After an MVP-caliber regular season, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye simply wasn’t the same guy in the playoffs.
Chalk it up to bad weather and facing four elite defenses with a shoulder injury if you want, but Maye’s first playoff run was a major letdown after such an impressive regular season.
The Patriots’ defense carried them to the Super Bowl as Maye struggled during the first three rounds, but it was unable to overcome Maye’s brutal performance against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
Maye was MIA for the first three quarters, throwing for just 60 yards and no touchdowns as New England’s offense was held scoreless. For a while, he was on pace for one of the worst quarterback performances in Super Bowl history.
By the time he finally woke up in the fourth quarter, it was too little, too late. The Patriots were already down 19-0 and had lost control of the game, heading towards an ugly 29-13 loss.
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The 23-year-old quarterback had one of his worst games of the season at the worst possible time. He inflated his stats during garbage time with two meaningless touchdowns and 235 passing yards in the fourth quarter, but he still finished with a 62.8% completion rate, two interceptions, a lost fumble and six sacks taken.
Between the turnovers, sacks and missed throws, Maye simply made too many mistakes against the Seahawks’ stifling defense. He didn’t take care of the football, single-handedly causing New England to lose the turnover battle 3-0 and ultimately the game.
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It was a rough ending to a historically bad postseason for Maye, who set an NFL record by taking 21 sacks in these playoffs — breaking Joe Burrow’s record of 19 from four years ago. He also completed just 58.3% of his passes after leading the NFL with a 72.0% completion rate during the regular season.
Maye threw six touchdowns and four interceptions while fumbling seven times, losing four. He also averaged only 207 passing yards per game, down from 258.5 during the regular season.
That said, Maye doesn’t deserve all the blame for Sunday’s disappointing loss. His offensive line let him down repeatedly, and his pass-catchers were never great to begin with. Josh McDaniels’ play-calling could have been better, too.
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But the turnovers and a lot of the sacks are on Maye, who made several terrible decisions and wasn’t able to avoid the pressure. He got outplayed by Sam Darnold, and at the end of the day, he just wasn’t good enough to elevate an overmatched Patriots squad when it needed him most.
