A nightmare performance by Drake Maye in Duval County, Florida.
Eventually, the excuses centered on Drake Maye's decision-making are going to have to stop. Because after three weeks, some of these mistakes should start to dissolve in his style of play. There was no sign of that for the New England Patriots quarterback Sunday afternoon against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The first half saw two drives by the Patriots offense that should have produced touchdowns. Maye took it upon himself to attempt to run the ball right into the end zone, and he did in the second quarter after the Jacksonville Jaguars took a 7-0 lead. This felt like redemption after Maye fumbled earlier in the first quarter, likely because the ball slipped out of his hands in the hot Florida air.
However, Maye's 21-yard touchdown run was nullified by a holding call on Morgan Moses. They'd settle for a field goal. What followed would be embarrassing.
Later on in the second quarter, on a drive where Maye was trying to find Efton Chism III, Travis Hunter picked him off. The Jaguars two-way player recorded the first interception of his career on the play.
A missed field goal by Andy Borregales (his second consecutive miss between last week and today) on the Patriots' opening second-half drive proved that no matter how much fight they had, mistakes would take them out of the game.
The Jaguars would then have a 15-play drive that ended with a Parker Washington touchdown. Maye would throw an interception on the first play of the ensuing drive to cornerback Jarrian Jones while trying to connect with Kyle Williams.
Jacksonville made it 28-3 with a Chris Rodriguez Jr. touchdown. They had scored 14 points in 18 seconds. Cameras caught Vrabel giving Maye a pep talk on the sidelines before the kickoff.
The key all week was Maye's confidence; where would it be going into this matchup? Even if it wasn't sky high, would it be enough to manage a win? By the start of the third quarter, we had our answer.
Drake Maye was benched in the fourth quarter; Tommy DeVito would come in to finish things off and get the Patriots out of Jacksonville with a 35-6 loss. Maye finished the day 14-of-25 for 199 passing yards, zero passing touchdowns, a fumble, two interceptions, and 18 rushing yards on four carries, while taking three sacks.
The Patriots now shift their focus to a divisional matchup against the Buffalo Bills in Week 4.
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