Drake Maye Guts It Out in Super Bowl LX Loss, But Shoulder Injury Loomed Large
Drake Maye gave it everything he had on football’s biggest stage - even if his body wasn’t quite at 100%.
The Patriots’ young quarterback revealed after New England’s 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX that he played through a right shoulder injury, sustained two weeks earlier in the AFC Championship Game. Maye took a pain-killing injection before kickoff to help manage the discomfort in his throwing arm.
“They shot it up, so not much feeling. It was good to go, and it felt all right,” Maye said postgame.
The injury occurred on a 13-yard scramble late in the AFC title game, when Maye landed hard on his throwing shoulder. He was limited in one practice session the following week and missed another entirely due to illness. But by the time the team arrived in San Francisco, Maye said he was feeling significantly better - and he practiced fully in the days leading up to the Super Bowl.
Still, Sunday night was a grind.
Facing a relentless Seahawks defense that brought pressure from all angles, Maye never quite found his rhythm. He finished 27-of-43 for 295 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions - numbers that were padded by some late fourth-quarter drives when the game was already slipping away. He also lost a fumble on a strip-sack, one of several moments where Seattle’s front seven imposed its will.
Maye didn’t blame the shoulder for the loss, refusing to use the injury as a crutch.
“I think it’d be hard to say that,” he said. “I was feeling good enough to be out there.
If I’m out there, I wouldn’t put the team in harm’s way to not be myself. Just didn’t make the plays tonight.”
That’s the kind of accountability coaches love - and the kind of maturity that’s become a hallmark of Maye’s young career.
The 23-year-old capped off his second NFL season with Pro Bowl honors and a second-team All-Pro selection, a testament to how far he’s come in such a short time. His poise, arm talent, and leadership helped guide New England back to the Super Bowl - a stage the franchise hadn’t reached since the Brady era.
But on Sunday, the moment belonged to Seattle.
“This hurts. It definitely hurts,” Maye said, visibly emotional in his postgame comments.
“They played better than us tonight. They deserved to win that game.
For the whole team and myself, what a journey it’s been for us. I love this team and those guys in the locker room.
We left it all on the field and just came up short. We didn’t play our best, and that’s what happens.
It’s going to sting for a while, but that’s what you sign up for.”
Maye’s words echoed the sentiment of a locker room that believed it was ready to bring another Lombardi Trophy back to Foxborough. And while the final result didn’t go their way, Maye’s performance - playing through pain, fighting until the final whistle - only reinforced what the Patriots have in their young quarterback.
The ending wasn’t storybook. But the story? It’s just getting started.