Welcome to the Friday Five!

Every week during the NFL regular season, I dropped five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday to recap the week that was in Foxboro and look ahead to kickoff.

For the final time, ready, set, football.

1. Maye’s 2025 challenge

If Drake Maye needs a New Year’s resolution with an eye on next season, he can start with his most recent game tape.

Allow his offensive coordinator to explain.

“Yeah, there’s definitely some rush patterns that encourage the quarterback to leave the pocket, I think teams are starting to use (against) Drake,” Alex Van Pelt said Thursday. “You start to see a little more spying of him to stop him from running, especially on third-and-medium. I’ve seen that from Buffalo.”

Van Pelt said “absolutely” those are areas for Maye to improve upon in 2025. Early on, Maye’s legs were not a luxury but a necessity for the Patriots, the way he extended plays and even drives. He averaged 7.6 yards per rush versus Houston, then scrambled for a 17-yard touchdown in his second start versus the Jets and a season-high 95 yards at Tennessee the following week.

But lately, Maye’s scrambling has been neutralized by schemed rushes that lead him into trouble. For example, on his first third-down play last weekend against the Chargers, Maye was pushed out of the pocket to his right, where Kendrick Bourne had been double-teamed and Hunter Henry blanketed by All-Pro safety Derwin James. So Maye ran toward the sideline for a two-yard loss and took a hit that forced him to leave the game.

Over the past four weeks, Maye has posted three of his lowest yards per carry averages of the season. That’s no accident, and finding a way to either hang in the pocket or otherwise overcome these tactics in the future won’t be, either.

2. Enough Campbell comparisons

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo listens to a reporter’s question during a news conference following an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

During the season, Jerod Mayo has often invoked Dan Campbell’s name when offering reasons to believe in his future as a head coach, and by extension the Patriots’ future as they rebuild.

Ignoring the obvious big-picture problems with that comparison, including Detroit’s ongoing, outlier run as a wildly successful drafting machine and Campbell’s staff being stocked with successful NFL assistants, let’s stick with their respective rookie seasons to explain why this analogy has to stop.

Detroit went 3-3 down the stretch of Campbell’s first season, while the Patriots are currently riding a six-game losing streak for the second time this year. That finish matters. It’s reflective of buy-in, and not because I say so, but because Mayo’s own players believe it.

“If we finish right, we’re telling everybody that the hard work that we put in, it matters,” Pats captain Deatrich Wise said last month.

Welp.

Not to mention, the Lions scored more than 25 points five times that year, something the Patriots have yet to do once this season. And before kicking off once, Detroit started Campbell’s tenure with a blockbuster trade that netted them multiple first-round picks and newly minted Pro Bowl quarterback Jared Goff; all strong ammo for a rebuild.

So, sure. Campbell took over a bad Lions team in 2021 and went 3-13-1, then 9-8 the following year and the NFC Championship Game last season. Mayo and Co. might finish with three wins this year, too. But all similarities end there until further notice.

3. Keep Alex Van Pelt

Quarterback Drake Maye and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt look on during a Sept. 12 New England Patriots practice in Foxboro. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

A short one here: I think the Patriots ought to keep the offensive coordinator who presided over the rapid development of their next franchise quarterback, and not move on to a fifth new play-caller in as many years.

Call me crazy.

Sure, the Patriots offense has sputtered more often than not, but Van Pelt’s done a better job than his boss, Mayo, and defensive counterpart DeMarcus Covington. Tell me why Van Pelt deserves the chopping block if one or two of them don’t. And Van Pelt’s system works, as evidenced by multiple top-12 offensive seasons in Cleveland, including a top-10 campaign last year.

Give Van Pelt more time, more talent and move forward.

4. 2026 Pro Bowl predictions

Yes, Christian Gonzalez got snubbed by Pro Bowl voters.

No, it won’t happen next season.

Thanks to opponents’ comments and his consistent shutdown performances, Gonzalez’s profile grew enough this year that he should have a place in the larger consciousness of the football-watching world. Gonzalez will make the Pro Bowl next season. Book it.

And joining him will be the Patriots’ only Pro Bowler this year, special teams ace Brenden Schooler, plus soon-to-be free agent addition … Tee Higgins.

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5. A Ted Lasso lesson

In an otherwise forgettable Wednesday press conference, Hunter Henry dropped a pop culture reference while explaining why some Patriots rookies have struggled this season.

“Like Ted Lasso says,” Henry began, “‘You’ve gotta be a goldfish.’”

Meaning, the rookies have too often let poor plays and bad performances linger. Often, self-criticism, especially in a locker room, is viewed as a virtue. But according to Henry, the Patriots’ rookies are learning that self-criticism has its limits; a critical ingredient to the mental toughness required to stick in the NFL.

True toughness comes with learning when to let go, and when to hold on to your mistakes as motivation and lessons to be learned. Life goes on, and so does football; something to keep in mind for Ja’Lynn Polk and Co. heading into their second seasons.