JACKSONVILLE - The Patriots have a quarterback problem. That was a sentence I didn’t think I’d be typing in September of 2026. But Drake Maye has rarely looked like the player who nearly won the NFL MVP award last season.
In his place is a 24-year-old who looks lost, unsure what he’s seeing, where he’s supposed to go with the football, and, even if he is certain, how to get it there (velocity? touch?), though he doesn’t seem to share that same sentiment, at least publicly.
“Yeah, I didn't hesitate much,” Maye said. “I thought we had some plays, and there's some different plays we wish we had back. That's every week, so I wouldn't say I was hesitating or tucking it early or kind of scrambling out of the pocket early. You know, I felt like the guys in front are battling hard, and we got to do some things- for myself - to move the chains.”
His head coach doesn’t share the same opinion. Mike Vrabel was very matter-of-fact about this quarterback, not sheltering him too much from the criticism that is and will come.
“I think he knows what to do,” he said. “I think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make ‘em good ones. If it’s not there, we have to make great decisions. I think sometimes you can want it too badly. We can’t force anything.”
That has become the troubling truth about Maye during this stretch. He had two more interceptions today and a fumble (6 INTs in 12 quarters this year). All three were brutal mistakes that cost the Patriots either points or a shot at a comeback.
“It's disappointing,” said Maye. “We can't get out of our way, and I can't get out of my own way, personally. So we gotta - I gotta look myself in the mirror and move, and take this as a turning point. It's week three at the same time. We gotta have some fuel and realize that what we're doing out there offensively is unacceptable.”
The first turnover came with the Pats at the Jaguars’ 35-yard line. It was first down. Maye looked like he wanted Kyle Williams, but as he got ready to pull the trigger, he second-guessed himself. Hesitant, perhaps? As he recoiled, the ball slipped out.
“Jared (Wilson) happened to be bleeding on his hand and got the football and was trying to put one to Kyle and slipped out of my hand,” Maye said.
Was the fumble a result of the blood?
“I mean, you could say that, but at the same time, I got to hold on to the football,” he responded.
When asked about Maye’s comments, Wilson shrugged, saying, “It’s part of football. An unfortunate situation.”
Maye and the Patriots had another chance to score before the half ended, down 14-3. Faced with a third-and-goal at the two, the Jags sent the house, a cover zero blitz. Maye escaped the pocket, but there was nothing there. Instead of throwing it out of the end zone or running, he tried to jam the ball into Efton Chism. On the live look, I didn’t hate the decision, as defensive back Travis Hunter had his back turned. But on review, that was brief, and there was no window to get the pass to a sub-6-foot receiver.
“Try to give Efton a chance to score and get some momentum going into halftime," he said.
The final nail came late in the third, after the Jags had taken a 21-3 lead (a 15-play, 72-yard, 8:42 drive). Maye stared down Williams like he was the only guy on the field. He most definitely was not. Jarrian Jones read the third-year pro’s eyes, stepped in front of the throw, and took the interception back to the 5-yard line. One play later, another Jags touchdown, and that was that.
“Shouldn’t have thrown it,” Maye said.
No duh. Maye’s decision-making was a strong suit a season ago, at least until the postseason. But the residue from that four-game run has remained very evident this season, and Vrabel didn’t sugarcoat his thoughts on the “feeling” that his choices with the football have been subpar.
“It doesn’t feel like. It hasn’t been,” he said. “We haven’t made good decisions with the football. We have to get it fixed. We have to practice. We have to work. Get it corrected. And everybody else has to do much better, starting with me…”
Maye is undergoing a crisis of confidence, and how quickly the Pats can get him out of it may well determine where this season goes. But it’s not just Maye. The entire team deserves a public flogging. They were undisciplined. That goes beyond the penalties, though the number of pre-snap miscues made even undisciplined teams blush.
“That's certainly not anything that we want to see,” Vrabel noted. “That was poor. “
But lane integrity against the run was also lacking. How many times are you going to watch Bhayshul Tuten or Chris Rodriguez cut back from the flow of those outside zone runs and pop a 5, 6, 7 or 8-yard gain? Apparently, a whole bunch.
The third-down defense was deplorable. The Jags went 8-of-12, and seemingly converted in every big moment, picking up first downs on 3rd and 9 and 3rd and 11, then scoring a touchdown on 3rd-and-goal from the 17.
“We have to get off the field on third downs,” Milton Williams said. “It starts with that.”
Red zone defense was even worse. Jacksonville had five trips inside the 20. It came away with five touchdowns. Obviously not all on them - Maye certainly put them in some bad spots - but I guess we can shelve the “is this defense elite” conversation for a week. Actually, we can probably do that with the entire team, from head coach on down.
“My concern level is very high for this football team,” said Vrabel. “I just want to coach and improve. I think that’s the biggest thing: when you come off a game like that, you just want to get back and work. There’s nothing you can do about it. We have to take care of the football. We can’t force things. We can’t do things in all three phases and end up getting you beat. Certainly, we have to fix some things.”
The list is long, and at least today, daunting. But Maye is at the head of the list, and until they get him right, there may be more days like this…including in Buffalo next weekend.
THE SHOULDER? AGAIN?
Although no one in the organization has sounded the alarm about Maye’s right shoulder - they didn’t even in and around the Super Bowl, when the quarterback admitted he took a shot in the injured area - he was asked if he were any lingering effects to start 2026.
“Yeah, I mean, I like to say when you got that much time off and you get to focus on getting back that you’re going out there healthy,” Maye said. “You’re gonna get banged up every now and then, but same time, a lot of guys are banged up. So, looking forward to getting back to playing winning football. That’s the main thing, and knowing that I play a big role in that, and taking that and taking the bull by its horns.”
That led to an immediate follow-up: does the shoulder feel as good now as it did before the “issue” popped up?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say there’s a problem with my shoulder,” Maye said. “I think there’s times where I think you look back and you look back on the playoff run in that Denver game and when I took the hit and to now. I felt good during training camp and continue to let it loose.”
Those answers will only fuel the conversation on sports talk surrounding Maye this week.