Drake Maye lost the New England Patriots the game against the Seattle Seahawks with a costly interception.
The New England Patriots were driving down the field against the Seattle Seahawks on opening night with a chance to win or tie the game.
New England trailed 13-10 with 26 seconds left in regulation. Drake Maye and the offense were on the Seahawks' 16-yard line, facing a 3rd-and-5.
Maye took the snap out of the shotgun, drifted back and to the right and floated a ball to the right side of the end zone where Mack Hollins was. The problem is that Maye underthrew the ball badly and it was picked off by Josh Jobe.
After the game, Maye spoke to Patriots reporters about his third and game-sealing interception.
"It was something where we had a certain protection on," Maye said. "We were cutting and was trying to get rid of it and realized Mack was back there in the back and didn't put enough on it to get it out and it was just unacceptable. We had a chance to send it (to) overtime at the worst. The only thing you could do is turn the ball over and that's what I did."
Maye did not play well in the Super Bowl rematch against the Seahawks. The UNC product finished with 178 passing yards, one passing touchdown and three interceptions while completing 69.7% of his passes.
"I just stopped being patient," Maye said. "That was the big thing. We were really good up to the point where I tried to force one down the sideline to Romeo (Doubs). We were patient and dumping it off and trying to move the chains and we avoided a lot of three-and-outs and that was something we try to earn more plays and the explosives will come, so just stopped being patient and made decisions that ended up, like I said, cost us the game."
We know Maye is better than what he showed in Week 1. After all, the two-time Pro Bowler was second in MVP voting last season.
The Patriots had only 277 total yard against the Seahawks. Just like the Super Bowl, Seattle's defense shut down New England's offense.
"You've got to stick together and that starts with me getting back to work and having the right intention in practice," Maye said. "These guys are here for me. I think they've done a great job in supporting me and have had my back. I've got to earn their trust. I know I have their trust, but I got to keep on putting better football out there. I think it's Week 1 but at the same time, there's a full season ahead but you got to get this going early. We got to start off on the right foot. I know what we had last year, but we got a new season, a new team, and we need to build that."
The Patriots face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2 on September 20. Let's see how Maye and Co. bounce back.
