New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was able to help the team reach the Super Bowl last season in large part due to his ability to avoid turnovers.
In the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks to end that playoff run, though, Maye threw a season-high two interceptions in a 29-13 defeat.
Unfortunately for the Patriots and their fans, it was a familiar story in Wednesday’s NFL season opener in Seattle, as Maye misfired on three fourth-quarter interceptions during the 13-10 Seahawks victory.
It was a historically bad fourth-quarter performance given that the Patriots were leading 10-3 entering the final frame.
In fact, according to former NFL strategy and analytics coach Ryan Paganetti, Maye had perhaps the worst clutch-game performance by a NFL quarterback in fourth quarter since 2001.
“Only two quarterbacks in the last 30 years have thrown interceptions on three consecutive drives in the fourth quarter while leading, tied, or trailing by no more than three points before every pick: Drake Maye (last night), Kordell Stewart (2001),” Paganetti wrote in a tweet.
In that 2001 performance by Stewart, the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback threw four interceptions over his team’s final six possessions, squandering a 23-10 lead and eventually losing to the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime.
Maye and the Patriots potentially had an opportunity to reach overtime, too, in the closing seconds of Wednesday’s season opener against the Seahawks with a field goal.
However, with New England safely in field goal range at the Seahawks’ 16-yard line and 26 seconds left on the clock, Maye inexplicably heaved a third-down pass to the corner of the end zone that was intercepted by Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe.
ESPN NFL analyst and former quarterback Dan Orlovsky called Maye’s decision-making process immature during an appearance on the daily morning show “Get Up.“
“Nightmare. It was a nightmare ending for Drake Maye and that offense,” Orlovsky said. That’s the worst game he’s had as a pro. And it’s about as immature as a performance that you could have as a third-year quarterback.”
“You are lobbed a softball in the reality of the game of football… the only way that you even come remotely close to losing that game is to make bad decision, after bad decision, after bad decision, and breathe life into Seattle.” Orlovsky added. “And that’s exactly what Drake Maye did.”
To make matters worse for the Patriots, a top offseason acquisition, wide receiver AJ Brown, suffered a high-ankle sprain in the defeat. Brown could miss time, pending a Thursday MRI scheduled to determine the severity of the injury.
As for Maye, the quarterback is using his Week 1 dud as motivation to improve for the rest of the season.
“Yeah, we had the game under control,” Maye said, per NFL.com. “Thought we had a good plan to start chipping away and be patient and lost patience and it cost us, decisions that cost us the game on my part, on my end.”
“I vow to myself to be better and realize it’s a long season, but at same time, we can’t have those. We can’t have those. It’s unacceptable, and I know we got to get back to work,” he continued. “That wasn’t how I play football and how I want to represent my game and playing quarterback for the Patriots.”
That is why the NFL is a 17-game marathon based on endurance, perseverance and the weekly elevation of mind, body, soul, and execution to achieve the apex of success.
