Before the 2026 season opener, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye’s wife, Ann Michael, opened up to ESPN about the unexpected rise of her social media profile. Michael, who has more than 600,000 TikTok followers, revealed that building a social-media following was never something she actively pursued.
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“It’s something I didn’t expect and wasn’t trying to gain a following,” said Michael. “It’s really cool in that it just happened in the most natural way. It’s been fun to see the New England community rally around not just Drake but me as well. This whole world I’m in now, social media, this following, is something I didn’t know anything about. So it’s cool to see, day by day, the different opportunities that come in.”
However, that newfound visibility also comes with a less pleasant side of being connected to a high-profile NFL player. After Maye endured a difficult performance against Seattle and the Patriots suffered a 13-10 loss to the defending Super Bowl champions, some fans took their frustration beyond the quarterback himself. They flooded the comment section of one of Ann Michael’s TikTok posts, criticizing Maye and, in the process, unnecessarily dragging his wife into the conversation.
“Tell him to sleep on the couch tn,” one person wrote, referring to Maye, while another wrote, “I think you should teach us how cook meatball like your husband makes.”
The criticism surfaced after the Patriots blew a 10-0 lead and lost 13-10 to the Seahawks at Lumen Field earlier this week. Maye, on the other hand, completed 23-of-33 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown. In the process, however, he also threw three interceptions, all in the fourth quarter.
The final interception, meanwhile, turned out to be costly for the Patriots. With less than 30 seconds remaining in the matchup, Maye targeted receiver Mack Hollins in the end zone for a touchdown. However, the Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe intercepted it as Seattle sealed the victory.
Maye didn’t try to shift blame afterward. He said he had “lost patience”, that his decisions had cost the Patriots the game, and called the performance “unacceptable.” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel similarly said Maye became too “reckless” while stressing that the loss wasn’t solely on one player.
Still, the criticism toward the quarterback continued, especially in Ann’s comment section.
“Make sure to add extra MAYo and PICKles,” read another comment, while another added, “Can you tell drake maye stop giving Stevenson the f——g ball.”
That said, there’s no denying that Drake Maye and the Patriots are off to a poor start. It remains to be seen whether they find rhythm in Week 2.