Vrabel tells struggling Drake Maye to stop forcing it ahead of Buffalo test

Drake Maye led New England to a Super Bowl appearance last season. Through three weeks of 2026, he leads the NFL in interceptions, owns the second-worst passer rating of his career, and was pulled from Sunday's game in favor of backup Tommy DeVito. On Monday, head coach Mike Vrabel had a diagnosis: Maye is gripping too tight.

Appearing on a Boston radio show on Monday, Vrabel reached for a golf analogy to explain Maye's early-season collapse: a player who squeezes the club too hard when trying to make a big shot sends the ball sideways. The fix, in Vrabel's telling, is not more effort — it's less.

The numbers behind the concern are stark. Maye finished the 2025 season as the NFL MVP runner-up, posting a league-best 72.0 completion percentage, a 113.5 passer rating, 4,394 passing yards, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions, according to Newsweek. In 2026 he has regressed to a 63.8 completion percentage, a 58.6 passer rating, 585 passing yards, one touchdown and an NFL-high six interceptions through three games.

Sunday's loss to Jacksonville was the low point. Maye went 14-for-25 for 199 yards, threw no touchdowns, was intercepted twice — including in the end zone by Travis Hunter on a third-and-goal from the two — and fumbled at Jacksonville's 35-yard line on New England's second possession. His 48.6 passer rating was the second-worst of his career, according to Newsweek. The Patriots lost 35-6 and have scored just two touchdowns total in their 1-2 start, averaging 12 points per game — compared to 28.8 points per game during last season's regular season, which ranked second in the NFL.

My concern level is very high for this football team. When you come off a game like that, you just want to get back to work … We have to fix a lot of things.— Mike Vrabel, Patriots head coach

We haven't made good decisions with the football. We have to get it fixed. We have to practice. We have to work and get it corrected. And everybody else has to do much better, and it starts with me.— Mike Vrabel, Patriots head coach

Vrabel was careful not to single out Maye alone, and on Monday pushed back against any suggestion of a personal rift with his quarterback — stating he took the Patriots job specifically because of Maye, according to Newsweek. His public message was one of confidence in what Maye knows, paired with a call to stop overreaching.

I think he knows what to do. I think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make some good ones, and if it's not there, we have to make some great decisions. Sometimes you can want it too badly.— Mike Vrabel, Patriots head coach

Maye himself did not deflect. After the game he acknowledged the turnovers are self-inflicted, not the product of being outplayed.

I think the ball starts rolling like that and we can't get out of our own way. Can't get out of my own way, personally. I've got to look at myself in the mirror and take this as a turning point. It's Week 3, and at the same time we've got to have some fuel and realize that what we're doing out there offensively is unacceptable. It's been unacceptable for three weeks.— Drake Maye, Patriots quarterback

These mistakes that I'm making personally are really (not) them beating us. I think it's beating myself and realizing that there's times last year when you have to flip to the next play and realize this league will humble you quick.— Drake Maye, Patriots quarterback

The Patriots' offensive troubles have been compounded by the Week 1 high ankle sprain suffered by star wide receiver A.J. Brown, which landed him on injured reserve, according to Newsweek. New England's next game is a road trip to Buffalo, where the Bills are unbeaten and quarterback Josh Allen leads the NFL with 11 total touchdowns — six of them rushing — through three weeks, according to CBS Sports.

There is a precedent worth noting: Maye led New England to a Super Bowl appearance last season despite an identical 1-2 start. Whether the same turnaround is possible with the same quarterback — but a visibly different version of him — is the question hanging over Foxborough heading into Week 4.

Why it matters — A quarterback who was the NFL's best passer just one season ago is now its most turnover-prone, and New England's next game is against the league's top offense in Buffalo — making this week a potential inflection point for the franchise's direction.

Reported by yahoo.com, cbssports.com, newsweek.com, thespun.com, nbcsports.com