All-22 Review: Drake Maye’s Three Interceptions in Patriots’ Loss to Packers

Welcome back to the All-22 Review. 

In Week 9, the New England Patriots (5-4) fell to the Green Bay Packers (6-3) in a lopsided, 45-27 loss that was perpetrated by poor showings from New England’s best players. On the offensive side of the ball, the Patriots’ four turnovers led to 21 Green Bay points, pushing their season total to 19 and their turnover margin to -11. Drake Maye was the culprit of three. His second three-interception game of the regular season — each of which occurred in the first half — dug the home team into a hole early, and they were never able to overcome it. 

Today, we take a closer look at Maye’s three interceptions against the Packers:

Game Situation: NE 0, GB 0; 14:32 - 1st; 2nd & 9 at NE 26

It didn’t take long for Maye to turn the football over on Sunday evening. He threw his first interception of the game on his first passing attempt, and this may have been his most egregious unforced error of the three.

Unlike many of the Packers’ latter defensive wrinkles, this play was straight Cover 3 from the start. Green Bay showed Xavier McKinney as a single-high, middle-field safety pre-snap and stayed in that alignment post-snap, while the Patriots countered with a two-man route concept off of a play-action fake to Rhamondre Stevenson: Kyle Williams ran a deep post, with Mack Hollins on a deep in-cut underneath it. 

Facing only a three-man rush with defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt dropping into coverage as a spy, Maye’s early season pocket navigation woes returned. He never set his feet, drifted forward into the oncoming Wyatt, and flung a pass back across his body to Hollins late. On the back-end, McKinney had already relocated into the soft spot of the zone where Hollins was running toward, and was a stationary target to haul in the interception by the time the ball arrived.

New England’s recent successes offensively were built on the foundation of Maye’s improved playmaking within the pocket, but on this play, he reverted back to the tendencies that led to six interceptions in his first three games of the regular season. The issues compounded from there.

Game Situation: NE 0, GB 17; 12:54 - 2nd; 1st & 10 at NE 40

Green Bay’s pre-snap and post-snap coverage rotations gave Maye trouble all evening, frequently adding third-level defenders into the pass-rush and altering the alignments and responsibilities of their safeties deep.

On Maye’s second interception, the Packers initially show three-high safeties, then walk Javon Bullard over to his typical alignment as the nickel defender/slot cornerback and McKinney down toward the box. Evan Williams begins to retreat toward the middle of the field, initially presenting a single-high look at the snap. When the play began, McKinney joined the pass-rush, Bullard dropped back deep, and Williams did as well in Green Bay’s Cover 4 shell. 

Likely under the assumption that Williams was playing over the middle of the field and out-of-range to make a play on the football, Maye took a shot down the left sideline to Kyle Williams, who gained a step on pressing cornerback Brandon Cisse off-the-snap. Cisse was able to tighten on Williams as the ball drew near, tipping it up into the air for a closing Evan Williams — who was playing to the hashmark on the short-side of the field —  to make a play. 

There are two possible explanations for this turnover on Maye’s behalf: he was either fooled by the Packers’ safety rotation and was taking a would-be one-on-one shot to Williams downfield, or thought he could fit the ball into the tight window regardless of the second defender’s help. Either way, this was a poor decision — and execution — while down three scores.

Game Situation: NE 7, GB 17; 5:47 - 2nd; 2nd & 7 at GB 44

Maye’s third interception of the first half was McKinney’s second of the game, and included an outstanding individual effort by the safety.

Green Bay rotated from two-high safeties to single-high pre-snap, then back into two-high post-snap to ultimately end up in Cover 4 on the play. As the Patriots’ routes developed downfield, McKinney fainted as though he would take Williams on the deep post over-the-top, but when Maye began his throwing motion, he planted his foot in the ground and drove straight downhill through the ball. 

Had McKinney taken the deeper route, Maye would have been able to hit Eli Raridon on a dig route for a chunk gain deep in Packers territory. Instead, McKinney was able to make an aggressive play on the ball to corral Maye’s 11th interception of the season.

Maye’s greatest strengths over the course of the past month turned into his greatest weaknesses on Sunday: his decision-making, pocket mobility, and performance under pressure. He didn’t know what Green Bay was going to throw at him next, and that led to hesitation, poor timing within the structure of plays, and several fatal errors. Still, Maye’s three touchdown passes and relatively clean second half showcased the resilience of a player who can rebound from repeated mistakes. That didn’t impact the result on the scoreboard on Sunday, but will have greater lasting effects on his ability to bounce back moving forward. 

Nothing was good enough for New England in Week 9, but that’s where that game will stay. There’s still a long season ahead for a team that’s vying for a playoff spot and currently holds the seventh seed in the AFC. They’ll need to put this one behind them quickly, as they head to Munich, Germany, for another NFC North bout against the Detroit Lions (6-2) on Sunday.

What did you think of Maye’s performance in the Patriots’ loss to the Packers? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation on Patriots Roundtable.

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