JACKSONVILLE\u00a0– The Patriots have a quarterback problem. That was a sentence I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be typing in September of 2026. But Drake Maye\u00a0has rarely looked like the player who nearly won the NFL MVP award last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his place is a 24-year-old who looks lost, unsure what he\u2019s seeing, where he\u2019s supposed to go with the football, and, even if he is certain, how to get it there (velocity? touch?), though he doesn\u2019t seem to share that same sentiment, at least publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I didn’t hesitate much,\u201d Maye said. \u201cI thought we had some plays, and there’s some different plays we wish we had back. That’s every week, so I wouldn’t say I was hesitating or tucking it early or kind of scrambling out of the pocket early. You know, I felt like the guys in front are battling hard, and we got to do some things- for myself – to move the chains.\u201d<\/p>\n
His head coach doesn\u2019t share the same opinion. Mike Vrabel\u00a0was very matter-of-fact about this quarterback, not sheltering him too much from the criticism that is and will come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he knows what to do,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make \u2018em good ones. If it\u2019s not there, we have to make great decisions. I think sometimes you can want it too badly. We can\u2019t force anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
That has become the troubling truth about Maye during this stretch. He had two more interceptions today and a fumble (6 INTs in 12 quarters this year). All three were brutal mistakes that cost the Patriots either points or a shot at a comeback.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s disappointing,\u201d said Maye. \u201cWe can’t get out of our way, and I can’t get out of my own way, personally. So we gotta – I gotta look myself in the mirror and move, and take this as a turning point. It’s week three at the same time. We gotta have some fuel and realize that what we’re doing out there offensively is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first turnover came with the Pats at the Jaguars\u2019 35-yard line. It was first down. Maye looked like he wanted Kyle Williams, but as he got ready to pull the trigger, he second-guessed himself. Hesitant, perhaps? As he recoiled, the ball slipped out.<\/p>\n
\u201cJared (Wilson) happened to be bleeding on his hand and got the football and was trying to put one to Kyle and slipped out of my hand,\u201d Maye said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was the fumble a result of the blood?<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you could say that, but at the same time, I got to hold on to the football,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n
When asked about Maye\u2019s comments, Wilson shrugged, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s part of football. An unfortunate situation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maye and the Patriots had another chance to score before the half ended, down 14-3. Faced with a third-and-goal at the two, the Jags sent the house, a cover zero blitz. Maye escaped the pocket, but there was nothing there. Instead of throwing it out of the end zone or running, he tried to jam the ball into Efton Chism. On the live look, I didn\u2019t hate the decision, as defensive back Travis Hunter had his back turned. But on review, that was brief, and there was no window to get the pass to a sub-6-foot receiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry to give Efton a chance to score and get some momentum going into halftime,” he said.<\/p>\n
The final nail came late in the third, after the Jags had taken a 21-3 lead (a 15-play, 72-yard, 8:42 drive). Maye stared down Williams like he was the only guy on the field. He most definitely was not.\u00a0Jarrian Jones read the third-year pro\u2019s eyes, stepped in front of the throw, and took the interception back to the 5-yard line. One play later, another Jags touchdown, and that was that.<\/p>\n
\u201cShouldn\u2019t have thrown it,\u201d Maye said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No duh. Maye\u2019s decision-making was a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE\u00a0– The Patriots have a quarterback problem. That was a sentence I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be typing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[54465,116,118,117,10830,12004,54466,54467],"class_list":["post-412360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-bedard-columns","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-patriots","tag-sticky","tag-top-patriots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}