Super Bowl LX: Drake Maye, Patriots Offense Fall Flat in Blowout Loss to Seahawks
This wasn’t the storybook ending Patriots fans were hoping for. In a game that was supposed to signal the dawn of a new era, second-year quarterback Drake Maye and the New England offense came up painfully short under the brightest lights of the season. The Seahawks dominated from start to finish in a 29-13 Super Bowl LX rout, and while Maye showed flashes late, the damage was already done.
Let’s start with the numbers: Maye finished with 295 passing yards and two touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions - one of them returned for a touchdown - and lost a fumble. He was sacked six times. The stat line tells part of the story, but it’s how those numbers unfolded that really paints the picture.
For three quarters, the Patriots' offense looked stuck in neutral. Maye, who came within a single first-place vote of winning the league MVP, looked anything but that caliber of player through most of the night. Decision-making was shaky, the pocket presence wavered, and the Seahawks’ defense - led by a relentless pass rush - made life miserable for the young QB.
And it wasn’t just Maye. The Patriots’ offensive weapons were largely silenced.
Not a single player broke the 80-yard mark. Mack Hollins came the closest, hauling in four catches for 78 yards, but even his production came mostly in the late stages when the game was already slipping away.
NBC’s Cris Collinsworth, who was on the call with Mike Tirico, didn’t sugarcoat what he was seeing. Early in the broadcast, Collinsworth noted that Maye needed to be “great tonight” for New England to have a shot. As the game wore on and the Patriots continued to stumble, his tone grew more somber.
“Maybe there was no chance that [the Patriots] were going to win this game,” Collinsworth said, “but there were some chances to get a little momentum going at some point on offense, and they never did.”
Maye did manage to rally in the fourth quarter, connecting with Hollins for a touchdown that offered a brief glimmer of hope. After the defense forced a punt, the Patriots had a chance to make it a one-score game. But Maye’s next pass was picked off by Seahawks safety Julian Love - a throw that Collinsworth immediately questioned.
“There’s just no way that ball was going to be completed,” he said. “And it really wasn’t that close to desperation time yet where you have to put it in harm’s way.”
Two plays later, disaster struck again. Maye was hit by Devon Witherspoon, and the ball fluttered into the hands of Uchenna Nwosu, who took it the other way for a pick-six.
That essentially sealed the deal. A late touchdown pass to Rhamondre Stevenson didn’t change the outcome - it just made the final score look a little more respectable.
This was a tough pill to swallow for a Patriots team that had shown real promise throughout the season. Maye’s emergence had sparked hope across New England, and his near-MVP campaign had fans dreaming of a return to relevance. But Super Bowl LX was a reminder that growth isn’t always linear - and that the leap from contender to champion is one of the hardest in sports.
For Maye, this will be a learning experience. The talent is clearly there, but the Super Bowl spotlight exposed the growing pains that still remain.
And for the Patriots, it’s back to the drawing board - not to rebuild, but to refine. Because if this team wants to be more than just a good story, they’ll need more than flashes.
They’ll need consistency, resilience, and a quarterback who can rise to the moment when it matters most.