Drake Maye did not look for a convenient explanation after the New England Patriots’ 35-6 collapse in Jacksonville. He pointed at himself.
The Patriots’ Week 3 loss to the Jaguars was the ugliest result of the Mike Vrabel era so far, a game that slipped away early and never recovered.
Maye finished with three turnovers: two interceptions and a lost fumble. The first pick was especially jarring. The ball appeared to leave his hand before any defender touched him, a sequence that immediately drew comparisons to a similar, hard-to-watch play by Oklahoma’s John Mateer a day earlier.
What followed in the locker room was not the usual quarterback language about process and next-week focus. Maye was blunt.
“I think it’s disappointing. I think when the ball starts rolling like that, we can’t get out of our own way and I 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,” Maye said.
Maye didn’t stop there, either.
“At the same time we’ve got to add some fuel and realize that what we’re doing out there is unacceptable, it’s been unacceptable for three weeks so I’ve got to start with myself and got to lead these guys and we’ve got to get back after it,” he said.
The comments land harder because of the contrast with last season. Maye finished 2025 as an MVP runner-up. Three games into 2026, that version of him has been missing. He has topped 200 passing yards only once.
His only touchdown throw came in the opener against Seattle, a second-quarter score to rookie Eli Raridon. Since then the offense has stalled, and the turnovers have piled up.
Context around him has changed, too. A.J. Brown, signed to be the clear No. 1 receiver, suffered a high ankle sprain in the Seattle game and has not been the same presence. Romeo Doubs has not replaced that production.
New England is also without two of last year’s top three wideouts after releasing Stefon Diggs in March and trading Kayshon Boutte in August. Those absences matter.
They do not erase the tape of a quarterback who cannot stay out of his own way.
Maye’s postgame tone suggested he knows that. Week 3 is early enough that a season can still turn. It is also late enough that three weeks of unacceptable football already have a weight.
The Patriots need a different version of their quarterback than the one who left EverBank Stadium. Maye said he would start by looking in the mirror. That is the only place the next few weeks can begin.
