It took 17 games for Drake Maye to make himself an MVP candidate and put his name among the NFL's elite in quarterback rankings across the media. It only took four games for him to undo that hard work and make people question everything they knew.
Last night's Super Bowl rematch against the Seattle Seahawks
only confirmed those negative thoughts of a quarterback who couldn't handle the pressure in the playoffs.Maye's "unacceptable" three-interception fourth quarter in the 2026 kickoff game guaranteed nobody falls for the sample of a great regular season again. He'll have to wait until the playoffs to win everyone back... if the New England Patriots get there, of course.
If I was a betting man, I'd say they will. Even after last night's disappointing
meltdown, the Pats should be fine. Seattle might be the best defense they'll face all year. And Maye, at his best, still has all the tools you could ever want in a franchise quarterback, from a strong arm to good mobility. Also, he didn't have A.J. Brown a good chunk of the game after the star wideout left with an ankle injury.
BOUTTE: Patriots' wide receiver trade already regrettable
The thing is, when the stakes have been highest, Maye has been bad. Last postseason, he was a shell of his MVP runner-up self, with a QBR that tumbled from 77.1 in the regular season to 40.0 in the playoffs. His yards per attempt dropped from 8.9 to 6.9. I'm sure other metrics can better demonstrate the drop in his production, but we don't need them. We saw it with our own eyes.
On Wednesday night, we saw more of the same. In a game Maye had a chance to prove he turned a corner in the offseason and allow the rest of us to dismiss the playoffs as simply an early-career blip on the radar, he folded again. His interception on the final drive with the Pats already in range to kick a game-tying field goal to send the game to OT was most alarming.
OFF DAY: Pats-Seahawks was proof we don't need NFL Wednesdays
Now, nothing he does the rest of the season matters. It'll go a long way for him to perform well in New England's toughest games, but the stink of his last five games -- especially the last two versus Seattle -- is too strong to forget. The only place he can truly prove how much he's grown is the playoffs.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are Team USA's best story
All 12 players scored for Team USA in a 52-point win over Hungary in the FIBA World Cup quarterfinals Thursday morning. Caitlin Clark played a team-high 20 minutes, putting up 10 points and nine assists, including several dishes to Angel Reese who returned the favor a few times.
The budding connection between those two is already looking like one of the best storylines of this tournament, writes Charles Curtis.
Quick hits: Sydney Sweeney's ad ... stubborn Ballmer ... and more
- The return of football means the return of NFL survivor pools and the best picks for Week 1
- Sydney Sweeney's Novig role goes far beyond the risqué "just sports" ad that set the internet ablaze
- Steve Ballmer's stubbornness actually earned the Clippers a harsher punishment from the NBA
- Mauricio Pochettino singled out Christian Pulisic in addressing USMNT's culture for the 2030 World Cup
- Trinity Rodman's sleep-deprived TikTok is proof of her unrivaled support of Ben Shelton
- Brock Bowers is hurt (again), making his Raiders teammate an easy pivot for fantasy managers
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Drake Maye will need all season (and more) to erase the stink of his last 2 games
