Cool Link QBSchool: Drake Maye Super Bowl 60 Analysis

[Hyped]

In hindsight Brady was already a pretty special QB in 2002 hence why he almost beat out Bledsoe in training camp. The eyes of football just didn’t understand his brand of QBing. If anything, getting hooked on Moss caused a regression and a 3 year hangover where he had to correct his mechanics.

It was 2001.

And he also blew his ACL the 2nd season with Moss…and had Moss go haywire in his 4th season as a Patriot….

 

[Hyped]

Anyway, dunno if I am gonna watch a 80 minute video. Here is what I saw these playoffs:

1.) The first two games…too many fumbles.

2.) 3 kill shot plays in 3 games….the Henry TD, the Boutte TD, and the reverse bootleg run for a game clinching first down. Also, that TD pass to Hollins on Sunday.

3.) Kid is still raw….strong armed, crazy accurate deep, good runner, and etc… but needs to get rid of the ball a lot faster (****s back too much for deep balls when stepping up in the pocket), stop throwing too high/hard on short/medium passes, holding onto the ball when running/throwing, and going through his progressions faster pre/post snap.

4.) Hate to say it, but he was seeing ghosts last night…along with our OL & receivers. Maye is not why we lost…it was a collective failure by the entire offense…McDaniels too.

5.) yeah, he is young….and we over achieved this year waayyy ahead of schedule… but even the game on Sunday was there for the taking, IMO. 17 points off turnovers. Our defense did its part except for a few KW3 outside zone runs and that AJ Barner TD. If not for turnovers, the Seahawks probably score at most 17-20 points. If our offense only put up 6 points in the first half…we would have been down one score the entire second half and probably down 20-16 or something…while driving down the field at the end of the game.

Really gotta win these kinds of games every opportunity you get. Marino never got back, Allen/Lamar never played in a SB, etc… there are no guarantees…..

 

[Lagaffe_07]

We are talking about no plan against the Blitz but I thought that in the McDaniels system receiver were supposed to adjust their route into hot one in those case.

I seem to remember cases where for example the CB that was guarding Edelman move off him to come to blitz Edelman would call « Blitz, Blitz » and convert his route automatically.

On the 1st 3rd down Blitz by Witherspoon, he is covering Pop who was running post when he blitz Pop seem to point at him, we don’t if he call it out too but afterwards he run his route like normal. I would think that in that case he should turn into a hot ans just turn around and sit.

In the end I don’t think it would necessarily have mattered because Maye seem completely unaware of the blitz. That why I think that Pop didn’t made a call out otherwise Maye would have known a blitz was coming.

Credit to Seattle Witherspoon timed it perfectly and moved off his spot when Maye turn his head on the right to scan the right part of the field before snapping the ball and he never came back around to the left.

 

[slash83]

Gotta give credit to Seattle. One of the lowest percentage blitzing teams, they changed it up caughtNE off guard with the blitzes that came early and often. Frustrating NE didn’t or couldn’t adjust, Josh was out coached.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Gotta give credit to Seattle. One of the lowest percentage blitzing teams, they changed it up caughtNE off guard with the blitzes that came early and often. Frustrating NE didn’t or couldn’t adjust, Josh was out coached.

Maye was one of the best QB in the regular season and one of the best against the Blitz.

I find hard to believe that suddenly they have no answers against the blitz. Was it McDaniels or was it Maye that didn’t recognize the blitz pre-snap and failed to adjust protection and routes accordingly?

Seems to that Maye had no idea a blitz was coming. I give credit to Seattle for that they really disguised it well.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

It was 2001.

And he also blew his ACL the 2nd season with Moss…and had Moss go haywire in his 4th season as a Patriot….

the biggest what if of the dynasty. the 2008 team had an incredibly easy schedule and brought back most of the 2007 team. Brady would have had another year with Moss and Welker. we know what the Pats routinely did to PIT. Pats had SD’s number. weakest IND team from 2003-2009. and in the NFC, ARZ was not a good team

I’ve always thought the 2008 Pats with Brady go 15-1 (loss in the wildcat game) and win the SB. Brady has 4,500-4800 yards and 40-45 touchdowns. wins MVP, probably unanimously since that was the worst MVP year I can ever remember since I started watching

 

[ScottishPatriots]

My guess is that the team including Drake will probably be less successful next year due to a harder schedule and may take a couple years to start getting playoff wins again, but once they’re back in position, having that prior playoff run experience will be a huge benefit. So few players actually get to play in the big game, so having already done it and know what to expect is a big advantage. Sucks to lose but it’ll be a good experience for him to have and reflect on for the next 15 years of his career.

