Mike Vrabel says exactly what needs to be said about Drake Maye’s interceptions that lost the game for the Patriots
Drake Maye played one of the worst games of his career against the Seahawks on Wednesday night and it’s not just the mistakes he made. It’s how and why he made them.
Drake Maye struggled against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX and it was much of the same during the New England Patriots’ season-opening loss.
Actually, it may have been worse when considering the gravity of the mistakes Maye made and when they occurred.
Maye played a solid first half of football, completing 10-of-12 passes for 72 yards and the touchdown that made it 7-0 at halftime. He also added 36 rushing yards on five carries.
Things absolutely fell apart afterward, however, and his decision-making was a major catalyst behind the collapse.
The third-year signal-caller threw not one, not two, but three fourth quarter interceptions that completely derailed any chance of winning the game. To make matters worse, the interceptions came on three straight drives – including the final drive where the Patriots were already in field goal range to tie the game at 13 and send it into overtime.
“Well, I mean, we’re trying to be aggressive and obviously win the football game, but not reckless,” Mike Vrabel told reporters after the game. “And you know, again, you don’t get any do overs, but we’ll have to learn from it and you know stick together. [It’s] never just about one guy. I think everybody knows that by now. …
“… You can’t throw three interceptions. Drake knows that.”
All three picks were poor decisions from Maye. He first tried to force the ball deep downfield to Romeo Doubs instead of taking the check down on a 2nd and 9. It was also a bad pass into double coverage that should have never been thrown.
“We were, you know, really good up to the point where I tried to force one down the sideline to Romeo [Doubs],” Maye told reporters after the game.
Next up was Julian Love reading Maye like a book before stepping in front of yet another pass intended for Doubs. Granted, Doubs had an awful drop on the previous play that would’ve kept this situation from coming to fruition, but that doesn’t change the fact Maye was too locked in on his target.
And the final interception was the worst of all. As mentioned earlier, the Patriots were well within field goal range. They just had to avoid taking a sack or creating a turnover.
Maye was pressured and tried to launch the ball into the end zone off his back foot. It was an absolutely terrible decision and you don’t even need a Football 101 education to realize how awful it was.
After a good first half, Maye’s second half numbers came out to 13-of-21 for 106 yards and three interceptions. All three of the Seahawks’ sacks came in the second half, as well.
“I think we had the game under control,” Maye told reporters. “I thought we had a good plan to try to start chipping away and be patient, and yeah, [I] lost patience and it cost us. I think it was decisions that cost us the game, you know, on my part and [on] my end. And you know, I’ve vowed to myself to be better, and [I] realize it’s a long season, but at the same time, you can’t have those. You can’t have those, and it’s unacceptable.
“And I know that I’ll get back to work because that wasn’t how I play football and how I want to represent my game and play quarterback for Patriots. …
“… It was just unacceptable. We can send it to overtime at the worst and the only (bad) thing you can do is turn the ball over.”
Whether it’s simply a matter of the Seahawks having Drake Maye’s number or not, the point remains clear: He has to avoid these kinds of decisions every single week.
Because the Patriots aren’t going to win many games if he can’t.
