Drake Maye's slump goes from bad to worse for Patriots with a 35-6 drubbing in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Drake Maye’s performance in Jacksonville felt worse than his fourth-quarter debacle in the season opener at Seattle.

Maye fumbled twice, losing one, and threw two more interceptions in a 35-6 drubbing to the Jaguars on Sunday that raised more questions about his Year 3 regression.

“I think I’m back there seeing it,” Maye said. “We just got to make plays. I got to make throws. We’ve got the right looks. We’ve got penalties and turnovers. It’s more beating ourselves. ... That wasn’t a replication of how we play football in New England.”

Maye now has one touchdown pass and six interceptions in three games. He threw 31 TD passes and eight picks last season.

And it could get worse for the defending AFC champion Patriots (1-2), who play at unbeaten Buffalo next week. New England is averaging 12 points a game and has two offensive touchdowns.

It started in the opener. Maye was picked off three times by the Seahawks. He was slightly better last week, but got bailed out by outstanding defense. But he delivered more head-scratchers against the Jaguars (2-1).

The ball slipped out of his right hand with no one around him during one play. He threw into coverage on a third-and-goal play, resulting in Travis Hunter’s first career interception. He also threw a pass directly to cornerback Jarrian Jones that set up another score for Jacksonville.

Those led to postgame questions about Maye’s confidence.

“I’m always going to be confident in myself to make plays,” Maye said. “If there’s one thing, I’m going to go out there and compete. I’m going to leave it all out there. Competing comes with being confident and being confident in this league is realizing that these mistakes, you got to eliminate them.

“More that we get out of our own way, the more the confidence in myself and this team will build. That’s something that starts with practice and it starts with me.”

Maye completed 14 of 25 passes for 199 yards. He was sacked three times and finished with the second-lowest passer rating (48.6) of his career. Coach Mike Vrabel benched him in favor of backup Tommy DeVito in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach.

“I think he knows what to do,” Vrabel said. “I think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make some good ones. If it’s not there, I think sometimes you can want it too badly, and we can’t force it.”

The Patriots played without star receiver A.J. Brown, who's on injured reserve with a sprained ankle. They also failed to get much going against one of the NFL’s stingiest run defenses. TreVeyon Henderson ran eight times for 23 yards and Rhamondre Stevenson finished with 22 yards on seven carries.

So it was all on Maye, who failed to handle the load.

“I think our practice consistency on all levels, in all three phases, has to improve,” Vrabel said. “We feel like the practice execution leads to game reality. We have to build confidence throughout the week, and we have to continue to do that and translate that on to the football field on Sundays.”

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