Drake Maye ‘lost patience,’ in a giant step backward for him and the Patriots

SEATTLE — If it was Drake Maye’s intention to put Super Bowl LX behind him — to look forward to a new season, new challenges, new adventures — he was wildly successful in the New England Patriots’ 2026 opener against the Seattle Seahawks Wednesday night.

For after it was all over — after Maye’s third interception of the game sealed the Seahawks’ 13-10 victory over the Patriots at Lumen Field — who in their right mind would want to talk about New England’s third-year quarterback in anything other than the present tense? In the here and now, using only this Super Bowl rematch as a barometer, it’s not unfair to wonder if Maye is on track to take that heralded “next step” that’s routinely assigned to young athletes who are coming off promising seasons. 

All three of Maye’s interceptions took place in the fourth quarter. The last one, the one that’s going to be replayed, rehashed and regurgitated by Pats fans right up to the opening kick of New England’s Week 2 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers Sept. 20 at Gillette Stadium, wasn’t merely a bad pass. It was the decision-making process that’s at issue, and Maye’s judgment here suggests he was out sick the day they taught the importance of not taking reckless chances on the play before your team has a chance to boot the field goal that could send the game to overtime.

And so it was that on third-and-5 from the Seattle 16, with 26 seconds remaining, Maye looked to his right and threw a pass intended for Mack Hollins. Seattle’s Josh Jobe intercepted it. The pass had a hint of Hail Mary to it, except that it didn’t meet the legal definition of one. Not with Patriots kicker Andy Borregales all warmed up and poised to attempt the field goal that would have kept everyone hanging around to watch the NFL’s much-hyped “Kickoff Game” get decided in overtime.

It wasn’t Maye’s only horrible pass attempt. Earlier in the game, he threw a low ball to new Pats receiver A.J. Brown, and Seattle cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett’s right knee came down on Brown’s right ankle. Brown left the game and did not return. Sure, an extended absence by Brown would have far greater consequences for the Patriots than a season-opening loss, except that’s not the point. Yes, the pass that sent Pritchett’s 190 pounds onto Brown’s ankle was a poorly thrown ball, as Maye himself acknowledged: “I threw one low to him. I should have hit him in the chest.” Maye also under-threw Brown on a flea flicker, though the play drew a pass interference call. (Maye hit rookie tight end Eli Raridon for a two-yard touchdown on the next play.)

There are bad passes … and then there’s trying to win the game on a walk-off TD when there’s a next-play field goal waiting to be kicked. In this situation, a quarterback should have only two targets: His chosen receiver’s midsection or the forehead of a fan in the fifth row of the end zone seats.

Anything in between isn’t just a bad pass. It’s a really, really, really bad idea. 

“I lost patience, and it cost us,” Maye said. “They were decisions that cost us the game, on my part, on my end.”

With that response, Maye was talking about the entire mess of a fourth quarter, in which New England squandered a 10-3 lead. Maye hit the trifecta with those interceptions. On the first one, the Seahawks responded with a five-play drive, with a short pass from Drew Lock (subbing for the injured Sam Darnold) to Jaxon Smith-Njigba turning into a 45-yard touchdown. On the second one, the Seahawks moved the ball to the New England 8, which was when Jason Myers booted a 26-yard field goal to give Seattle the lead. 

And then there was that third interception, which resulted in thousands of very happy Seahawks fans spilling out to the streets of Seattle.

“It was something where we have certain protection on and we’re cutting, and I was trying to get rid of it, realize that Mack was back there in the back,” Maye said. “And I didn’t put enough on it to get it out, and it was just unacceptable.”

Drake Maye’s carelessness with the football cost the Patriots in Week 1. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

Last year’s Patriots were painted as the patron saints of soft schedules. But every season has teams with soft schedules, and most of them don’t get to the Super Bowl. This means the ’25 Patriots shouldn’t be punished for going as far as they did. But take that criticism, and then fold in that Maye and the Patriots were unprepared to play Seattle in the Super Bowl, and it’s easy to make the leap that they wanted to make a statement Wednesday night. If that was their goal, and, specifically, if it was Maye’s goal, then good for all of them. Bulletin-board material will always have a place in competitive sports.

But the time for Maye to make his statement was in overtime. Instead, he threw a pass that not only missed his receiver’s midsection but also missed the forehead of the fan in the fifth row.

Maye had some seven months to get that Super Bowl loss to Seattle out of his head, if indeed he has. This time he only has 11 days to get a season-opening loss to Seattle — and that pass — out of his head. His ascendancy as an elite NFL quarterback depends on it.