FOXBOROUGH — Through two weeks of the 2026 season, Drake Maye is not a good quarterback. Doesn't mean he's still going to be there in a week or a month. But as of Sept. 20, 2026, Maye is a subpar NFL starter.
Through two games and Sunday's 4 p.m. slate, Maye's passer rating of 63.1 is only better than Matthew Stafford (plays his second game on Monday night), and the Falcons' two-headed disaster of Cooper Rush and someone named Jack Strand.
Yikes.
Last year, Maye led the league with a passer rating of 113.5, which was 4.3 points better than eventual MVP Matthew Stafford. He only had one game with a passer rating below 80 (62.8, Week 15 loss to Buffalo). He's 2 for 2 this season: 54.9 vs. Seattle, 75.6 in the 20-3 victory over the Steelers, where the offense really wasn't needed (Patriots Defense 7, Steelers 3).
Put another way: Maye has as many interceptions (four) as 20+ yard pass plays (four).
Toto, we're not in the 2025 regular season anymore.
"It is tough to ... we want to execute and be successful on offense and still know that that was not our best football when you come out with a win," Maye said. "So, you have got to take it, see it both ways. You have got to be excited and enjoy the win, but at the same time, you realize that playing like this is not going to end up with, offensively, us leading our team to wins. It starts with me and starts with more juice. And coming out there at halftime, you have got to feel like, 'Man, we are going to go out there, score, put it on them and put the game away' because our defense is giving those opportunities. So, it is nothing to hang your hat on. It is early on, but at the same time, we have got to have some urgency and a little fire under us."
Sure sounded like Mike Vrabel is unhappy with his offense, his quarterback in particular, and is trying to light that fire under their butts. It's subtle, and in Vrabel-ese, but it was there on Sunday.
It started with his halftime interview with Tracy Wolfson.
"Well, again, it starts with we have to be able to get rid of the ball. There's times where it's on the offensive line, and there's times when it's on the entire offense."
Translation: "Our quarterback has to be more decisive and stop taking sacks when there are open players - he at least has to give them a chance and attempt to throw a few guys open. ... Some of the pressure is on the line, but when I say the entire offense, I really mean our quarterback; I just don't want to blatantly throw him under a bus."
(Paul Johnson for BSJ)
It continued in Vrabel's postgame press conference.
(Question was about the defensive effort, and never mentioned the offense)
"We have to do a better job and continue to do a good job of helping our quarterback be efficient, and he has a large part in that."
Translation: Our defense bailed out our quarterback, who isn't close to playing efficiently. And it's not Josh McDaniels, it's on Drake. Stop making excuses for him; I'm not doing it anymore.
(Question about Maye's interception targeting Hunter Henry)
"I think we have to continue to be aggressive and figure out where the guy is ... maybe we can throw it over the guy’s head give Hunter a chance. I don’t know. I mean, the guy made a good play. We didn’t make a very good one. Those things are gonna end up costing us."
Translation: We're not going to win many games with our quarterback averaging two interceptions a game, and they were all terrible decisions/execution.
(Vrabel tried to thwart a couple of questions about Maye's play, but I got mine in, and he gave his longest answer of the session ... Mike, related to that, it looked like on a couple of the sacks that Drake took that he had some opportunities. How do you get him going?)
"Well, the same way that we did. We’ve got to hit some plays, and again, you’ve just got to go out and play, have fun, compete, but make great decisions. I can only imagine what it’s like being a quarterback in the National Football League. Again, he’s the one that’s going to orchestrate and conduct everything that we do and make sure that everybody believes that the play that we’re running is going to be the one that’s successful. And not every time it is, but he has to be able to take that demeanor and spread it to the football team, throw it to the guy that’s open, and again, make great decisions. I’m always going to trust his decision. I’m going to trust every player’s decision that has the football. We’ll continue to keep working, and I thought there were some really great throws down the field and some opportunities. If he doesn’t feel it, then he doesn’t feel it.
