The Seattle Seahawks defense made it easy for New England Patriots QB Drake Maye once again. Despite losing Sam Darnold early in the game due to a hip injury, the Seahawks defense rose to the occasion.
Seattle’s defense sacked Maye three times and picked him off on three occasions too. Moreover, the third pick would seal the win for the Seahawks as Josh Jobe intercepted Maye in the end zone.
Maye could only help the Patriots offense muster 10 points as the Seahawks walked away with a 13-10 win on Sept. 9 at Lumen Field. After the loss, the New England quarterback spoke to the media about the crucial interception that was one of three on the night.
“It was something where we had a certain protection on,” Maye told reporters after the game about his decision-making process before the interception from Jobe. “We were cutting and trying to get rid of it, and realized Mack [Hollins] was back there in the back and didn’t put enough on it to get it out.
“It was just unacceptable. We had a chance to send it to overtime at the worst, and the only thing you could do was turn the ball over. That’s what I did.”
Drake Maye on Three Interception Peformance
All three interceptions Maye threw came in the fourth quarter, and the Patriots star finished with a QB rating of 54.9. Maye also discussed the three interceptions, which led to Seattle scoring 10 points and proved to be the difference-maker in the tightly contested game.
“Definitely just stopped being patient,” Maye added. “I think that was the big thing. We were really good up to the point where I tried to force one down the sideline to Romeo [Doubs], where we were patient, dumping it off and trying to move the chains. We avoided a lot of three-and-outs. That was something we tried to do, just earn more plays.”
Furthermore, Maye went 23-for-33 on his pass attempts against the Seahawks defense. Aside from the three interceptions, he did throw for 178 passing yards and one touchdown. The Patriots star struggled against the Seattle defense in the Super Bowl LX loss and that continued into the Week 1 opener.
Mike Macdonald Praises Seahawks Team for Performance
While Maye lamented his performance, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is praising his guys for how they performed despite the challenging start. Seattle didn’t score in the first half, but their defense didn’t let the Patriots pull away at any point in the game, despite the Seahawks taking 10 penalties for 98 yards.
“I actually think I want to give our team a lot of credit because things weren’t really going our way going into the half,” Macdonald told reporters. “We didn’t panic; we still liked our plan [and] we didn’t need to change what we were doing or anything like that. We just wanted to stick to what we were doing.
“I think the guys were just really excited to go back out there and play, which was really a tribute to our leadership, our coaches, our communications, the staff. So I was pleased with that process.”
Patriots’ Drake Maye Gets Candid on Crucial Turnovers in Loss to Seahawks