Patriots Star Drake Maye Drops to No. 12 in NFL QB Rankings After Poor Week 9

Nick Shook of NFL.com dropped New England Patriots star Drake Maye to No. 12 in his Week 10 NFL QB rankings.

Maye was at No. 8 last week. 

It appears “deli meat” is entering the popular vernacular in the NFL. That’s the phrase Patriots icon Tom Brady used in a postgame interview with Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams to describe the performance of Maye. 

“Xavier had two picks. You had one on the sideline,” Brady said. “There was some deli meat given out by Drake Maye today.”

“Deli meat” was also how Los Angeles Rams safety Quentin Lake labeled the passing efforts of Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in his team’s 24-9 Week 8 victory. Lake used the phrase on the St. Brown Podcast. Herbert went 24-of-32 for 257 yards with two interceptions in that game, and Lake had one of them, jumping an out route intended for Chargers tight end Charlie Kolar.

Maye merited the unfortunate distinction after throwing three interceptions in a 45-27 loss to Green Bay.

Williams caught the second of the three, his third interception of the season. He was the Fox broadcast’s LFG Player of the Game, and Fox Sports’ post of the interview noted that Williams’ mother used to babysit Brady.

“I’m not gonna say that, but he was giving us some gifts for sure,” Williams said.

New England opened Sunday’s game at Gillette Stadium with a penalty. On the next play, Maye’s first pass was intercepted by Packers safety Xavier McKinney, who returned it 36 yards to the Patriots’ 14. Two plays later, Jordan Love scrambled 13 yards for a touchdown.

Green Bay led 17-0 early in the second quarter.

With 12:46 left in the half, Maye threw deep for wide receiver Kyle Williams. Packers cornerback Brandon Cisse batted the ball into the air, and Evan Williams came down with it.

McKinney’s second interception came later in the quarter and gave him five on the season. The Packers drove for a 2-yard Kaleb Johnson touchdown run and a 24-7 lead, and New England never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Green Bay scored 21 points off four Patriots turnovers. Late in the third quarter, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie stripped Rhamondre Stevenson and recovered the ball. On the next play, Love hit Christian Watson for a 39-yard touchdown.

Maye finished 21-of-38 for 299 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions. Through his previous four games, he had thrown one interception, according to The Associated Press. His only other three-interception game came in the Sept. 9 opener at Seattle, a 13-10 loss in which all three picks came in the fourth quarter.

Maye has accounted for at least three touchdowns in six straight games, a run that includes two touchdown passes and a rushing score in an Oct. 22 loss at Chicago. The streak is the second-longest in team history, according to the Patriots. Brady opened the 2007 season with 10 straight such games.

Sunday’s three touchdown passes also moved Maye past Jim Plunkett into fifth on the franchise list with 64.

Maye said New England has not played a turnover-free game this season, and that it starts with him.

“I’m disappointed in myself for, you can’t put the team in the hole straight off the bat, first possession, first half,” Maye said. “I feel like in the times we had chances to get back into the game, I messed them up, and we had chances to put us back within three points multiple times, and just frustrating.”

“I got to do a better job from a whole perspective, communication, doing the little things right, and I just, I wasn’t good,” Maye continued. “I wasn’t good today. And we got to bounce back, and we’re on a far flight, but we got to bounce back and know that there’s still some games left and we’re battling. We’ve got to battle.”

Maye said he knew coming in that Green Bay’s safeties were ball aware and that the Packers hunted turnovers by keeping their eyes on the quarterback in zone coverage.

“Just throwing the football in spots that I don’t think I should’ve thrown it,” Maye explained. “The first one, I think I just got to see the guys deep, see the safety positions. The second one happens, maybe throw it a little farther. And the third one, they’re jumping cross routes, so I got to see in front.”

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said New England needed to get some stops early and take care of the football.

“The turnovers are disappointing because, first of all, that’s what they’ve done all year, so that’s not a surprise,” Vrabel said. “Seventeen percent, eighteen percent of their drives end in a turnover. We’ve just added to that. So, between the pressure, I think probably a little bit of scheme, and a lot of execution on their end. Guys made plays. I thought there were some positive plays that we had, and then certainly some ball placements and decisions that certainly have to be better.”

There were “no two ways around” the result for Vrabel, who said the Packers deserved credit.

“I’m surprised about just the way that the day went, the way that it started, and then I guess how the third quarter went,” Vrabel explained. “Sometimes in this league these things happen, and it’s unfortunate, and we certainly didn’t prepare for it. I’m sure he’ll rebound, and we’ll get him ready to go. We got a tough challenge looking ahead of us, but certainly can’t win playing that way, turning the ball over, not creating turnovers defensively, and giving up X plays.”

Green Bay finished with four sacks, two by defensive tackle Karl Brooks. Packers coach Matt LaFleur said defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s pressure calls and the rushers up front let the secondary make plays.

“He’s a really good quarterback. We knew going into the game that one of the keys was to not let him get loose and use his legs,” LaFleur said. “That put a lot of onus on the guys up front, just rushing sound and not letting him out of the pocket. I thought for the most part today we did a pretty good job of that.”

Brady was in the Fox booth as the Patriots celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2016 team’s Super Bowl 51 comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons. Rob Gronkowski was honored at halftime.

New England’s 45 points allowed were its most at Gillette Stadium, opened in 2002. The Patriots hadn’t allowed 45 in a regular-season game since their 45-7 loss to the Jets on Sept. 26, 1993.

New England fell to 5-4; Green Bay rose to 6-3, winning five of six.

Stevenson left with a knee injury late in the third quarter. Left tackle Will Campbell walked off with a knee injury in the fourth.

“Maybe we just can’t hurt ourselves. We’ve got to protect Drake better as a group and give him an opportunity to throw comfortably back there,” Campbell said. “Make the plays. We know he can make them. We’ll be fine.”

The Patriots face the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Allianz Arena in Munich. Detroit is the designated home team, and kickoff is set for 9:30 a.m. ET on Fox.