Their 2023 season was one of the most frustrating in recent New England Patriots memory. It was not just that they won only four games all year, but that they were seemingly out of answers throughout.
No matter what button head coach Bill Belichick pushed, the team and its third-year quarterback, who had shown promise earlier in his career, kept spiraling as the losses continued to pile up.
The Patriots of 2026 are not at that point. Their season is only three weeks old and their own third-year QB
has shown that he can play the position at a significantly higher level than his predecessor, Mac Jones, ever had. And yet, the frustration and helplessness are starting to feel similar.
And just like it was back then, it all starts at quarterback.
Back in 2025, Drake Maye looked like one of the best QBs in football. Heck, he was one of the best QBs in football. He completed 72% of his passes during the regular season for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. His 0.313 EPA per play among qualifying passers was the highest in the league, and he only narrowly missed out on the league MVP award while leading a team that had gone 4-13 in back-to-back seasons to division title and 14-3 record.
It was impressive, but it also was a mirage — at least to a degree. The playoffs, after all, were a different story for the Patriots and their quarterback in particular. Maye’s regular season swagger seemed gone, and the success followed suit: his EPA per play dropped to -0.148, as his completion percentage tanked and turnover rate increased.
Of course, it wasn’t all his fault. The offensive line, starting two rookies on the left side, felt apart; the receivers were unable to generate consistent separation; and the unit ran into four of the best six defenses in the league en route to the Super Bowl.
Three games into the 2026 season, however, Maye again seems all out of sorts. Yes, the offensive line continues to have some problems — it’s the right side now — and the offseason changes at wide receiver have not yet paid the proper dividends. However, the problems seem to run deeper than that.
Maye himself looks broken, and Sunday’s 35-6 loss in Jacksonville made this dramatically clear.
In a way, it was a greatest hits collection of bad football from the MVP runner-up. He had a bizarre fumble in the first quarter (and another later in the game that he recovered). He gave away points when he forced a pass and threw an interception at the Jaguars goal line. He had another pick when he couldn’t connect with wide receiver Kyle Williams on a backside curl. Ultimately, he had to watch backup Tommy DeVito finish the game in his place.
It was a low point both this season and in what had been a quite promising career up until last year’s playoffs. Now, the Patriots and Maye are faced with an uncomfortable truth: if they don’t transform it from a low to a turning point, their season could be over before it even began.
Last year and under different circumstances the Patriots managed to do so. And even though they are dealing with a more daunting challenge this time around, they can do so again.
The first step is identifying what the hell is even going on.
For head coach Mike Vrabel, it seems the issue is not so much a physical but a mental one. Appearing on WEEI on Monday, he used golf as a metaphor.
“We really want to make a good score. Sometimes, we’re so focused on it that we try to choke the life out of the golf club, and we’re squeezing it so damn tight that the ball has no choice but to go sideways,” he said. “We need to stop trying to choke the life out of every single play. We need to relax. We need to settle in, and go play football, and not try to force things that aren’t there.”
Three games into his third season, forcing things has been one of Maye’s biggest problems. He forced passes in the season opener against the Seahawks, single-handedly costing his team the game and later admitting he simply ran out of patience. He made another questionable decision in Week 2 versus Pittsburgh, and then again on the aforementioned goal-line pick versus the Jaguars.
Just like that 2023 season we mentioned earlier, the issues have put the young quarterback in a dangerous downwards spiral. He knows it himself.
“I think the ball starts rolling like that, we can’t get out of our own way — can’t get out of my own way, personally,” Maye said after the Jaguars game. “I have to look myself in the mirror and take this as a turning point. It’s Week 3, and at the same time we have to get some fuel and realize that what we’re doing out there offensively is unacceptable. It’s been unacceptable for three weeks. So, I have to start with myself and then lead these guys, and we have to get back after it.”
Maye does seem to find some solace in the fact that the Patriots bounced back from a 1-2 start last season as well, but his head coach sang a different tune on Monday.
“We’re not focused on last year. Each situation and each play is different,” said Mike Vrabel.
For the Patriots, the situation is clear as day: if they can’t fix their quarterback, it’s game over for at least 2026.
That fixing will not be easy, but also not impossible. As a starter, the Patriots have to get his confidence back up.
Naturally, that is easier said than done, but amid all the disappointment through Week 3 there also have been glimpses. On Sunday, for example, Maye did throw some good passes. The drive that ended with his first interception down at the goal line? It was set up by a well-executed 38-yard pass connection with DeMario Douglas that was nearly followed up with another big gain out of a no-huddle look on the very first snap; Maye overshot Douglas — whether faulty ball placement or an imprecise route is to blame cannot be said at this point — but the play was there to be had.
And maybe that is something the Patriots can use to get Maye back on track: no huddle. They did not use any up-tempo snaps in Weeks 1 and 2, partially due to game situation. Against Jacksonville, that incompletion was one of two no-huddle plays; the other being a 34-yard pass to Kyle Williams that could have become a 50-yard touchdown had the second-year wideout not stepped out of bounds.
Ultimately, none of those moments helped tip the scales in New England’s favor versus the Jaguars. Neither did a 21-yard Maye touchdown run being brought back by penalty or the defense failing to get a single red zone stop.
What those moments and multiple others throughout this so-far underwhelming season show, however, is that there is hope. Unlike 2023, when it became obvious that Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe were a lost cause in New England, Maye continues to have his moments of brilliance.
The problem is that they are overshadowed by head-scratching decisions and insufficient ball security. But, and here is the glass-half-full-perspective, those issues can be fixed. Just ask the man himself.
“It’s not that I feel like these mistakes that I’m making personally are really them beating us. I think it’s beating myself,” he said. “You have to flip to the next play and realize that this league will humble you quick. Just finding ways for me to step up when I feel like I’m not playing my best and still lead the team. I think that’s what this position is about, and that’s what as the quarterback of this football team is my obligation.”
Drake Maye looks broken right now and the buttons he is pushing are not functioning properly, there is no sugar-coating it. However, he also is not beyond salvaging either.
