Gillette Stadium has seen plenty of heavy home losses over the decades, like the 42-27 defeat handed down by the Kansas City Chiefs in front of a primetime audience in 2017. But surrendering 45 points to Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers crosses a new line under head coach Mike Vrabel. For third-year quarterback Drake Maye, Sunday turned into an afternoon defined by three first-half picks and an offensive regression.
Appearing on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Monday morning, the New England Patriots head coach addressed the fallout directly. While Vrabel acknowledged that the turnovers derailed the offense, he also backed his signal caller.
“I can only focus on how we play and how we respond, and we didn’t respond well enough last night,” Vrabel said, per WEEI’s X post. “Certainly the turnovers didn’t help, but I also know that Drake’s won us a lot of games and contributed to that, and he’ll continue to find ways to help this football team win.”
That radio spot also gave co-host Chris Curtis room to press Vrabel on the growing narrative around Maye’s record against teams with winning records – something that contrasts sharply with New England’s success against losing squads. Vrabel pushed past that noise as well, focusing instead on weekly execution over the fact that his quarterback leads the league in picks thrown this season (11).
But on the field, Maye’s evening unraveled right out of the tunnel. On New England’s very first snap, he tried to escape a collapsing pocket and threw across his body, allowing Packers safety Xavier McKinney to intercept the pass and return it 36 yards, letting Green Bay score its first touchdown just two plays later.
Two more picks followed in the second quarter – a deep ball tipped by Brandon Cisse directly into the hands of Evan Williams, followed by McKinney intercepting a pass intended for rookie tight end Eli Raridon – making this the second time Maye’s thrown three picks in a single half in his NFL career, and pushing his season total up to 11 picks.
To put that number into perspective, Maye just threw eight picks across 17 games during his stellar 2025 MVP finalist campaign last season. Now leading the league in picks, Maye’s discovering that the defensive coordinators have adjusted to his tendencies, closing passing windows much faster than they did a year ago. But it wasn’t all on Drake Maye.
New England’s secondary offered virtually no resistance to Green Bay’s balanced attack. Jordan Love carved up the coverage, racking up 372 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and a rushing score to finish with a 153.2 passer rating. Xavier McKinney recorded two interceptions in a single game for the second time this season (after his two interceptions against the Chicago Bears). This tied his tally (5) for the most interceptions caught this year in the NFL.
In the process, Drake Maye’s impressive touchdown-throwing tally was somewhat overshadowed. The three touchdowns Maye threw against the Packers took his tally to 18 (tying him for fourth in the league with Trevor Lawrence).
Perhaps that is another reason why the head coach still has his shot-callers back.
“We know that we have to play well against everybody that we play,” the head coach added. “So whether they have a winning record or a losing record, I can’t control that.”
Moving forward, clean football and defensive discipline are mandatory if New England wants to compete down the stretch. With interceptions rising and the secondary leaking points at home, the Patriots have a lot of tape to clean up before they host the Detroit Lions for Week 10.