In less than a year, Drake Maye has regressed from MVP runner-up to a quarterback who single-handedly puts a win out of reach for his Patriots team in two out of three games this season.
Maye brought a shovel to Jacksonsville, where the Jaguars have recently found easy wins, and started digging a hole early. He lost a fumble after a ball slipped from his hands before he released a pass in the first quarter, (Maye shared postgame that center Jared Wilson had bled on the ball, affecting the grip). That turnover teed up the Jaguars’ first touchdown. He also threw an interception with less than a minute left in the first half while targeting Efton Chism in the end zone. In between those two plays, he fumbled and recovered on a quarterback draw, missed DeMario Douglas on what would have likely been an easy touchdown, and nearly got picked off on another throw.
Maye capped off the game with yet another interception targeting a blanketed Kyle Williams, and the Jags found the endzone again.
The Patriots lost 35-6 and fell to 1-2. Maye helped Jacksonville score two touchdowns, while posting none for his own team. Tommy Devito relieved him of his duties midway through the fourth quarter.
To quote The Talking Heads, “Well, how did I get here?”
This is not their winning quarterback!
This is not their Top-3 offense!
Maye was the reason for the season last year. Through these first three weeks, however, he leads the league in turnovers, (seven), and those giveaways have proven deadly against actually good teams, such as the Seattle Seahawks and Jacksonville.
New England had plenty of weaknesses the Jaguars could exploit for a win this week. Maye wasn’t supposed to be one of them. Head coach Mike Vrabel voiced his concerns about depth at the end of summer and those chickens came home to roost quickly: the team already has 16 players on injured reserve, and starters Dre’Mont Jones and Craig Woodson were ruled out prior to the game with injuries. Tight end Eli Raridon was also unable to go.
Nobody can make a good faith argument that this latest meltdown can be chalked up wide receiver A.J. Brown’s absence, right guard Mike Onwenu’s injury, nor offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ play-calling. Vrabel can’t call out the defense for failing to generate takeaways, either.
Maye is making terrible decisions, plain and simple. To argue otherwise is to ignore the problem staring the team right in its face.
"I've gotta look at myself in the mirror and take this as a turning point," Maye said postgame. "It's week three, at the same time, you realize that what we're doing out there offensively is unacceptable, it's been unacceptable for three weeks. I've got to start with myself."
The Patriots have seen regression like this before: Mac Jones' production dropped from his rookie 2021 season to 2022, and plummeted the following season. Jones, however, never had the traits and talent Maye possesses, and never reached the heights seen by the Patriots last year.
The coaches’ top priority must be stopping Maye’s free fall. He’s already thrown six interceptions through three games, compared to eight through 17 last year. According to ESPN Insights, Sunday was his 10th game with multiple turnovers, tied for the most in the NFL over the last two years. Maye was pressured 11 times before halftime, the most he’s faced in any one half of his career.
How much of this slide has to do with the league catching up to the Patriots’ QB’s tendencies? Heading into the game, Maye had just a 26.8 passing grade from Pro Football Focus when facing pressure – one of the lower rates in the league. Teams have noted his rattled presence in the pocket and they’re cranking up the heat. Maye’s also struggled against the Cover-6 scheme – a ploy teams discovered late in the playoffs last year. If that’s the case, though, why weren’t Vrabel and McDaniels better prepared for such a game of catch-up this season?
Maye has shown himself too special to disregard after three bad games, (four or more, if the postseason is examined). But there’s blood in the water, and the Patriots have to adjust quickly here. Where did the kid who never compounded mistakes go? He’s been replaced by a flustered fumbler stuck in a doom-loop.
Maybe Maye wasn’t actually going to as great as an MVP-level quarterback every year, but he can’t be this bad, either.
