Mike Vrabel on Drake Maye’s 3 Interceptions: ‘Drake Knows That’ After Patriots Lose 13-10
Mike Vrabel is not going to spin this one, and that is the correct call.
Drake Maye threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter of the New England Patriots’ 13-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday night at Lumen Field. Every one of them mattered. Vrabel’s postgame assessment was eight words long.
“You can’t throw three interceptions,” Vrabel said, via Josh Dubow of the Associated Press. “Drake knows that.”
That is the whole quote. No cushion, no “we’ll look at the tape,” no deflection to the offensive line. Vrabel put it on his quarterback and moved on, which is exactly what you want from a head coach after a game his team gave away.
Because that is what happened. The Patriots gave it away.
New England went into the fourth quarter up seven in a Super Bowl rematch on the road. They had the game. Then Maye handed Seattle the ball three straight times, and the Seahawks converted every single opportunity.
Pick number one led to a five-play Seattle drive capped by a 45-yard Jaxon Smith-Njigba touchdown that tied the game. Pick number two on the very next possession set up a field goal that gave Seattle a lead it never surrendered.
The third one was the worst of the bunch. With more than five minutes left, Maye marched the Patriots into the red zone with a chance to steal a win in Seattle. Instead he forced a throw that Seahawks defensive back Josh Jobe picked off to end it.
Three chances to win a football game. Three turnovers.
Here is the context that makes this so jarring. Maye threw eight interceptions in the entire 2025 season on his way to finishing second in MVP voting. He is not a reckless quarterback. He built his reputation on decision-making as much as arm talent.
He is already at three picks after one game. That is 37 percent of last year’s total in a single fourth quarter.
Nobody should be panicking about Maye based on one night. Elite quarterbacks have ugly openers. Seattle’s defense is very good, and playing at Lumen Field in a season opener against the defending champs is about as hard as a Week 1 assignment gets. New England also lost AJ Brown to an injury during the game, which did not help.
But Vrabel saying it out loud in public matters. It sets the standard early. The Patriots did not hire Vrabel to coddle anyone, and a coach who lets three-interception games slide in September gets six-interception games in November.
The schedule offers no mercy either. New England hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2 at Gillette Stadium, and an 0-2 start would put real pressure on a team that spent the offseason talking about a Super Bowl window.
Maye will be fine long term. The talent is obvious and the track record backs it up.
The fourth quarter Wednesday was a reminder that talent alone does not win road games against defending champions. Vrabel knows it. He made sure his quarterback does too.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
