Drake Maye shares message after rough play in Seattle: ‘We’re on to Pittsburgh’

It was a frustrating end to a night where New England failed to capitalize against a Seahawks team playing without its starting QB — Sam Darnold — for most of the night.

Even though Maye did extend several plays with his legs and completed a pair of fourth-down conversions on New England’s final drive of the night, it meant little after Seattle’s Josh Jobe snagged Maye’s final throw of the night.​

Despite the poor optics of those throws in the fourth quarter, Maye acknowledged on Monday that all athletes — especially quarterbacks — need to operate with a short memory to remain on track over the course of a long season.​

“You’ve got teammates. That’s what you have teammates for, and coaches,” Maye said of putting bad plays in the rearview. “I think they’ve experienced it, and at this capacity, it’s just different when you’re playing this position at quarterback.

“Your mistakes and what you do with the football are at a more drastic level, because your decisions change the outcomes of games. So just realizing that, and also realizing that you’ve got to go back out there and have the next-play mentality.”

Maye and the Patriots offense’s hopes of putting together a bounce-back performance on Sunday against the Steelers took a hit after star wideout A.J. Brown suffered a high ankle sprain in the loss to Seattle.

Brown is expected to miss between four and six weeks with his injury.

The 29-year-old wideout made his presence felt in Seattle before his injury, catching three passes from Maye for 26 yards — showcasing his versatile route tree and helping Maye succeed against the Seahawks’ blitz.

With Brown now on the mend, New England will need other wideouts like Romeo Doubs, Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas, and Kyle Williams to step up over the next few weeks. Still, Maye acknowledged that Brown’s impact will be missed over the next few weeks.

“You’d like to say that it won’t,” Maye said when asked how New England’s wideout corps would be impacted without Maye. “But a player like A.J., any time you lose a big-time player like that, it adds a different element, guys needing to step up, and guys get more looks and more chances, and the chances and opportunities that you get in this league, you’ve [got to] make the most of them.

“I think we had a lot of scenarios last year where guys stepped up and made plays.  …. Usually you kind of see this later on the season, but right off the bat, we’re getting a good chance to kind of see where we’re at and seeing guys step up.”

Maye and the Patriots will look to right the ship on Sunday with their home opener against the Steelers.

Despite Maye’s poor stat line in Seattle (23-of-33, 178 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions), he believes that New England’s offense has a lot more to give, even with Brown temporarily out of the equation.

“I think there [were] plays out there to be made. I think we had plays in the run game, plays in the passing game, where we had opportunities to make big plays.

And in this league, we feel last week, the way we approached it, was a good plan … We were ahead on the score, and then … [in] the fourth quarter, still had a chance to win the game and send it to overtime at the worst. I’ve got to be better, and I will be better going forward.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.