Drake Maye is falling apart and it’s not clear where the Patriots go from here | Latest NFL News, Analysis & Updates

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Drake Maye stood alone on the sunny sideline here, by this point in the fourth quarter already benched for Tommy DeVito. His hands were on his shoulder pads and he stared into the distance. The stadium was mostly empty, a 35-6 beatdown by the Jaguars in its final stages, and Maye looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

Two weeks ago, Maye played the worst game of his NFL career in the season opener, a Super Bowl rematch that fell flat again. Now, before October has even arrived, Maye was left to reflect on another new low and a new worst game.

This one, thanks to two interceptions and two fumbles, would feel like rock bottom except it’s not clear how things are going to get better. The Patriots head to Buffalo next week. Wide receiver A.J. Brown is out at least a couple more weeks. Injuries are piling up on the offensive line. They can’t run the ball.

And now the player who was the Patriots’ biggest source of optimism is suddenly their biggest concern.

“Just unacceptable,” Maye called Sunday’s performance.

When it — an old-fashioned butt-whipping, as safety Kevin Byard described it — was finally over, Maye jogged off the field. Just around the corner and out of sight from lurking cameras, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was waiting. He gave Maye a pat on the chest but Maye didn’t break stride on his way into the locker room.

When he finally re-emerged, Maye shook his head in disbelief at where the Patriots are. Not just 1-2, which would’ve been fine after a tough open to the schedule, but playing like a team without answers.

“Ball starts rolling like that, and we can’t get out of our own way — I can’t get out of my own way,” Maye said. “I’ve got to look at myself in the mirror.”

There’s so much that seems wrong with Maye right now and so few answers for how it’ll get better, but it seems important to start here: Maye’s confidence seems shot.

A year ago, when Vrabel inherited a mess of a situation, one of the most important things he did was re-instill a belief within his young quarterback. He talked about Maye’s strengths. He stressed the importance of celebrating with teammates and talked to Maye about how to lead a football team. Maye went on to be the league’s MVP runner-up to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Now, that seems like a distant memory. Maye doesn’t look anything like the quarterback of a year ago who totaled 31 touchdowns to eight interceptions. This season, he’s thrown for one score and been picked off six times.

His swagger is gone. A year ago, in the AFC Championship Game, Maye didn’t tell any of his teammates his plan in the huddle when he bolted on a third-down naked bootleg to send the Patriots to the Super Bowl. Now, that same quarterback is floating easily intercepted passes in the final seconds of the first half off his back foot to a 5-foot-10 wide receiver, leaving the Patriots’ sideline befuddled after Travis Hunter’s pick.

And somehow that wasn’t even Maye’s craziest turnover Sunday.

At one point, he reached back to throw the kind of deep ball that was so often caught last season, and the ball almost comically coughed out of his hands. He said that was partly because center Jared Wilson had a cut on his finger and blood was on the ball, and maybe that was why it slipped out.

“You could say that, but at the same time I’ve got to hold onto the football,” Maye said.

A slow start from Maye would’ve been totally understandable. Some level of regression was expected. But it was never supposed to look like this. It was never supposed to get to the point where the Patriots weren’t just losing, but losing because of Maye.

And what makes things tougher is it’s not clear how this gets better.

The Patriots need a deep threat. Maye was arguably the league’s best deep-ball passer a year ago. The thought was that adding Brown would force defenses to play back against the Pats and open things up underneath.

But they traded their best deep-threat wide receiver, Kayshon Boutte, just before the season because they felt they didn’t need him with Brown in the fold. Then Brown suffered an ankle injury in the first game and will be out at least two more weeks. Without him, the Patriots don’t have any answers.

Mack Hollins (who picked up a taunting penalty while his team trailed 28-3) is playing like the team’s best wide receiver, which is great for Hollins but not a great sign for the team. Romeo Doubs isn’t playing like a $17 million player. Kyle Williams was blanketed in coverage on what ended up as Maye’s second interception. And the offense remains totally unable to run the ball.

So if it’s going to get better, it’s likely going to have to be Maye pulling himself — and the Patriots — out of this mess. But that seems awfully difficult considering his decision-making of late has resulted in seven turnovers through three games.

“We haven’t made good decisions with the football,” Vrabel said.

Maye isn’t in the same territory as Mac Jones was at the end of his Patriots tenure, but this game felt a bit like the one in Germany in 2023 when every time Jones dropped back it felt like a mistake was around the corner.

And what a shocking place that is for Maye after last year. To be fumbling from a clean pocket. To be handing the other team easy interceptions at crucial moments. To suddenly have questions about whether last year was a mirage, and whether Maye really is The Guy.

Afterward, they all said the right things. Maye took ownership. Teammates backed their quarterback. Vrabel vowed that he’d work extra hard to improve the team.

But alarm bells have sounded. Maye’s slump isn’t a blip. His struggles are obvious and concern is mounting.

Surely, you’d think, this is rock bottom.

But then you remember the injuries are piling up and Brown is still out and Maye hasn’t offered any signs a turnaround is near. Oh, and a trip to Buffalo is up next.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.