The New England Patriots didn’t have a great Week 3, losing 35-6 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and their starting quarterback, Drake Maye, had a bad game and fumbled. However, he blamed it on the blood on the ball.
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One Patriots legend has revealed that Tom Brady yelled at him for the same reason back in the day.
“I saw what Drake (Maye) said after the game, and it is true,” Two-time Super Bowl champion David Andrews said on The Quick Snap podcast. “Like Tom laid into me one game, and, like he yelled, he laid into me about, I was bleeding on ball and I was just like, ‘What do you want me to do about it, dude?’ We’re in the middle of a 12-play drive here. I’m sweating, I’m bleeding, I’m protecting your a–.”
Some fans would know Brady absolutely hated wet footballs. His centers have had to use towels and baby powder to keep the ball from getting slippery with sweat. Brady, in an interview on WEEI, said he was surprised other QBs didn’t follow his methods.
Andrews’ comments came after Maye told the reporters that the ball “slipped” out of his hands in the first quarter of the game due to center Jared Wilson’s blood being on the ball. Wilson cut his left hand earlier in the game.
Maye was looking to throw deep to wide receiver Kyle Williams, but the ball slipped out before he could make the throw. Jaguars defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton recovered it, and the Jaguars went on to convert the turnover into a touchdown drive.
The fact that Maye fumbled the ball without any contact from a defensive player is what makes this his most peculiar turnover. Andrews, speaking on 98.5 The Sports Hub, said that there had to be a better way to handle the blood on the ball.
“It is true, like it does, blood is slippery, it makes it different. But you know, it would have been different if he got touched or something. You know, you just can’t do that. There’s certain things you can’t do and expect to win football games in this league. Not against good teams.”
While Andrews gave his take on the Maye incident, Maye himself didn’t totally blame Wilson’s injured hand for the fumble, further stating that he had the responsibility “to hold on to the football.”
“It’s disappointing,” Maye said. “The ball starts rolling that way, we can’t get out of our own way, and I can’t get out of my own way personally — I have to look myself in the mirror and take this as a turning point.”
The Patriots’ head coach didn’t take things lightly at all.
“If the center’s hands are bleeding, then we’re going to have to find way- what I mean, there’s going to be some things on the football at times. So, but those are facts. Those are explanations. We can hear explanations; we can’t allow for excuses,” Vrabel spoke on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show.
The Patriots are in a dire situation, standing 1-2 after Week 3. Maye had yet another disappointing outing, completing 14 of 25 passes for 199 yards against two interceptions, and was sacked three times. This game pushed his interception total to a league-high six.
Despite these performances, Vrabel has shown confidence in Maye going forward.
“It’s about just getting back and working. Being around people you care about, having a small circle. Focus on the people that truly matter and trying to get back to work. I don’t know. Drake’s our quarterback, man; we’ve got to get this thing right, by all of us,” Vrabel said.
It is going to be a tough road ahead, with the Patriots facing the Buffalo Bills in Week 4. Maye certainly cannot afford turnovers anymore, as Josh Allen and his team aren’t the ones to miss an opportunity to score points.