By admin 
All eyes were on Drake Maye last night.
Seven months after the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Seahawks, the two teams were rematched in the NFL’s marquee opening night game on Wednesday, Sept. 10. With the game being the only NFL matchup on the slate, the entire NFL world was tuned in.
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And once Seahawks QB Sam Darnold went down with a hip injury in the first quarter, all of the attention really turned to the Patriots’ third-year signal caller. But while Maye came up short in the Super Bowl last season, he arguably played even worse Wednesday night.
Drake Maye finished last night’s game 23-33 for just 178 yards, 1 TD, and three absolutely horrific interceptions. Each turnover seemed worse than the last one, culminating in a backbreaking interception in Seattle’s end zone as the Patriots pushed to at least tie or win last night’s game at the buzzer.
Maye defenders can point to his 70% completion percentage for the game, but when you dive deeper into the numbers, it’s clear the Pats’ passing game was extremely conservative.
Drake Maye didn’t push the ball downfield
There were a couple of major factors working against the Patriots on the road on Wednesday.
Star wide receiver AJ Brown suffered a mild ankle sprain in the first half of the game and didn’t return to the field. Seattle’s defense is already considered one of the best in the league, especially their secondary, so not having your best offensive weapon certainly put the team behind the 8-ball competitively.
However, even when Brown was on the field, Maye struggled going deep.
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With the Patriots driving early in the second quarter, OC Mike McDaniels dialed up a flea flicker from Seattle’s 36-yard line. The play completely fooled Seattle, and Brown was running free for a walk-in touchdown. But Maye put too much air under the ball, forcing Brown to come back to the pass.
While Brown was able to draw a pass interference that set up the Patriots with first and goal and led to their opening touchdown, the play was a microcosm of Maye’s struggles to push the ball downfield all night.
Underthrown flea flicker to a wide open AJ Brown
Draws a 34-yard PIpic.twitter.com/ydlxjfgDkq
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) September 10, 2026
Pro Football Focus dove deeper into the numbers, and it wasn’t pretty.
Analytics show Drake Maye’s deep pass struggles
The Patriots’ own brass must have seen that Maye was struggling against the Seahawks secondary, because they had him keep the ball in short range most of the night.
According to PFF, Maye was 7-for-8 for 41 yards on passes behind the line of scrimmage, 13-for-14 for 93 yards and a TD on short passes, 3-for-5 for 44 yards on intermediate passes, and 0-for-4 with 3 INTs on deep passes.
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So 75% of the time when Maye went deep on Wednesday, the ball landed in the opposing team’s hands.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Pats, though.
“Despite throwing three interceptions, the Patriots still finished with positive passing efficiency, as Drake Maye generated significant value as a scrambler, continuing a trend from last season,” PFF said.
It’s not time to panic
If you’re a Pats fan (or AJ Brown fantasy owner), there are a number of concerns after Wednesday’s game.
Despite their deep playoff run, Maye didn’t play particularly well in the playoffs last season after his MVP-worthy regular season. He only surpassed a 60% completion rate once during the playoff run and had an average QBR of 40.
So once again, Wednesday, under the biggest lights, Maye came up short.
However, the Pats faced four of the league’s best defenses in the playoffs last year: the Chargers, Texans, Broncos, and Seahawks. The Seahawks probably have a championship-caliber defense again this season, so it wasn’t like the Pats’ offense looked anemic against just any opponent last night.
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Secondly, losing AJ Brown early in the game had to have thrown off Maye’s game just a little bit.
But perhaps most comforting for Patriots fans is that Maye was literally the best deep-ball thrower in the league last season. Maye led the NFL with a 131.0 passer rating on throws beyond 20 yards in 2025, and also led the league with a 72% completion percentage.
So if you believe 2025 regular-season Drake Maye is the real Drake Maye, then Wednesday’s loss is just a bump in the road against a clearly superior opponent, and it’s not time to panic.
But after five straight games against elite competition where he has been subpar, it’s legitimate to start asking questions. The Patriots’ next test comes against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2, then they go on the road to face a Jaguars team expected to have a top-10 defense this season.
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This story was originally published September 10, 2026 at 4:03 PM.