NFL teams are only as good as their best players.
For the New England Patriots, that is quarterback Drake Maye and cornerback Christian Gonzalez. But during Sunday’s 45-27 loss to the Green Bay Packers, neither played up to expectations.
“When your best players don’t play good, you don’t have much of a chance in this league. So, we expect a lot more,” head coach Mike Vrabel said.
Gonzalez struggled against Packers wide receivers Matthew Golden and Christian Watson. After never allowing more than 71
yards in a game to a single receiver, both Packers wideouts went for 80-plus yards with Gonzalez in coverage.
In total, Gonzalez surrendered a career-high 10 receptions for 187 receiving yards on Sunday after he allowed just 196 yards in coverage through his first six games this season.
“Obviously, it is frustrating. I want to be who I am for the team, and everybody that knows what I am. But, it’s football. I’m going to have a bad game,” Gonzalez said. “So, it’s the same as I come up here week in, week out. If it’s a good game, I say, ‘All right. We move on.’ It’s just like that.”
Vrabel added: “We expect a lot more. He expects a lot more. We need more from him and everybody else. It wasn’t just him.”
On the offensive side of the ball, Maye was not his usual self under center.
His first pass of the afternoon was intercepted by Packers safety Xavier McKinney, setting up a Green Bay touchdown just two plays later. The turnover put New England in an early 7-0 hole less than two minutes into the game.
“I’m disappointed in myself for, you can’t put the team in the hole straight off the bat, first possession, first half,” Maye said.
That was a lead the Packers never surrendered, as Maye threw two additional interceptions in the loss, one that he finished on the bench.
“I feel like in the times we had chances to get back into the game, I messed them up, and we had chances to put us back within three points multiple times, and just frustrating,” Maye said. “I got to do a better job from a whole perspective, communication, doing the little things right, and I just, I wasn’t good. I wasn’t good today. And we got to bounce back.”
