The Patriots are already staring at trouble, and Drake Maye is getting swallowed by it.
New England sits at 1-2 and heads to Buffalo in Week 4, where another loss looks like the most likely outcome against the Bills and Josh Allen. The only team below them in the AFC East is Miami at 0-3, and the way this has started, the Patriots are sliding fast.
Maye, the franchise’s biggest hope, has become part of the problem. Through three games, he has thrown one touchdown pass and six interceptions.
The turnover issues go beyond the picks, too: he has two fumbles in 2026 and 10 since the start of 2025. One mishap against Jacksonville, when the ball slipped out of his hands on an erstwhile pass play, was so ugly it would have been comical if it weren’t hurting the team so much.
The bigger issue is what Josh McDaniels is asking him to do.
When Mike Vrabel hired McDaniels to run the offense in 2025, the fit was always going to draw questions. McDaniels spent years working with Tom Brady, the best pure drop-back passer of his era.
Maye is built differently. He is a dual-threat quarterback with outstanding mobility, not a quarterback who thrives in a Brady-style structure.
That mismatch has shown up on the field. McDaniels has tried to mold Maye into something he isn’t, instead of building around what he does best.
It’s a problem he also ran into with Cam Newton in 2020 after Brady left for Tampa Bay. Then, as now, the offense lacked deception and leaned too heavily on predictability.
The Patriots have become painfully easy to read. The offense seldom uses deception, and it doesn’t lean on play-action enough.
Against Jacksonville, McDaniels even showed a double fake on one play and then called an actual programmed quarterback run. But even that moment of creativity came out of desperation, and the run near the end zone was the wrong call anyway.
The larger point is hard to miss: the system is broken.
New England’s offensive line has made everything worse. The group can’t pass protect and can’t open holes in the run game.
The line was terrible in both areas in 2025, and the offseason did too little to fix it. With a much tougher 2026 schedule, the flaws that were hidden a year ago by weaker opponents and Maye’s scrambling are now being exposed by better coaches, better teams, and stronger defenses.
That combination - shaky play-calling, a failing offensive line, and a quarterback clearly pressing - is why the Patriots’ offense has fallen flat.
If there’s any way out, it starts with McDaniels changing his approach and with Vrabel making the necessary roster moves. The article points to a trade or two for more talented offensive linemen as part of the answer.
A fully healthy return of A.J. Brown would help, though that may not happen in 2026.
Without those changes, the outlook stays bleak. And unless Vrabel is willing to make the tough calls, Patriot Nation probably shouldn’t expect much improvement anytime soon.
In Other News...
Patriots May Have Found Their Answer To A Growing O-Line Problem
A couple of injuries along the Patriots offensive line forced the team to move quickly, and the answer came from a familiar type of acquisition: a veteran with positional flexibility. New England signed Matt Pryor off the Arizona Cardinals practice squad after losing Mike Onwenu and Greg Van Roten, giving the group another experienced body at a spot where injuries can reshape a lineup in a hurry.
Pryors appeal is straightforward. He has played multiple positions along the line, including right guard and tackle, and that kind of versatility gives the Patriots options as they try to steady the front. The team also added rookie tackle DaMetrius Weatherspoon to the practice squad, a reminder that New England is still working to build both immediate depth and longer-term insurance while the line picture remains unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
A.J. Brown May Have Escaped Exactly What Patriots Fans Feared
A.J. Browns departure from Philadelphia already looked like a significant development for the Patriots when the trade went through, but the conversation around him has only grown more interesting as the Eagles try to sort out their offense. Reports and sideline observations have fed speculation about the relationship between Brown and Jalen Hurts, while DeVonta Smiths recent frustration during a game added another layer to the sense that not everything is smooth in that passing game.
For New England, the appeal of Brown was never just his production. It was the idea that the Patriots were getting a receiver who could change the shape of an offense and give them a proven presence at the top of the depth chart. If the Eagles are still dealing with unresolved tension, it only sharpens the contrast for a Patriots team trying to build something more stable and productive around him. [Read more 🡒]
Stephen A Smith Tied The Patriots' Ugly Start To An Offseason Distraction
The Patriots slow start has already made for an uncomfortable backdrop around Foxborough, and Stephen A. Smith added another layer of noise by tying the teams early struggles to the kind of offseason distraction that has followed Mike Vrabel into his new job. His comments were indirect, but the connection was clear enough to stir back up a storyline New England would rather keep in the rearview mirror, especially with the season still settling in.
At the center of the lingering attention is Dianna Russini, who left The Athletic earlier this year after an investigation into an alleged improper relationship with Vrabel. There has been speculation about whether she could return to NFL reporting, but her next move remains uncertain, and the broader question for the Patriots is how much of this outside chatter continues to shadow a team already trying to dig out of an ugly start. [Read more 🡒]