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 Sunday 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