Patriots vs. Texans final score: Drake Maye shows promise in 41-21 ...

There were expected rookie moments for Drake Maye in his first career start, but the rookie totaled season highs for the New England Patriots with 239 passing yards and three touchdowns — showing flashes of his potential in the process.

While there was promise, New England’s offense turned the ball over four times too make matters worse for a defense that already was struggling to slow down C.J Stroud and the Houston Texans offense. The result was a 41-21 defeat to drop the Patriots to 1-5 on the year.

Here’s everything that went down at Gillette Stadium.

Sunday, October 13, 1 p.m. ET | Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA | Inactives | Game day roster | Broadcast information

The Patriots won the toss and deferred, putting the defense on the field first. C.J. Stroud and the Texans got right to work, as the QB completed his first three passes to move just outside the red area. Stroud then found Stefon Diggs for 13 yards on third-down to place Houston at the five. They then faced another third-down, where a pass interference penalty on Marte Mapu moved the ball to the one. Two plays later, Stroud found Tank Dell in the end zone for an early score. [Patriots 0 : 7 Texans]

Drake Maye took the field to a standing ovation which quickly turned to boos after two straight handoffs to Antonio Gibson. Maye’s first pass of the day on third-down was then thrown away, leading to a punt.

A 40-yard punt from Bryce Baringer and 19-yard return from Sims set the Texans’ offense up across midfield on their next drive. New England’s third-down issues then continued, as Tank Dell beat man coverage again to move the chains on a 12-yard crosser. Stroud’s legs then got Houston into the red area, On the next third-down, another DPI penalty — this on Marcus Jones — moved the chains again before Stroud found Mixon out of the end zone for a touchdown. [Patriots 0 : 14 Texans]

A play-action boot on first-down to Kendrick Bourne got New England’s offense started, but things went south from there. A run stuff set up a third-down, where Maye over shot an open Pop Douglas and the pass was intercepted.

Taking over at the New England 27-yard line, the Patriots defense got a much needed stop. Ka’imi Fairbairn then pushed a 40-yard field goal wide left.

Following the miss, a first-down scramble from Maye picked up 11 yards to move the chains for the first time. A pair of penalties on New England’s tackles then helped backed them up into a 3rd-and 11, where Maye was sacked by Will Anderson.

Back with the ball, Joe Mixon took the first play 59 yards on the ground to setup just outside the red area. Two plays later, a breakup by Marte Mapu was caught by Marcus Jones in the end zone for an interception.

An injured Vederian Lowe was replaced by Zach Thomas at left tackle on New England’s next drive. On 3rd-and-3, Maye stepped up in the pocket and found an open Antonio Gibson for 12 yards and the team’s first third-down conversion of the day. The next third-down, Maye’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell incomplete to Henry.

Baringer’s punt started the Texans next possession inside their own 10-yard line. On 3rd-and-7 from the gun, a screen to Dell gained just two yards leading to a punt.

A nice return from Marcus Jones was negated by a penalty, which started Maye’s next drive at the Houston 11 and cost the Patriots 38 yards of field position. Two straight passes picked up an opening first-down, but a second-down sack off Zach Thomas followed by a third-down incompletion led to a punt.

Following the two-minute warning, Houston’s offense got on the move with a 20-yard catch-and-run by Mixon out of the backfield. Just shy of midfield on third-down, pressure led to Mapu and Keion White getting home for a sack.

With 59 seconds left, a first-down run was followed by a completion to Demario Douglas who took it 22 yards before getting out of bounds. Douglas then drew an interference to put the offense across midfield with 21 seconds remaining. With 11 seconds left from the 40, Maye lofted a perfect ball to Kayshon Boutte who hauled it in for a score. [Patriots 7 : 14 Texans]

Houston kneeled out the half.

Starting with the ball in the second half, a handoff to Gibson went nowhere as a blatant face mask was missed. Then, pressure got to Maye as he was throwing which resulted in a fumble recovered by Houston.

The Texans took over at the 10 following the strip sack, where they needed just two plays for Stroud to find Diggs, who beat Christian Gonzalez, for a touchdown. [Patriots 7 : 21 Texans]

Back with the ball, New England faced a 3rd-and-9. From the gun, Maye had an open Pop Douglas over the middle but the throw was a tad wide leading to an incompletion.

Stroud went back to Diggs on their next possession, who was open in the middle of the field for a 26-yard completion. Houston then picked up an additional pair of first downs to setup outside the red area. Jaquelin Roy’s second sack in as many weeks helped lead to a 3rd-and-6, where Stroud’s pass to Diggs in the end zone was incomplete with Gonzalez in coverage. Fairbairn’s 39-yard field goal was good. [Patriots 7 : 24 Texans]

New England’s first play of the drive saw Maye’s pass complete to Austin Hooper, but the tight end lost the fumble and Houston recovered.

Taking back over after the fumble at the New England 31-yard line, the Patriots defense quickly got off the field after pressure by Keion White helped force a third-down incompletion. Fairbairn’s field goal was good. [Patriots 7 : 27 Texans]

Now down 20, Maye’s ability to improvise was on display as he got outside the pocket to find an open Henry who took it 30 yards. After a fall start, New England got it back after two passes to Hasty and Douglas, the latter going for 17 yards. Inside the 10-yard line, Maye found Henry off play-action for a score. [Patriots 14 : 27 Texans]

With the lead cut to two scores, Stroud found Diggs again for 12 yards to get Houston’s offense on the move. On 3rd-and-5, the Patriots defense brought pressure and Stroud’s pass to Schultz was through the tight end’s hands and incomplete.

Back with the ball, Maye’s first pass was deflected into the air and intercepted by Eric Murray, who went over Hooper to haul it in.

Two plays after the turnover, Mixon bounced a run to the left and took it 20 yards for a touchdown. [Patriots 14 : 34 Texans]

New England picked up an opening first down through the short passing attack, before Maye got the offense moving with his legs as he scrambled for 15 yards. On 3rd-and-5 over midfield, Maye finally hit Douglas accurately on the crosser which let the speedster take it 35 yards for score (his first career touchdown). [Patriots 21 : 34 Texans]

New England’s defense faced an early 3rd-and-5, where Stroud hit Tank Dell for 11 yards to move the chains. The next play, poor tackling led to Dameon Pierce taking it 54 yards for a touchdown. [Patriots 21 : 34 Texans]

Back down 20, Maye found Boutte along the left sideline for 13 yards. Things then went backwards, as Gibson lost three yards on the ground before Maye was sacked on third-down.

Davis Mills took over for Stroud with 5:12 left in the fourth quarter. On third-down after two straight runs, Mills’ screen was broken up by Keion White.

A 16-yard return by Marcus Jones set Maye and Co. up over midfield. After a 3rd-and-5 drop by Polk, Maye was able to avoid pressure and break a tackle to convert fourth-down by himself. Past the two-minute warning on 4th-and-3, Maye found Douglas again for the conversion. One last completion to Polk then ended the game.