The Patriots could easily be a better team next year and win 3/4 less games looking at the schedule so this wouldn't shock me but the division matters if you take care of the Jets and Dolphins twice that's you already at 4 meaning you only need to go 6-7/7-6 against everyone else to be a playoff team.

The issue is even if that happens and the Pats are an all round better team it's brutally hard to do anything from the 6 or especially the 7 seed where you basically have to beat the 2 best teams in the AFC back to back on the road the second one coming off of a bye week.

The one hope could be Buffalo who also has a hard schedule and a bit of an unknown with a new coach also gets sucked back to the 10/11 win range and we've got a chance to win the division to be the 3/4 seed.

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

Yeah, we could very well be a better team next year and not have anywhere near the success. I'm predicting that to be the case. A shame we couldn't steal a SB this year. I'm already mentally ready for that. I know getting to the SB requires alot of luck. Chance of us getting that luck 2 years in a row is extremely unlikely. Just focus on upgrading the OL and offense and whatever happens happens I guess.

 

[Kargetina]

Yeah, we could very well be a better team next year and not have anywhere near the success. I'm predicting that to be the case. A shame we couldn't steal a SB this year. I'm already mentally ready for that. I know getting to the SB requires alot of luck. Chance of us getting that luck 2 years in a row is extremely unlikely. Just focus on upgrading the OL and offense and whatever happens happens I guess.

That's the heartbreaking part. I don't know whether people are just coping, but teams are never getting back after losing the SB unless they are a part of a dynasty, i.e always in the run, like the Pats and the Chiefs, and i'm not just talking about the following season.

One of the reasons is the whiplash of getting so close, and having to start all over again. The Pats had an incredibly easy schedule, a win streak of 17 games out of 18, an almost legendary defense that would have been hailed as historic if Maye and the offense weren't historically bad (the worst points per drive of a SB team since 2001), impossibly good injury luck with every single important player available for the SB, and convenient injuries to the other team, Collins out for the Texans, Nix out for the Broncos, and still couldn't cross the finish line.

They will never get such an easy schedule, injury luck, as weak a series of opposing QB's, and yes, i include Darnold as well, or such an incredible defensive run. Imagine if someone told you the defense will allow 12 points on Seattle's drives, 99,9% of people would be certain the Pats won. And yet Maye gifted them 17 points off of turnovers.

A decent, not good, not great, performance by the QB and the offense would have been enough to have a winning chance with such a good defense and they couldn't even muster that, scoring 0 points for basically 50 minutes. And despite ALL of that, they were down only 12 points with 9 minutes remaining, and the ball near midfield until Maye torpedoed every chance.

People will only start to realize what a missed opportunity this was 4-5 years down the line. SB opportunities don't grow on trees, you usually have only one shot in your career and you have to take it. Brees, Rodgers, Flacco and Stafford did, Marino, Bledsoe, Kaepernick, Goff, Burrow didn't. For the vast, vast majority of QB's (which are a very small percentage overall) that make it to the SB, they never get a do-over. Brees had terrible luck in the playoffs (the Minneapolis miracle, the PI call against the Rams, etc...) but he can sleep soundly because he played well in the one opportunity he had and brought New Orleans a championship. The opposite is true for someone like Goff.

Seattle was there for the taking. Being up only 12 while we played so badly should have bitten Seattle on their ass, but we never took advantage. Even though people will probably dislike me for saying it, it's far more likely Maye never gets back than otherwise. That's why this loss hurts me a lot more than the Brady losses because i was near certain Brady and Belichick are too good at their jobs not to make it back. Maye isn't, and that's not a slight on him, that's the reality of the sport. I hope the future will prove me wrong, but the way he handled the pressure of the playoffs and especially, the SB, i'm not an optimist. There are traits that you can't teach, and poise under pressure is one of those. Brady had it, Mahomes too, and they had it from the get-go. They had a lot of faults, bad games, bad passes but they never shied from the pressure and never succumbed to it. That's the most disappointing part of this playoff run. When the QB needs the OC to comfort him and give him courage in an AFCCG! of all places, that's a red flag. Nothing that happened in the SB should have been surprising after that.

 

[KCSVEN]

There are traits that you can't teach, and poise under pressure is one of those. Brady had it, Mahomes too, and they had it from the get-go. They had a lot of faults, bad games, bad passes but they never shied from the pressure and never succumbed to it. That's the most disappointing part of this playoff run. When the QB needs the OC to comfort him and give him courage in an AFCCG! of all places, that's a red flag. Nothing that happened in the SB should have been surprising after that.

What? Did you watch the first Giants SB? Did you watch Mahomes last year vs Philly?

