Unacceptable.
That was the word quarterback Drake Maye used to describe the Patriots’ offensive performance in a 35-6 blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
“It’s disappointing,” Maye said. “The ball starts rolling like that and we can’t get out of our way, I can’t get out of my own way, personally. So I’ve got to look at myself in the mirror and take this as a turning point.”
Entering Week 3 with four turnovers, Maye gave the football away three more times on Sunday. It started in the second
quarter when the ball slipped out of his hands in the middle of his throwing motion.
“Jared [Wilson] happened to be bleeding on his hand. Got the football and was trying to put one to Kyle [Williams]. Slipped out of my hand,” Maye said. “I have to hold on to the football.”
Later in the quarter, Maye threw an interception in the end zone when forcing a ball to Efton Chism III. His second interception came in the following half when he threw a late pass to Kyle Williams along the sideline.
“Second one down there, just forcing it. Trying to give Chiz a chance to score and get some momentum going into halftime,” Maye said. “Then, had a one-on-one matchup outside. Shouldn’t have thrown it.”
After throwing eight interceptions all of last season, Maye has now thrown six in his first three games. The third-year quarterback has looked uncomfortable and indecisive to start the season as the Patriots offense has struggled to find any consistency.
“I think he knows what to do,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “I think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make them good ones. And if it’s not there, we have to make a great decision. And I think sometimes you can want it too badly and we can’t force anything.”
“I wouldn’t say hesitant,” Maye added. “I think I’m back there seeing it and we just got to make plays. I got to make throws.”
Maye downplayed whether the struggles had to do with any lingering effects of the right throwing shoulder he suffered in last year’s AFC Championship Game. While the quarterback noted everyone is “a little” banged up, he added: “I wouldn’t say there’s a problem with my shoulder.”
The quarterback is also adjusting to new personnel around him. The Patriots are without No. 1 wide receiver A.J. Brown, while free-agent addition Romeo Doubs has gotten off to a slow start.
At 1-2, Maye and the Patriots are in familiar territory. They also started last season 1-2 before rattling off 10 straight wins. But if they’re going to start another streak next week against the Buffalo Bills, they’ll need a much better version of Maye.
“We got a chance to earlier in the season, to put our head down and work,” Maye said. “Know that this is opportunity to band together and realize that the best football that we play is together and realizing that that’s going to start with me protecting the football and protecting this team, because that’s my job and I’ve been failing to do that.”
