Karen Guregian’s football analysis is sponsored by Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers, a Leading Boston Personal Injury Firm.
FOXBOROUGH – Drake Maye is taking a break. He’s leaving football behind for a bit.
With the season over, and a lost Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, the Patriots quarterback plans on spending some quality time with his wife, Anne Michael.
Then he’ll be back to the grind, back to the business of preparing for next season.
After essentially bombing in the big game, all eyes will be on Maye to see how he responds to his nightmare outing at Levi’s Stadium Sunday night.
In the coming months, and for the foreseeable future, that’s Maye’s challenge.
Will he sink further into the abyss, unable to rise from Super Bowl failure?
Or will this strengthen his resolve, and be the impetus for greater things to come?
Knowing his uber competitiveness, knowing how motivated he is to succeed, it’s hard imagining that Maye won’t conquer the new demon in his life.
He’ll somehow manage to top his extraordinary second season, or be right in that same ballpark. He’ll be hellbent on extinguishing that image.
Listening to him in his final session with the media Tuesday, you could already hear it in his voice.
He doesn’t want that Super Bowl performance to define him.
“It’s a chance to battle back from something that didn’t go your way or you wish would have gone different,” Maye said when asked his mindset heading into next season in wake of his less than stellar Super Bowl performance. “It gives you fuel to remember that and gives you something to work for.”
Had Maye captured a Super Bowl ring in Year 2, and been one of the heroes in the game, it probably wouldn’t leave the same level of hunger and desire to improve.
Losing, and having a stinker of a performance with three turnovers (two picks, one lost fumble) while triggering some to question if he’s cut out to win the big one can certainly provide a spark.
Yes, he was dealing with a shoulder problem, suffered in the AFC Championship game, but he claimed he wasn’t bothered.
Maye’s entire playoff run left more questions, as opposed to affirmation of his talent.
He wasn’t helped by an offensive line that didn’t protect him all that well. Maye was sacked at least five times against each playoff opponent. He was dropped six times on on Super Bowl Sunday.
He also fumbled seven times during the postseason run, losing four. He threw four interceptions.
He played 21 games, 17 of which thrust him in the MVP conversation for his regular season prowess. He understands his last game is the only one people are talking about, the “one that really mattered.”
He also knows as one of the two Super Bowl teams, the Patriots aren’t going to feast on as many cupcakes as they did this year. They’re not only going to play a much harder schedule, they’re going to get everyone’s best.
“You’ve got to elevate, and teams are going to be looking at what we did, how we improved so quickly, how we won the division and won the AFC and a lot of great things,” he said. “So, teams are going to try to have a bullseye on us and try to stop us. So, we’ve got to try not to be complacent and know that the teams are going to be chasing us, and we’ve got to try to chase the Seahawks.”
The Patriots can’t chase the Super Bowl champs if their quarterback doesn’t rebound.
Maye had the cape on during the regular season, and led the team to the promised land. The cape fell off at the worst possible time.
He understands his place in the narrative. He also knows he can’t let one bad game dictate his future.
“You’ve got to try to find that extra edge,” Maye said. “I know those guys in the locker room are going to try to find that, and I know the team may not be the same and the coaching staff may not be the same, but I think our identity and what we put on display this year is something that we can translate to this next year and build off of.
“So, I’m looking forward to that and looking forward to being back.”