Three weeks into the season, the New England Patriots are 1-2, and the conversation keeps circling back to Drake Maye. He threw two more interceptions in Sunday’s 35-6 loss at Jacksonville, bringing his total to six.
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He still has his team’s support, but one franchise legend isn’t offering the same cover.
“I thought last year, he didn’t play particularly well, but I thought what was around him wasn’t that good either,” former Patriots safety Devin McCourty said on the Dan Patrick Show. “But what I enjoyed about last year was, it wasn’t the poor decision-making. I think that’s, for me, the difference for this year. No matter what position you play, you can’t… When I was in New England under Bill Belichick, like, you can’t make losing plays. He always used to say that, like, ‘We can’t keep guys on the field that are causing us to lose. It’s just not fair to the rest of the guys.'”
The Patriots came into 2026 carrying real expectations after a deep run last season, so the way this year has started feels jarring.
McCourty puts his frustration into words.
“And like, for me, that’s my biggest issue when I am watching Drake Maye right now. Your team is competing. You go back to the first game of the year, kickoff in Seattle, your team is playing well enough around you to go win. Is it perfect? Does it look great? No. But then you throw 3 interceptions late in that game. That’s the difference in that game.”
Maye was expected to take another step ahead after an MVP-contending 2025 campaign. But the third-year quarterback has stumbled out of the gate.
Turnovers and accuracy issues have defined his first three games. If you want to know how bad it’s been, just look at the points. The Patriots scored 10 against Seattle and a measly six against Jacksonville. The dust hadn’t even begun to settle on his performance in the Seahawks game, which was marked by the final interception that ended it all for New England.
Drake Maye now has six interceptions, a 63.8% completion rate, and 585 yards on the board through three games. The performance is far from what Maye put forward in 2025, proving skeptics wrong and reaching the Super Bowl. This time, he is making mistakes too big to be swept under the rug.
At this point last year, he had five touchdowns, two interceptions, and 785 yards. His regular-season run boasted 31 touchdowns against just eight interceptions.
His overall grade on PFF this year stands at 41.2, ranking 35th of 36 in the league. He leads the league in interceptions, too.
The numbers should never have been associated with Drake Maye, at least not this early in the season. He and the Patriots don’t have the luxury of an easy schedule this year, and matchups against the Buffalo Bills and Las Vegas Raiders are coming up.
Maye has since taken the blame for his mistake. But despite all the noise around the QB, head coach Mike Vrabel has faith in Maye.
“Let me just tell you why I’m here. I’m here because Drake was the quarterback,” Vrabel said on Wednesday. “Believe it or not, I had choices to where I wanted to coach. I wanted to coach here because Drake was the quarterback.”
At the same time, Vrabel has also held Drake Maye responsible when he has to, because there is no two ways about it. That end zone interception against the Jaguars was a “terrible mistake” in Vrabel’s eyes, he said on WEEI, and there are no excuses. However, he confirmed that Drake Maye will be the New England Patriots’ QB.
But since he is such a big asset for the team, it’s time Drake Maye lives up to what is expected of him.