Here’s what New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye had to say following Sunday night’s 16-3 win over the Chargers:
On if he can take us through this night, and what did he learn from it and how proud is he:
“Man, just glad we got to win, man. That’s all. Proud of this team. We never feel like… We never doubted it. We never doubted it. It wasn’t pretty, that’s for sure. But this defense was so fun to watch. Congrats to them. It was so fun to watch. They won the game for us. I didn’t throw it very well tonight. I need to be better. But we do what we had to do, and that’s what it takes in the playoffs. Just proud of this team. That was fun, man. That was fun to get one at home and look forward to being back here next week.”
On the fact he said he didn’t throw it very well tonight and if there was anything that contributed to that:
“Just got to be better with whether it’s accuracy or ball placement or little things or making decisions faster. Held onto the ball a little bit tonight. So finally got one in the end zone, but I missed Hoop [Austin Hooper] on a touchdown. I had some other guys, I feel like I missed Pop [Douglas] on a third down, low. It wasn’t my best tonight, but hey, that’s why you have teammates and those guys picking you up. Never lost confidence. We’re still slinging it around and Kayshon made some big plays. He came back to the ball twice on some big plays. Everybody’s got… That’s the thing about us. We spread it around and can do a lot of things.”
On if playoff football felt different:
“I think the biggest thing that Coach McDaniels said to us in the offense is that you come to the stadium with that kind of finality feel that it’s win or go home or win and advance. That’s the feeling that you get. That’s the biggest thing that I felt out there. Then from there, I think just the teams are going to be good. They had a great defense. They had a great quarterback. We were the better team tonight. We made plays when we had to.”
On the fact he’s talked at times about sometimes nerves at beginning of the game, he’s a little amped up, and if that was going on a little bit in the first half for him and if he had to settle in, make a couple of throws, or get into who he is:
“No, I wouldn’t say that. The first one to Stef, that was right where I wanted to put it. Picked up a first down. Had the one to Hunter over the middle that I tried to protect him from the safety. Probably need to fire it in there a little more. Then from there, just high-pressure throws when the game is in a critical place. Just got to make them. I feel like I like my chance of making them and not going to think too much about it and move on to next week.”
On what he saw in terms of their rush lanes and having some open lanes and some opportunities to put it down and take off in some of those situations:
“I think they’re powerful. And credit to them for those guys up front. They play hard. They’re relentless. They want to get to the passer. And oftentimes when our guys stay inside out in protection, that leaves some lanes for me to take advantage. And you’ll play some man in the back-end. Any time you got that, you got a chance to go and make some plays. And then from there, it’s just trying to get down and just give us a chance to pick up some more first downs.”
On how valuable is it to have someone like Rhamondre Stevenson who can pick up such a big gain on a short dump off:
“Yeah, it’s huge. They always talk about catching and getting up field, and he’s really consistent. The one on the sideline that he broke a tackle, I thought he was going to keep going for a while, but he’s so good at making the first guy miss, and it’s so valuable having him on third down, being able to pass, protect, and catch it out of the backfield. I missed him a little wide on one of the third downs. Just, yeah, that happens. Like I said, Mondre is a great player for us. He’s been all year, and him and TreVeyon are fun to be back there and watch. I got the best view in the house.”
On if he had family members here tonight and how much that means to have someone there supporting him:
“My parents come to every game, so they’re always here. And my three brothers were here, which was pretty cool. All three of them being here, it’s just special with sharing these moments with them and going home and shoot, probably playing ping-pong until 1:30 or something, doing something with those guys. So having them in the house is cool. But now, those three are my three best friends, obviously, Ann Michael [Maye]. Can’t forget about her.”
On the fact during the week, there was a big emphasis on Derwin James and what he can do to an offense and if they made a point of neutralizing him because he wasn’t that big of a factor:
“Yeah, that was the goal, trying not to let him be a factor. They tried to put him around the ball and play him at the star and play him, blitz him some. I thought we did a good job of handling him. He’s going to make plays. That’s what great players do. In coverage, he’s a good player. He had some man reps tonight. I thought he did a good job, and then he almost got a hand on the one to Hunter. So he’s everywhere. With guys like that, you try to neutralize, but it’s tough when they got guys up front as well that are good players.”
On the touchdown pass to Hunter Henry, it must have missed Derwin’s hand by a couple of inches, and what he saw on that play and how did he process Hunter getting open at that right moment:
“Yeah, just trying to… Usually got a flat control that kind of holds Derwin, but really didn’t. So just trust in Hunt. He just makes big catches over and over. It was a similar throw to the one to the Hoop, and I missed one to Hoop. So I was just thinking, give him a chance to make a play. Like I said, it’s a game of inches, and you come up on the right side of it.”
On the fact he talked about the feeling of ‘win or go home’ and if he can describe that feeling, if it’s an elevated sense of urgency, it it’s maybe an excited energy, and how he would you describe what that feeling is:
“Yeah, I think it’s just a playoff football. That’s what it is. Running out of that tunnel with the crowd, that was a cool moment. I was running on the field like, Man, that was pretty sweet listening to the crowd. I don’t know why they put me last. Then you put Stef or somebody who hypes up the crowd, so I just kind of run out there. Or Big Willy. Big Willy loves doing something funny. But it was cool. Proud of the fans for how they showed up. And then they show up every week. So looking forward to getting back here at home. And that’s it, playoff football. And that’s what we said at the beginning of the season, we want to play home playoff games in the playoffs. And this is what we did. And we’re 1-0, and we got to go to the next one.
On the fact it seems like he got almost every receiver target a ball tonight. What does it just say about that room, and just the targets he has to throw to, and just the weapons he has:
“Yeah, I think the biggest thing about that room is they care about each other. Coach Downing and those guys in that room, they do a great job of blocking the run game, doing the little details right. We knew it was going to be a details game with how much zone they played, and they don’t care about… Those guys were fired up in the locker room to win, and everybody made some big plays. Just proud of that group for how they’ve grown up and allowed me to grow with them, and what they see. They’re great players for us. Nobody complains. They all want the ball. I don’t blame them because they’re all good with it in their hands.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
