Drake Maye’s rough stretch is bordering on historically awful levels, and the New England Patriots should start to worry
It might be time to start worrying about New England Patriots QB Drake Maye. He is in the middle of a historically bad stretch.
If you watched the 2026 NFL season opening game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, you know it was a complete disaster for Patriots star quarterback Drake Maye during the 13-10 loss at Seattle.
The 2025 MVP runner-up completed 23 of 33 passes for 178 yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 interceptions. Maye was also sacked 3 times, and his yards per attempt average sat at just 5.4.
For context, during his 2025 season, in which he finished as MVP runner-up to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and earned a Pro Bowl nod, Maye’s yards per attempt average was 8.9. It is only one game, but that is a staggering drop-off from a year ago.
The deeper you dig into the numbers, the clearer it becomes that Maye has been playing poor football for a while now. At some point, there needs to be a real conversation about whether this is just a weird stretch of down play or something larger to worry about.
Maye’s 2025 season in full context
The 2025 campaign followed a strong rookie year in which Maye threw for 2,276 yards and 15 touchdowns during 12 starts. He took his game to another level last season, leading New England to a 14-3 regular season record and a Super Bowl appearance.
While the season did not end perfectly, particularly a poor Super Bowl performance against Seattle, Maye still threw for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns, and just 8 interceptions. He completed 72% of his passes, averaged 8.9 yards per attempt, posted a 113.5 quarterback rating, and logged a 77.1 QBR. Both of those efficiency marks were highs around the NFL.
Add in 450 rushing yards and 4 scores on the ground, and by every counting stat available, Maye was tremendous.
Many expected him to continue ascending this season, even after a rough playoff performance and a poor Super Bowl outing. The 24-year-old passer clearly has a tremendous amount of talent, and his 2025 season gave folks around Foxborough every reason to be optimistic.
The 5-game stretch that changes the narrative
When you include the 2026 opener against Seattle, the last 5 games Maye has played paint a troubling picture. He has completed just 93 of 153 passes, a 60% clip, for 1,006 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions. That is a 6.6-yard-per-attempt average and a 10.8-yard-per-completion average.
Maye also lost 4 fumbles in that stretch, meaning he has thrown 7 touchdowns while turning the ball over 11 total times across his last 5 football games. During that sample, the Patriots offense has averaged just 15.4 points per game.
Perhaps that is just a tough stretch of action, but in reality, this has been a significant issue against the better teams on the New England schedule. Since the beginning of the 2025 season, including the opener against Seattle, the Patriots have played in 8 games against teams with records above .500. I included the Seahawks in that conversation because, as the reigning Super Bowl champions, they are a very good football team.
During those 8 contests, Maye completed 157 of 243 passes for 1,702 yards at a 64% completion percentage with 9 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. That is a 7-yard-per-attempt average and 10.8 yards per completion. Against the best teams on the schedule, Maye has played very poorly, even during that MVP stretch we saw last season.
How the Seattle game ended tells you everything
To put the severity of the situation in further context, Maye threw 3 consecutive interceptions on fourth quarter drives to lose this football game. New England’s defense allowed only 13 points and certainly played well enough to win, especially considering that Sam Darnold left early due to injury and the Patriots were facing backup quarterback Drew Lock for a significant portion of the contest.
ESPN NFL analyst Benjamin Solak posted on X last night, citing ESPN Stats & Info, that the last quarterback to throw an interception down by 3 with less than a minute left inside of the 20-yard line was Kyler Murray on Week 8 of the 2021 season. It has been almost 5 years since an interception that egregious situationally has occurred.
All Maye had to do was make a better decision, potentially throw the ball away, and head coach Mike Vrabel’s squad could have at least gone to overtime. Instead, he forced the ball to the corner of the end zone, where Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe intercepted it.
Ryan Paganetti, a Super Bowl-winning NFL strategist and analytics coach who spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas Raiders, and Jacksonville Jaguars, also posted on X that only 2 quarterbacks in the last 30 years have thrown interceptions on 3 consecutive drives in the 4th quarter while leading, tied, or trailing by more than 3 points before each interception.
One was Drake Maye. The other was Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart all the way back in 2001.
Where does New England go from here?
Maye is an extremely talented quarterback and one of the better young passers in the NFL, but there is still a next step that needs to happen. In the biggest moments, that is when quarterbacks will be judged the hardest, and Maye has not been good.
This offseason, New England spent a lot of time upgrading the skill positions around him, including trading for former Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro wide receiver AJ Brown and signing Romeo Doubs from the Green Bay Packers. While Brown left the game early due to injury, that duo was incredibly ineffective with the opportunities they had.
They combined for 3 receptions and just 26 yards, all of which came from Brown. Doubs did not catch a single pass in his debut.
With a revamped offensive line, talented running backs, and improved skill position talent at wide receiver, there is not a lot foundationally to dislike about Vrabel’s squad. For whatever reason, Maye got the 2026 NFL season off to a sluggish start.
With a much harder schedule ahead compared to a year ago, this is a team that will need to find its footing quickly, and Maye will need to show progress. Whether you focus on the opening game, the last 5, or the games against winning teams over the last calendar year, Maye has not been a great quarterback.
In New England, where the fanbase has experienced a lot of success since the turn of the century thanks to Tom Brady, the expectations are to win it all. Now the rumblings will start in the background about just how good Drake Maye truly is.
