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Drake Maye put forth MVP-caliber play last season as the New England Patriots surprised a lot of people with a march to the Super Bowl. That magical ride ended at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks when a stingy defense made Maye look entirely beatable in a 29-13 rout. The always savvy NFL set up a rematch between these two teams on Wednesday night in Seattle to kick off the 2026 season and, once again, the Seahawks got the better of their AFC counterparts. MORE: Drake Maye addresses dreadful fourth-quarter performance in Patriots’ collapse Largely because they flummoxed Maye in the fourth quarter, snagging three interceptions while capitalizing on some terrible decision making by the quarterback. The final of the trio secured a come-from-behind victory for the home team and shocked pretty much everyone watching. Including Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, who were calling the game for NBC. “A terrible decision,” Tirico exclaimed as Maye threw an ill-advised third down pass right into the waiting arms of Josh Jobe to seal New England’s defeat. “I can’t believe that throw,” Collinsworth added. “Wow. I mean, there are certain things you just can’t do or try when you have field goal range and overtime in your grasp. And that was the play… Ouch.” That’s about as critical as one will ever hear this booth get in reaction to quarterback play. Honestly, it was warranted. All three of Maye’s picks came on perplexing mental decisions and on balls that seemed to float in the air forever. It was like he was throwing up little lobs for his receivers during some sort of half-speed walkthrough, not an NFL game. There are going to be a lot of Maye-based opinions flying around today. There’s no denying that he hasn’t exactly lit it up against winning teams—even during this stretch of top-tier play. That’s now two straight against Seattle where the moment has been too big for him and it’s shown up in ugly ways. It’s just a single game and the Patriots should be alright but it was still very surprising to see so many bad mistakes in such a short window. — Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —