With Drake Maye coming off an MVP runner-up season, the Patriots’ young quarterback was expected to take his game to a new level in 2026, his second full season as a starter. He did take his game somewhere new in Wednesday night’s season opener, but it wasn’t what anyone expected to see.
Maye threw three fourth-quarter interceptions in Seattle on Wednesday night, making a series of poor decisions en route to letting a 10-0 lead turn into a 13-10 loss.
The most shocking of the three came in the final minute, when the Patriots were comfortably in field goal range but Maye forced a pass to a covered Mack Hollins in the end zone. Josh Jobe made a toe-tapping pick, and Seattle was able to fend off the Patriots — largely due to Maye’s turnovers.
Phil Perry said on Postgame Live that the Patriots’ coaching staff was hoping to see Maye limit his mistakes in Year 3.
“Just make a few fewer mistakes. And tonight, you got anything but that. It looked like rookie year Drake Maye, quite frankly, especially on that last throw at the end,” Perry said. “He came unglued. And if this season’s going anywhere for the New England Patriots, they’re going to need that guy to be their best player. And tonight, he’s the reason why they’re going home with a loss.”
Tom E. Curran pointed out that all three interceptions came on unnecessarily risky throws. One was launched to Romeo Doubs for a jump ball, another came on a pass into heavy traffic over the middle, and the final one cost them a chance at an easy game-tying field goal to force overtime.
“It’s not a learning experience, I think, at this juncture,” Curran said. “He’s already learned a lot. He’s played a lot of football. He’s been in a Super Bowl. So it’s less excusable than maybe the Steelers and Raiders games were last year. A lot less excusable.”
For the first three quarters, Maye showed poise and strong decision-making as he beat Seattle’s blitzes and happily took what the defense was giving him. Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson said something changed dramatically in that final quarter.
“It looked like that first interception, he was just kind of getting bored,” Johnson said. “You know, no A.J. Brown in the game [due to an ankle injury early in the third quarter], so really the field was really condensed, and so it was really just dump-offs is all that he had. And he just kind of got bored, I think, doing that. And so he took a shot down the field to Romeo Doubs into a team meeting, and you saw what happened there. That was a terrible throw to DeMario Douglas down the middle of the field. It’s just the gunslinger mentality came back in this game.”
Michael Holley couldn’t believe what he saw from Maye and was left to wonder if the third-year quarterback completely ignored the coaching staff in that fourth quarter.
“I just wonder what the messaging was from the coaching staff to Drake Maye. Did Drake Maye go rogue?” Holley posited. “Because you have to understand the awareness of the game. You’re up 10-zip. You’ve got control of it. You got Drew Lock at quarterback. No Sam Darnold. [The Seahawks are] not really doing much offensively. The only way this team can have life is if you give them life, and he did that three times. I just wonder that they say, ‘OK, checkdown, baby. Check down, and take what’s given. Don’t take any chances, really, because if we if you don’t take any chances, we can get out of here with a victory.'”
Holley added: “This is the kind of Drake Maye game where you actually saw the best of Drake Maye and the worst of Drake Maye, sometimes from play to play. There were some plays that were just spectacular. His speed is elite. We were guessing, you know, what’s his 40 time? I think it’s sub-4.5. I mean, he’s a great athlete. So, creating plays with his escapability, and on fourth down, on fourth-and-9, that’s a big play. Picking it up to keep that drive going to put them in the in position, going the other way on another fourth down play where he outruns [Uchenna] Nwosu. Nwosu is just grabbing at air, grabbing at his legs, swinging and missing, and Drake Maye is coming up with it. But it’s almost like Phil said, this is like rookie Drake Maye. I really wonder what is he thinking out of all three interceptions? Clearly, the third one is the worst because that truly just cost them the game. But I think the one to Doubs is the one that just makes me scratch my head. Why?”
That’s a question that is sure to be asked and examined quite a bit during the long gap between Weeks 1 and 2 in New England.
