Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel backed his starting quarterback, Drake Maye, Monday morning on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”

That it’s even gotten to that point three weeks into the season is what’s most alarming.

Maye had perhaps the worst game of his NFL career in Sunday’s 35-6 loss to the Jaguars, tossing two interceptions and losing one of two fumbles to raise his turnover tally up to seven on the season. Maye has scored just one touchdown in the young season.

Vrabel was asked Monday if there would be some benefit in giving Maye some time off.

“I mean, I think it’s about just getting back and working, being around people you care about, having a small circle, focus on the people that truly matter, and trying to get back to work. I don’t know,” Vrabel said.

“Drake’s our quarterback, man. We gotta we gotta get this thing right by all of us and our attitudes and the way that we approach work and our willingness to be coached and our willingness to try new things and all these other things that we have to try to do that I have to get going here and make sure that that’s what we’re doing.”

Vrabel didn’t mince words when asked for his assessment of Maye’s most costly turnover in Sunday’s contest.

Trailing 14-3 and facing third-and-goal from the Jaguars’ 2-yard line with less than a minute left in the first half, Maye was intercepted by cornerback Travis Hunter on a target in the back of the end zone to wide receiver Efton Chism. The play took points off the board when a field goal would have cut the deficit to one score.

“That it’s a terrible decision. You know what I’m saying? We want to throw touchdown passes. We want to sack the quarterback. We want to intercept the ball. But if those opportunities aren’t there, we always talk about those split-second decisions, right?” Vrabel said. “If it’s a DB that’s going to go for the interception and he goes with the wrong hand and the guy catches it, it’s like, ‘man, we needed to go for the forearm and be able to have a little more length and stab it out of there,’ or if the quarterback, if it’s not there, and then again, however long you can progress. But we can’t — that’s all that is. You can’t make those plays down in the red zone again, unless it’s fourth down, unless it’s a two-point conversion, things like that. We could have some points there.”

Ultimately, Vrabel believes that Maye is pressing in those situations.

He used a golf analogy to explain Maye’s decision-making skills.

“I think quarterbacks want to make plays. I think they do. I think they want to throw touchdowns,” Vrabel said. “And I think sometimes when Greg and I go golfing, we really want to make a good score, right? Sometimes we’re so focused on it that we try to choke the life out of the golf club, and we’re squeezing it so damn tight that the ball has no choice but to go sideways. And we need to stop trying to choke the life out of every single play. We need to relax. We need to settle in and go play football and not try to force things that aren’t there.”

Just one year after leading the NFL in QBR, completion percentage and a slew of other efficiency metrics, Maye now leads the league in interceptions. Maye threw just eight picks all of last regular season. He’s nearly matched that total through three weeks.

The Patriots are 1-2 and facing one of their most difficult matchups of the season, heading to Buffalo to take on the 3-0 Bills.