After taking down the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans, the New England Patriots will next lock horns against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game. However, this battle in the Mile-High City could become the end of the road for quarterback Drake Maye and Co. as the Sean Payton-coached team boasts one of the best defenses in the league, particularly with New England QB1’s struggles around ball-protection.

When asked about his process of dealing with these shortcomings in his game, Drake Maye spoke about how he needs to get better and continue trusting his offensive line.

“Yeah, I think just work on it in practice,” Maye said in his recent press conference. “Be mindful back there and just know that my job is to protect the football, and that’s every game. I think one of the biggest things with the guys up front is it’s my job to have a timer in my head, and those guys have done a great job all year. So, I haven’t lost trust in those guys up front, and I know that we faced some pretty good edge rushers in the past couple weeks. I know we’ve got another good set of edge rushers coming up this week. So just know, have a feel for it, and just protect football because that’s my job.”

While Drake Maye has continued showcasing his brilliant passing ability, his issues with protecting the ball have been prevalent throughout the season. In 19 games this year, Maye has a league-high 14 fumbles, with Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Cam Ward tied for second with 11. While avoiding these mistakes is the responsibility of the quarterback, the Patriots’ signal-caller hasn’t received much help from his offensive line.

Looking at New England’s postseason games, Drake Maye was sacked 10 times across the two games against Los Angeles and Houston. Over the last two games, offensive tackle Will Campbell has allowed constant pressure, giving up 10 total pressures, tied for the second-most in the league, and four sacks, the highest mark during that stretch. These significant problems have led to a lot of criticism for the fourth overall pick in the 2025 draft, who started well and posted a 76.6 PFF grade through nine weeks while allowing just five sacks during the regular season.

As these issues remain a significant concern for the Patriots, they provide the Broncos with a perfect roadmap to victory with their defense, which has 71 sacks in 18 games, the most in the NFL. Denver also set the regular-season franchise record with 68 sacks, while defensive lineman Zach Allen led the league with 47 quarterback hits. Further, Denver totaled seven takeaways in the past two games while having the second-best red zone defense in the league.

After the season this Denver defense has had, playing well against them will be a herculean task for the Patriots. As a result, head coach Mike Vrabel also issued a warning to his team about ball-security issues ahead of the game against the Broncos.

Vrabel raises concerns about Denver’s dominant defense

After completing one of the greatest single-season turnarounds by going from 4-13 to 13-4 in a year, Mike Vrabel and his Patriots are set to face one of their toughest challenges in the AFC Championship round. Hence, before taking on this relentless Denver Broncos defense, Vrabel had an important message for his team.

“Take care of the ball. Not let the quarterback get hit,” he said in his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI 93.7 FM.

Subsequently, with Drake Maye being front and centre with the Patriots’ ball-protection issues, Vrabel stood beside his star quarterback and explained how this remains a team-wide issue and not just an individual one.

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“Ball security, we have to all take ownership. We’ve been through this earlier in the year,” he said. “We have to take care of the ball and protect the guy with the ball. There’s a bit of two-fold there. We have to improve.”

The Patriots must adhere to these guidelines issued by their head coach if they want to take New England to its first Super Bowl since the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era.