The Super Bowl LX runner-up New England Patriots have struggled to start the season, going 1–2 through Week 3. Sunday's New England 35–6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars was by far the most embarrassing result seen in about two years for the team. Drake Maye failed to throw a touchdown pass throughout the entire 60 minutes at EverBank Stadium.
He was close to throwing a TD pass in the first half, but Jaguars cornerback Travis Hunter caught the ball in the end zone for his first career NFL interception. That wasn't Maye's only turnover of the game, though, as he finished with a whopping three. That brings his 2026 turnover total to seven through three games, which leads the NFL.
And, to top it off, Maye's only thrown one touchdown pass this season, and it came in the season opener against the Seattle Seahawks. All of the Week 2 Patriots scores came from rushing touchdowns. It's been a really rough start to the year for Maye, to say the least.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel even elected to bench Maye to end Sunday's game, and replaced him with backup Tommy DeVito. New England was down by 29 points in the mid-fourth quarter when Vrabel made his decision, but the coach was also likely making a point to his starting quarterback: these bad performances cannot keep happening. It'd be surprising for Maye to be benched next week versus the Buffalo Bills, but that game will be significant in terms of how Maye's season will progress.
If the young quarterback posts another terrible statistical performance versus the Bills, then Vrabel may need to rethink the quarterback position. The Patriots can't go from making the Super Bowl to not even making the playoffs, which is the track they're on if they keep putting up zero touchdowns against strong teams. Hopefully this week was a wake-up call for Maye.
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