FOXBORO – After Drake Maye made his professional debut with a brief appearance for the Patriots towards the end The defeat on Thursday evening against the New York JetsIt’s exciting to see more from the 22-year-old quarterback, but the Patriots should not put Maye in the starting lineup anytime soon.

It’s a scaredy-cat mentality, but the thought of Maye playing behind New England’s offensive line is absolutely terrifying, and he learned that firsthand Thursday night.

Maye entered the game with just over four minutes left in New Jersey, which Jerod Mayo saw as a good opportunity for the rookie to get some NFL snaps. In reality, it was Mayo who gave Jacoby Brissett a rest after he took a beating from the Jets defense.

Brissett was under fire all night, ultimately getting sacked five times. The Jets hit him a dozen times as Brissett was tackled hard on 52 percent of his dropbacks.

Things didn’t get any better when Maye entered the game. He played 16 snaps in his one series, dropping back to pass nine times. He was sacked twice, including on the final play of the game, and hit three times.

He was hit hard on a third-and-3 scramble when Jamien Sherwood sent Maye to the ground after a one-yard pickup.

That was a “Welcome to the NFL” moment. Maye just didn’t let that hard blow go in the locker room after the loss.

“I think it was a good feeling to get a hit,” Maye said. “You always wonder when you get your first NFL hit — it happened in the preseason — but those are the ones that count. It’s kind of good to have that behind me. I’ll feel good tomorrow.”

After his first pass was nearly intercepted, the freshman made a few nice throws, including a 15-yard toss to DeMario Douglas on a fourth-and-10 attempt. Maye also moved the chains with a nice running play on fourth down. That’s definitely promising, and should give Maye some hope for the future.

But the Patriots shouldn’t force it with Maye. Not with this offensive line, which had its third starting tackle on Thursday night and substituted in practice players late in the game. The pressure came from everywhere and the rushers were mostly blocked. The Pats allowed 17 quarterback pressures on 35 dropbacks in the game.

The Patriots currently can’t protect their quarterback, no matter who’s on the offensive line. Even when they get called for holding — like on three consecutive snaps on Brissett’s final drive — the O-line can’t prevent their quarterback from being sacked.

If you want a glimpse of what a rookie quarterback looks like behind a bad line, look at what’s happening in Chicago. Top pick Caleb Williams starts for the Bears and has been sacked nine times — seven of those in a loss to the Texans last week. He’s completed just 56 percent of his passes, with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Mayo left open the possibility of Maye taking over as the starter, but the Patriots aren’t ready to support their rookie and future face of the franchise. Unfortunately, that means Brissett will have to go back out there to take the many hits the offensive line allows.

“I’m a big man, I can take it,” the veteran said after his loss Thursday night. “I’m always going to get back up. That’s one thing with me, I’m always going to get back up and find ways to play. That’s what it comes down to.”

The Patriots are lucky to have a veteran like Brissett who can take that kind of hit and protect Maye on the sideline. When the offensive line starts to show it’s capable of protecting its quarterback, the Patriots might want to rethink it. But until then, keep the kid off the offensive line. We don’t need to watch the Patriots ruin yet another quarterback prospect.

Now let’s get to the other takeaways from Thursday night’s embarrassing loss. It’ll be quick, because no one really wants to relive what happened in New Jersey.

The Patriots had little success on their first attempt

Including the 22 yards lost to sacks — and the four yards gained by Rhamondre Stevenson before his fumble — the Patriots gained 66 yards on their 20 first down plays. That’s an average of 3.3 yards per first down. Nine of their first down plays either failed to gain yards or lost yards, including their final five first down plays of the game with Maye at quarterback.

This is not a prerequisite for the success of your offensive.

The Patriots dropped back to pass on 14 of their first down plays, essentially abandoning the running game, which has been their most important play this season. It was a strange decision considering New York’s struggles in the running game over the first two weeks.

New England managed back-to-back first downs on its second drive of the second half, with Brissett hitting DeMario Douglas for 22 yards and Austin Hooper for 19 yards on back-to-back plays. But the Patriots still had to call off that possession when Brissett was sacked on third down at the New York 23, putting them out of field goal range.

The Patriots only managed 11 first downs on Thursday night, two of them due to a penalty against New York.

Stevenson should hold a football from now until Week 4

Stevenson’s fumble luck ran out on Thursday night. He fumbled in the first two games, but the Patriots were able to recover it. But on the first snap of the fourth quarter, with New England trailing 21-3, Stevenson got a handoff and had the ball knocked out of his hands. The Jets recovered the ball at New England’s 37-yard line and scored a field goal.

Stevenson Was the Patriots’ offense in the first two weeks, rushing for 201 yards. But on Thursday night, he was unable to produce anything, averaging just 3.8 yards on his six 23-yard carries.

The running back should have a football in his hand everywhere he goes for the next week and a half.

The defense was as miserable as the offense

What was the worst thing about New England’s defense on Thursday night? Take your pick.

There’s the 252 yards the Patriots defense allowed in the first half. What about the 14 missed tackles in the game? Or maybe the 10 third-down conversions the defense allowed that kept the Jets in their hands for over 40 minutes?

The Jets also found the end zone on three of their four red zone attempts. It wouldn’t be fair to single out any individual New England defense, as they all played poorly throughout the entire loss.

Just an ugly, ugly performance by the New England defense on Thursday night.

Rotating fourth cornerback hurts the team

The Patriots are trying to find more depth at cornerback, but have had little success. Marco Wilson was a disaster when he filled in for Jonathan Jones in Weeks 1 and 2, getting penalized for pass interference in both games. Alex Austin got the call in Week 3 and immediately found himself in Aaron Rodgers’ crosshairs. Austin missed the pass when Rodgers sent a short pass to Allen Lazard in the red zone and had no chance to bring the receiver down on his touchdown catch-and-run. (On the failed tackle attempt, he only caught a handful of Lazard’s stretchy undershirt.)

The Patriots will eventually need their backup players to step up, and so far they have not been able to meet that demand.