In the wake of the joy of earning a spot in the Super Bowl this week, Patriots fans were quickly whip-lashed by some pretty concerning news coming out of the AFC Championship Game win over the Broncos in Denver. Star quarterback Drake Maye, the team’s second-year MVP candidate is injured, and worse, it is an injury to his throwing shoulder.
That’s the headline. But the full story is a whole lot murkier, based not on news coming from the Patriots or from Maye’s camp or even anyone directly connected to the NFL. It’s based on speculation from well-known orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Chao, who was the Chargers‘ team doctor for 17 years. Dr. Chao has turned his expertise into a cottage industry on social media, speculating about injuries in the NFL in real-time.
And he created a firestorm for obvious reasons by saying in an online video, “There’s no question Drake Maye has a right shoulder injury.”
But there has been ample push-back on that notion since.
Patriots Don’t See Drake Maye Injury as an Issue
Patriots insider Greg Bedard of The Boston Sports Journal, did not rule out the idea that Maye might have done some damage to his shoulder during the Denver win, but added that the injury is insignificant, if it exists at all. From Bedard on Twitter/X on Monday night: “The information that I have at this moment is that any Maye ‘injury’ to his throwing shoulder is not believed to be an issue.”
The play in question occurred late in the third quarter when Maye was tackled by safety Talanoa Hufanga after a 13-yard run. Maye landed on his right shoulder on the play and came up grabbing at his right shoulder pad, which Dr. Chao signaled was evidence of pain in the shoulder.
But it also signals a player adjusting his pads after being tackled. In a video about Dr. Chao’s video, Dr. Brian Sutterer pointed out that Maye also tugged his left shoulder pad, suggesting he was simply getting his uniform straightened out.
And for a quarterback who just suffered a shoulder injury, a strange thing happened two plays later. Maye hit wide receiver Mack Hollins on his best throw of a the day, a 31-yard completion that set up a Patriots field-goal try.
Conditions Cut Back on Passing in AFC Championship
Certainly, the Patriots sent Maye out on more designed runs than the team might have expected coming into the game, but that was dictated by the drastic change in conditions as the game went on, with snow falling, wind gusting and ball protection at a premium. Maye threw just one pass in the fourth quarter, an incompletion.
Coach Mike Vrabel said the conditions changed badly shortly before Maye supposedly suffered the shoulder injury.
“I would say halfway through the third quarter,” Vrabel said. “I think when we got that field goal. Again, I wish it would have been able to be a touchdown, but it wasn’t. Then it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Our defense was playing really good. We were able to do just enough offensively to give them a break, even kicking a football and the operation, that stuff is things that you can’t really replicate back home.”
Patriots Get Definitive Update on Drake Maye Shoulder Injury