The collapse of Drake Maye’s game continued on Sunday and it was so complete and troubling that coach Mike Vrabel pulled his quarterback with about eight minutes to play.
It was the right move because the Patriots were getting run out of the stadium by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who eventually authored a convincing 35-6 victory.
But it was best for Maye, who accounted for two interceptions and a lost fumble in the game and left Vrabel sounding kind of worried.
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DRAKE MAYE’S TERRIBLE DECISION GIFTS SEAHAWKS OPENING NIGHT WIN AS PATRIOTS LEFT STUNNED TO START NFL SEASON
“Well, my concern level is very high for this football team,” the coach said.
Vrabel went through the litany of things that he’s worried about and that need improvement. But everybody understands that if Maye doesn’t stop giving away the football, the other stuff will be secondary.
“We have to take care of the football,” Vrabel said. “We can’t, we can’t force things … I think he knows what to do. You know what I mean? I think we have to do it better, you know?
“And again, we all want to make plays. We just have to make them good ones. And, if it’s not there, we got to make a great decision.”
Great decisions do not involve throwing the ball to the other team.
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But Maye’s decisions have been questionable.
The three turnovers on Sunday is increasingly typical of how Maye is playing so far this season because he had three in the season-opener against the Seattle Seahawks and had another last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
So, seven turnovers by Maye this season.
“The ball stars rolling like that, we can’t get out our own way,” Maye lamented. “I can’t get out of my own way personally.
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“So, I got to look myself in the mirror and take this as a turning point. You know, it’s Week 3. We got to, you have some fuel and realize that what we’re doing out there offensively is unacceptable – unacceptable for three weeks.”
It’s good that Maye is looking where the biggest problem is. It means he’s a capable leader even at only 24 years old.
“I got to start with myself and then lead these guys and we got to get back after it,” he said.
But time is short. The Patriots are 1-2 and already teammates are getting questions about Maye’s status in the locker room.
Stunning, but this is the NFL.
“Everybody in that locker room and the organization and in the building believes in him and that’s really all that matters,” cornerback Christian Gonzalez said. “Obviously, he wants to perform and do that for his team.
“So, with Drake, we’re behind him. That’s our quarterback. Like I said, this team goes and we ride behind him. So that’s our guy and that ain’t changing.”
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The Patriots this year are different in that their schedule is more difficult than last year. And the move to release Stefon Diggs and trade for A.J. Brown hasn’t paid off because Brown got injured in the season-opener and hasn’t played since.
“I mean, listen, the NFL is hard,” CBS analyst Adam Archuleta said. “… They’re going to have to play their way out of this. And Drake Maye is going to have to play his way out of this.”
Archuleta went on to make the point that Maye seemingly raised his game in a game at the Buffalo Bills last year.
The Patriots visit the Bills next Sunday afternoon.
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