17 of his 24 snaps Thursday; a concerted effort to ease his transition from a shotgun-only offense in college. But when Maye either dropped back to pass, or executed a designed run from shotgun, the Patriots averaged just 3.4 yards per play and produced a 28.5% success rate.

Prorated over a full game, those numbers are disastrous. Untenable.

But Thursday was no disaster. It wasn’t even about the numbers.

It was about a young quarterback making progress and looking like himself again.

Looking like hope.