Patriots
“It literally took everybody yesterday. Special teams, offense, defense, coaching. So it was cool to come out with a win.”
Patriots QB Drake Maye made his weekly appearance on “WEEI Afternoons” on Monday, with the second-year signal-caller touching on topics that ranged from New England’s Week 2 victory over the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium to Mike Vrabel’s viral clip from the fourth quarter.
Here are three takeaways from his interview:
Bouncing back with a win
It wasn’t easy, but Maye and the Patriots secured their first win of the 2025 season on Sunday afternoon by defeating the Dolphins, 33-27, at Hard Rock Stadium.
With New England’s defense laboring once again when it came to slowing down an opposing passing game (315 passing yards for Tua Tagovailoa), Maye and New England’s offense kept the team afloat in South Florida.
Maye submitted the best performance of his young NFL career, completing 19-of-23 throws for 230 yards with two touchdowns and zero turnovers, while also rushing for 31 yards and another touchdown.
Even with New England’s bounce-back showing on offense after a stagnant outing in Week 1 against the Raiders, Maye credited Sunday’s victory as a total team effort — punctuated by a kickoff return touchdown from Antonio Gibson and a game-ending sack from Milton Williams.
“It’s an awesome feeling. We wanted to get the one last week, but, you know, it’s a good feeling to get one on the road, against a divisional opponent,” Maye said. “It’s such an emotional game, back and forth, so I can’t imagine – well, I could imagine, I was in the locker room. Good to get a win. It took everybody. It was cool to see everybody respond and I appreciate what coach has brought this year and to this organization as of yet.”
“One of the big things is, we’ve still got to learn from it – learn from things you could improve on, learn from mistakes, learn from penalties, learn from situational football. And take that, and let it help us down the road. That’s a big thing. “And also learning how to come off a win and get back to work at practice this week.”
Josh McDaniels and New England’s coaching staff called a far more balanced game in Week 2, especially after a season-opening matchup against Las Vegas where Maye was called upon to throw 46 times.
With Rhamondre Stevenson (11 rushing attempts, 54 yards) and Antonio Gibson (five rushes, 27 yards) routinely gaining yardage on the ground, Maye and the Patriots’ passing game had more leeway to keep Miami’s defense guessing as the game continued.
“It all starts with running the football,” Maye said of New England’s offensive approach. “Those guys do a great job in the run game. And it’s just one of those things — when you start to run, it opens up the passing game and the play-action game.
“The more they’ve got to respect the run, the less that they can handle the pass. So I think it’s always an emphasis for us to try to get the run game going early and be able to play off that.”
Maye was also aided by a revamped offensive line that has two rookies playing on the left side in Will Campbell (left tackle) and Jared Wilson (left guard).
Even with a few pre-snap penalties from the O-line, Maye was largely able to avoid pressure for most of the afternoon PFF listed Campbell with zero pressures allowed over 31 pass-blocking snaps against Miami.
“Those guys are playing their butts off — credit to those guys,” Maye said of New England’s O-line. “It’s a good feeling running out there with them every week. And I know they’re playing hard and wanting to run the football and wanting to win.”
Brushing aside criticism
Maye’s strong showing at Hard Rock Stadium marked the end of a week where the second-year QB received plenty of flak after an uninspiring showing against the Raiders in Week 1.
Be it local media questioning whether or not Maye had “too much on his plate” in McDaniels’ system or even former Patriots stars like Rob Gronkowski deeming his Game 1 outing as “timid,” Maye was seemingly a conduit of criticism going into Sunday’s matchup in South Florida.
Maye quieted some of those concerns with his play on the field against Miami. But the 23-year-old QB also brushed aside talk of quieting doubters in this market.
“Oh, shoot. We’re not worried about that,” Maye said of silencing critics. “That’s part of playing in this league. There’s a bunch of eyes on every team, and every offense around the league. We didn’t play up to the standard.
“So I’m just glad to get in the win column. And I think it took everybody. It literally took everybody yesterday. Special teams, offense, defense, coaching. So it was cool to come out with a win.”
Vrabel’s sideline scramble
Mike Vrabel hasn’t logged a snap in an NFL game since the 2010 season. But, the 50-year-old Patriots coach didn’t look out of place on Sunday once Gibson took off for the end zone on his go-ahead kickoff return TD.
In a now-viral moment, Vrabel was spotted on New England’s sideline sprinting alongside Gibson as the running back ducked tackles and broke loose for a special-teams touchdown.
Even if Vrabel was inevitably going to lose the footrace with Gibson, Maye gave credit to his head coach for initially keeping up in the humid Florida climate.
“I’m more impressed he didn’t pull a hammy or something,” Maye said of his head coach. “It was hot down there, could have started cramping. I thought it was pretty cool. I was watching it from a different angle. Once he got the edge out there, I knew he was gone. What a play. And it was funny to see coach running down [the sideline].”
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