Just when you thought the heat on Drake Maye was too much, analytics comes to the rescue.
The folks at Pro Football Focus decided the three fourth-quarter interceptions thrown by the New England Patriots quarterback against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1 mattered little.
Despite Maye’s performance on center stage on the National Football League’s Opening Night, he held his ground as the ninth-rated QB in the game by the PFF folks.
Apparently, Maye’s 54.9 NFL passer rating and 10-point output in the loss wasn’t enough, according to PFF, to drop him behind Brock Purdy, who had an “up-and-down performance” to beat the Rams in Australia; Caleb Williams’ role in the 59-point Bears’ explosion against the Panthers; and Jalen Hurts’ three-TD-pass clinic vs. the Commanders.
Maye and the Patriots were back to work on Wednesday preparing for Sunday’s battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After practice Wednesday, Maye noted how critical he tends to be on himself, even if the rankings say otherwise.
“You always have got to be hardest on yourself. I think that’s the way I grew up in my family. I always felt like being the hardest on yourself, you can always get back to having confidence and that...