Brady Giants SB: 29/48 266 yds 1 TD, 0 picks and 5 sacks with greatest offense in history (31% pressure rate)
Mahomes 2025 SB: 21/32 257 yards 3 TD 2 picks and 6 sacks (40% pressure rate, vs 43% for Maye)
Maye 2026 SB: 27/43 295 yards 2 TD 2 picks and 6 sacks

EVERY QB looks bad vs that kind of pressure. Stafford had 11 pressures last week, Maye had 25. Maye completed 43% under pressure, Stafford 55% and Stafford didn't have immediate pressure 25% of the time.

Maye had a lot of bad plays in the second half. He really wasn't that bad the first half. When your coach isn't giving you the answers a young player will press and he did. He could have played better and they still would have lost.
He had an untouched rusher on 25% of passes before the final mop up drive.

Trashing of Maye is getting silly, Pats got completely outcoached. Maye will be fine, Maye will be in MVP discussions for years. Get him some better supporting staff and he'll put up record numbers.
If every team is going to put up record pressure rates vs Pats, yeah Maye will not look good but nobody would.

 

[slash83]

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Regarding that Adam Archuletta quote, Devon Witherspoon literally said their coaches had deciphered the Pats blocking schemes on tape based on alignment so Seattle knew when and how to blitz and when not to. Credit to them if that’s true, and blame goes to Vrabel and the staff for not picking that up on self scouting.

Of course, if it were the Patriots who did that, John Tomase would already have published an article saying that the Patriots taped Seattle’s walk-through.

 

[Kargetina]

What? Did you watch the first Giants SB? Did you watch Mahomes last year vs Philly?

Brady Giants SB: 29/48 266 yds 1 TD, 0 picks and 5 sacks with greatest offense in history (31% pressure rate)
Mahomes 2025 SB: 21/32 257 yards 3 TD 2 picks and 6 sacks (40% pressure rate, vs 43% for Maye)
Maye 2026 SB: 27/43 295 yards 2 TD 2 picks and 6 sacks

EVERY QB looks bad vs that kind of pressure. Stafford had 11 pressures last week, Maye had 25. Maye completed 43% under pressure, Stafford 55% and Stafford didn't have immediate pressure 25% of the time.

Maye had a lot of bad plays in the second half. He really wasn't that bad the first half. When your coach isn't giving you the answers a young player will press and he did. He could have played better and they still would have lost.
He had an untouched rusher on 25% of passes before the final mop up drive.

Trashing of Maye is getting silly, Pats got completely outcoached. Maye will be fine, Maye will be in MVP discussions for years. Get him some better supporting staff and he'll put up record numbers.
If every team is going to put up record pressure rates vs Pats, yeah Maye will not look good but nobody would.

Drake Maye now holds the worst statistical playoff run of any QB this century (min 3 GP):

1. '25 Drake Maye (-29.2 EPA)
2. '15 Peyton Manning (-22.7 EPA)
3. '06 Rex Grossman (-22.5 EPA)
4. '08 Joe Flacco (-18.2 EPA)
5. '18 Jared Goff (-9.2 EPA)
6. '00 Kerry Collins (-7.6 EPA)

He was atrocious all playoffs long, it's a mixture of the defense playing lights out, and playing against bad offenses who couldn't punish Maye's mistakes that we came this close to winning it all. The defense suffocated Herbert, picked Stroud 4 times, and we beat Stidham 10-7 with the TD being compliments of the defense, stripping him at their own 20 yards.

We were winning so Drake getting picked inside the 10 against the Chargers, or fumbling in FG range were swept under the rug because the defense stopped them 4 times and didn't allow points. He fumbled at our own two and on our own 40 against the Texans but Campbell jumped on it both times so we didn't pay the price.

He cost the team 17 points in the SB with the pick six, the horrendous pick that was returned right into FG range, and the fumble in our own territory. He still could have been the hero, down 12 with 9 minutes remaining, you score a TD, you're down 5, and there's absolutely no reason to believe that the defense wouldn't have gotten the ball back and put Drake in a position for a SB winning drive. Instead he throws one of the worst INT you will ever see in a SB, 10 yards away from any receiver and effectively ends the game.

I have no quarrel with anyone who thinks this is a learning experience, that he will get better, and that the offensive line was bad. But there's absolutely no excuse for his play. He had ELEVEN turnovers in the three games against the Chargers, Texans, and Seattle and we don't know how many he would have had if we didn't run the entire second half against Denver. If a rival QB had this run, the thread on this board would have been 50 pages of jokes long.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

IMO, I don’t think Wilson was TOO bad. Not his best game but he wasn’t getting whooped or anything. He was not the big problem.

Agreed. Wilson’s issues are mostly that he’s not amazing in space. He was a VERY good Center at Georgia and held up really well vs SEC DT’s. Solid vs run and pass.

To me, Brown could play a decent LG so they may not even need a splash FA IF they believe Campbell really is still the LT moving forward (I have doubts but I’m no NFL coach).

It IS just good business to draft T, G every year. O line is too important.

 

[Thelonious]

This guy's videos are really excellent and educational.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

Drake Maye now holds the worst statistical playoff run of any QB this century (min 3 GP):

1. '25 Drake Maye (-29.2 EPA)
2. '15 Peyton Manning (-22.7 EPA)
3. '06 Rex Grossman (-22.5 EPA)
4. '08 Joe Flacco (-18.2 EPA)
5. '18 Jared Goff (-9.2 EPA)
6. '00 Kerry Collins (-7.6 EPA)

He was atrocious all playoffs long, it's a mixture of the defense playing lights out, and playing against bad offenses who couldn't punish Maye's mistakes that we came this close to winning it all. The defense suffocated Herbert, picked Stroud 4 times, and we beat Stidham 10-7 with the TD being compliments of the defense, stripping him at their own 20 yards.

We were winning so Drake getting picked inside the 10 against the Chargers, or fumbling in FG range were swept under the rug because the defense stopped them 4 times and didn't allow points. He fumbled at our own two and on our own 40 against the Texans but Campbell jumped on it both times so we didn't pay the price.

He cost the team 17 points in the SB with the pick six, the horrendous pick that was returned right into FG range, and the fumble in our own territory. He still could have been the hero, down 12 with 9 minutes remaining, you score a TD, you're down 5, and there's absolutely no reason to believe that the defense wouldn't have gotten the ball back and put Drake in a position for a SB winning drive. Instead he throws one of the worst INT you will ever see in a SB, 10 yards away from any receiver and effectively ends the game.

I have no quarrel with anyone who thinks this is a learning experience, that he will get better, and that the offensive line was bad. But there's absolutely no excuse for his play. He had ELEVEN turnovers in the three games against the Chargers, Texans, and Seattle and we don't know how many he would have had if we didn't run the entire second half against Denver. If a rival QB had this run, the thread on this board would have been 50 pages of jokes long.

Fair. O’Sullivan, Bedard, and others have said he was flat out bad. Doesn’t mean it’s fatal or permanent…just that he has a LOT of work to do. Still reminds me of young Josh Allen both the good and the bad.

 

[slash83]

It’s gonna come out soon about the full extent of his shoulder injury, it’s gonna be worse than what was let on.

 

[Ross12]

Agreed. Wilson’s issues are mostly that he’s not amazing in space. He was a VERY good Center at Georgia and held up really well vs SEC DT’s. Solid vs run and pass.

To me, Brown could play a decent LG so they may not even need a splash FA IF they believe Campbell really is still the LT moving forward (I have doubts but I’m no NFL coach).

It IS just good business to draft T, G every year. O line is too important.

I agree in general. I saw a brief video this morning on Reddit which was just a view of every play's pass protection from the All-22 in a row. I watched it back several times trying to get a read on how each guy did. Obviously we already know how Campbell did, but it confirmed my prior feelings that Wilson did OK. He didn't really get pushed back all that often but he sometimes had issues when he had to slide too much. So it does make me feel that his best fit really is center.

Beyond that, I thought Onwenu did fine except for a couple plays. Bradbury was not really that great but wasn't really the problem either. I think he did about as well as Wilson, but if you consider Wilson to be playing "out of position" then Wilson did "better" in a sense. Moses definitely got beat at times too but he did his job for the most part, on most plays he gave Drake as much time as he should have needed.

So, again, all in all I think moving Wilson to center helps a lot, and leaving Onwenu and Moses on the right side is probably fine for now. Campbell is going to be left alone as well. At left guard, you certainly could play Brown but I still think you'd be better served trying to upgrade with a free agent acquisition there and letting Brown be your top reserve who backs up all three IOL spots very reliably.

And yes definitely still draft T/G. They need depth players and they should take swings at guys with upside. They carried Wallace all year and never used him, I guess we'll see if they think he can contribute something in 2026. I don't think they will need to look at centers since Wilson and Brown should be enough for a while. They have 7 picks between the fourth and sixth rounds, they need to be using several of those on guys on both sides of the trenches.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

It’s gonna come out soon about the full extent of his shoulder injury, it’s gonna be worse than what was let on.

Bedard said in the post game show on 98.5 Sunday that he texted people in the organization after the game and they all said that he was fine.

They could have lie to Bedard but I don’t see the gain they would have doing so.

 

[Ross12]

It’s gonna come out soon about the full extent of his shoulder injury, it’s gonna be worse than what was let on.

Yeah I don't think it's anything so bad that it will affect him next season, it was just probably worse than we thought it was for this specific game.