Translation: Drake is playing tighter than a drum right now, and he lacks confidence in much of what he's doing. He needs to stop thinking and just play the game. His teammates can feel that. He's not sure what he's going to get after the snap. That has to change. If he doesn't have conviction in the play we're about to run, no one else is either. And, if you missed it before, he needs to stop making stupid decisions that are costing this football team.
What's the issue with Maye right now, and how does he get out of it?
Basically, it boils down to this, which Vrabel hinted at: Maye is second-guessing everything he is doing right now, from his checks at the line, to what he's going to do and see once he gets to the top of his drop.
If the quarterback is not playing with confidence, the offense — at least the passing offense — will not either.
I think this is a bit of a hangover from the postseason, especially the Super Bowl. I think Maye was riding high on the 2025 regular season, and then each postseason opponent — with increasing effectiveness — dented Maye's confidence. The offensive line did not help, either. I think by the time the Seahawks finished embarrassing Maye and the Patriots' offense in the Super Bowl, his confidence was shot.
Another factor was the newness of his supporting cast. It might have been different if they brought everybody back (Kayshon Boutte, Stefon Diggs, Garrett Bradbury, left Jared Wilson at left guard) to build off of last season, but the Patriots' brass understandably tried to get better at every spot. You can argue they did, but it obviously hasn't worked through two games.
Maye started the season, for all intents and purposes, with two new top receivers (already lost AJ Brown), two new linemen (it will be three now with Mike Onwenu lost for the season), and a rookie at No. 2 tight end. That's basically half the offense.
The other thing to consider: this was obviously not an ideal open to the season if you're an offense. Instead of the Dolphins and Jets, the Patriots had to go to Seattle and face the Seahawks again (they have allowed 17 points and 2-yard passing touchdowns through two games), and that Steelers defense was 13th in DVOA against the pass last year, has all four of their formidable pass rushers back, and a coordinator in Patrick Graham, who knows the Patriots and McDaniels well.
Toss all those ingredients together, and it's a pretty good potion for subpar quarterback play.
Maye is pretty much a basket case right now. The only real plays he's made through two games are of the broken variety, when he could use his legs to extend plays for guys to pop open or run with the ball. That's nice, but that's no way to orchestrate an offense, especially this one.
He hasn't helped the running game with some of the checks he's made at the line. When he's passing, he's either holding the ball too long (hoping to confirm what he thinks he's going to see), bailing out of the pocket too early while he's reacting to the rush that often isn't there (on third and goal from the 11 to start the second quarter, Maye started to run in 1.5 seconds when Hunter Henry was about to clear for a TD), or his footwork is sloppy, leading to wobbly and underthrown passes.
Maye and the offense aren't going to get better unless Maye starts to play with confidence, is decisive in his decisions in the pocket, and he starts throwing the football with velocity like he knows what he's doing. Right now, Maye's brain is locked, and filled with self-doubt.
The bad news is I can't tell you when or if that is going to change. The only thing Maye and McDaniels can do is keep watching the film, make the corrections, and start to see it pay off in practice. Then that will carry over to the game field.
"Practice execution becomes game reality. Who you are in practice and the things that you do daily are ultimately who you're going to be on Sunday," Bill Belichick often told his players.
What I do know is that Maye needs to snap out of this quickly, a sentiment I think is shared by Vrabel, judging by his increasingly frustrated (for him, in front of a microphone) words.
The Patriots now head to Jacksonville, in the brutal September Florida heat, to face a talented Jaguars team coming off a 20-13 loss at Denver. Then they have to go to Buffalo's new hornets' nest and match scores against the, to this point, unstoppable Josh Allen.
There's no way the Patriots can compete with the Bills, unless Allen turns the ball over several times (which could happen) with Maye playing like this. It is imperative that he find at least some confidence and swagger in Jacksonville to build momentum heading to Buffalo.
Otherwise, the Patriots are staring at 1-3 and a huge divisional deficit to start the season.
Time to go, Drake. Your team is waiting.
That's also what Vrabel was trying to say, in his own way.