Something’s wrong with the Patriots. The challenge at this point is identifying the root cause of it.
On Wednesday, coach Mike Vrabel was asked about a report that there are issues between him and quarterback Drake Maye.
“I’m here because Drake was the quarterback,” Vrabel said, via Mark Daniels of MassLive.com. “I don’t have much to add to that about a comment from an unnamed source.”
First, it’s hard to imagine that Maye was the primary draw. Vrabel seemed destined to coach the Patriots, regardless of the quarterback he inherited.
Second, haven’t we evolved past the point of disregarding reports simply because they come from unnamed sources? No one from the Patriots is going to go on the record with something that inflammatory. (At least Vrabel didn’t call the report “laughable.”)
It’s fair to wonder whether something beyond football is affecting the performance of the offense. Because Maye has gotten the bulk of the focus, few have broadened the lens to ask the question of whether Vrabel’s off-field distractions from the offseason have contributed to the disappointing start.
In that regard, Maye’s regression has served as a shield of sorts for the question of whether Vrabel’s entanglement with Dianna Russini set a bad tone that the team has struggled to overcome — despite their best efforts to turn the page.
As NBC’s Mike Tomlin said when the topic was raised prior to the Hall of Fame Game, “When games start, winning matters. And so if they get off to a fast start, they’ve got a chance to quiet some of that noise. If they don’t, things could get extremely loud.”
For now, the noise has landed on Maye. With a loss at Buffalo on Sunday, it could boomerang to Vrabel.
The Patriots placed offensive lineman Greg Van Roten on injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday.
Van Roten started at right guard, with Mike Onwenu on injured reserve, but he left Sunday’s game in the second quarter with a thigh injury. Walter Rouse replaced Van Roten.
Van Roten, 36, appeared in all three games this season after signing with the team Aug. 18.
He has played for the Packers (2012-13), Panthers (2017-19), Jets (2020-21), Bills (2022), Raiders (2023) and Giants (2024-25). He also had short offseason stints with the Seahawks (2014) and Jaguars (2017) and spent two seasons with the Toronto Argonauts (2015-16) of the Canadian Football League.
The Patriots also announced they have released linebacker Riley Wilson from the practice squad.
Wilson, 24, signed with the Patriots as a rookie free agent on July 22 and spent the first three weeks of the season on the practice squad.
Jaguars cornerback Travis Hunter’s first NFL interception helped Jacksonville beat the Patriots on Sunday, but it also touched off an odd scene on the sideline.
Hunter spun the ball on the ground while celebrating the takeaway and teammate Josh Hines-Allen tried to retrieve it as a souvenir from a Patriots ballboy who had picked it up. Video of the interaction showed Hines-Allen trying to take the ball, which was zealously protected by the ballboy who shouted that Hines-Allen should not touch him. A Jaguars staffer eventually stepped in and the game went on.
During a videoconference on Monday, Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said the team was working to get the ball for Hunter.
“I was just talking about it,” Coen said, via Mark Long of the Associated Press. “I haven’t gotten a clean answer. We’ve been in communication with those guys over there. I think they’ve gotten it sorted out; I can’t say for certain if we got the actual ball or not. I know there was something that went on there. I think it’s all squared away. We’ll get it taken care of.”
Cornerback Jourdan Lewis noted that Hunter “could have helped us out by not spinning the ball and forgetting about it,” but the Jaguars later confirmed that they were able to secure the ball.
A year after finishing second in the NFL MVP voting, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye won’t have to worry about nearly missing out on the award in 2026.
Through three games of the the third season his career, Maye has regressed. Badly.
Last year, he had 31 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. This year, he has one touchdown pass and six interceptions. His passer rating has plummeted from 113.5 to 58.6.
Sunday’s 35-6 disaster in Duval included three turnovers and no touchdowns.
Appearing Monday on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show, coach Mike Vrabel was asked about Maye’s obvious issues with decision-making.
“I think quarterbacks want to make plays,” Vrabel said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. “I think they want to throw touchdowns. I think sometimes when Greg and I go golfing, we really want to make a good score, right? Sometimes we’re so focused on it, we try to choke the life out of the golf club, and we’re squeezing it so damn tight that the ball has no choice but to go sideways. We need to stop trying to choke the life out of every single play. We need to relax. We need to settle in and go play football and not try to force things that aren’t there.”
It seems at this point to be more than bad decisions. Simms explained on Monday’s PFT Live that Maye has developed mechanical flaws, including a flicking of the wrist before the makes his throws. Also, Simms believes Maye is trying too hard to guide his throws, in lieu of letting it rip.
If the Patriots agree with the assessment, it won’t be easy to coach these things out of Maye during football season, when there’s a fresh train always heading down the tracks. And the next stop is Buffalo.
Last year in Week 5, Maye led the Patriots to a win in their final game at the Bills’ old stadium. This year in Week 4, Maye has a chance to reverse a troubling trend that has become a full-blown narrative.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye had an unusual moment on Sunday, when he cocked his arm to throw and his hand came forward without the ball in it.
After the game, Maye had an unusual explanation for it.
"[Center] Jared [Wilson] happened to be bleeding on his hand,” Maye said. “Got the football and was trying to put one to [receiver] Kyle [Wiliams]. And [it] slipped out of my hand.”
It’s a twist on Brucie from The Longest Yard, when he attributed his lost grip on the ball to just eating popcorn. Either way, Patriots fans were likely choking on their popcorn while watching Maye’s latest performance.
The Patriots are now 1-2. And they face the Bills in Buffalo next weekend.
