The New England Patriots were overmatched in the biggest game of their season. They were simply not ready for either a test or a stage like this. It came too early in Mike Vrabel’s rebuilding project. It was way too soon for quarterback Drake Maye.
But there is still good news for the Patriots, even in the wake of their ugly 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX. They are a strong team, headed in the right direction, and maybe just a few tweaks away from being a perennial contender. And they have the best young quarterback in the NFL, too.
So they will be back.
And they will probably be back a lot.
As painful as it might be for the rest of the NFL to hear, that’s the lesson from this magical run by the Patriots, no matter how badly it ended: We may be on the verge of another dynasty in New England. The Patriots have the two most important ingredients for long-term success in the NFL — a great coach and an elite quarterback. And they have a whole lot of the other ingredients, too.
They need more, of course. That much was clear on Sunday night in Santa Clara, Calif., when New England could barely mount any offensive attack through the first three quarters, as its prized quarterback barely had time in the pocket to breathe. The Pats need to fix their mess of an offensive line after Maye was sacked six times in the Super Bowl and a ridiculous (and record) 21 times in four playoff games. And an upgraded lead receiver would also help after seeing the way the Seahawks held Maye’s current top target, 32-year-old Stefon Diggs, to three catches for 37 yards and left the young QB with few options all game long.
Drake Maye was sacked an NFL postseason record 21 times this year. (Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
But those are all correctable issues for a team that isn’t far from having it all — and they are surely things the Patriots will address beginning next month. What they lacked most was time to grow and experience. They needed another offseason to really be ready to compete for a championship. And they needed to experience more adversity, tough situations and big games to make sure they were really prepared for times like this.
That’s something they didn’t get much of this season, and it clearly showed. They’ve lived a pretty charmed life over the past five months, famously playing just four games during the regular season against teams that made the playoffs. Then they played a quarterback with a broken hand (the Chargers’ Justin Herbert) in the first round of the playoffs, a team with a struggling quarterback (the Texans’ C.J. Stroud) in the second round, and a team without their quarterback (the Broncos’ Bo Nix) in the AFC Championship Game.
The Pats got every break imaginable until the Super Bowl, where they faced by far the best and most complete team they’d seen all season. There was just no way they could have been prepared for a challenge like that.
So it’s not just that they weren’t good enough in this game. It’s that they weren’t ready for a game like that. Maye, in particular, wasn’t prepared for the defense he faced, because he hadn’t faced one close to it before. That showed in the way he looked rattled by the Seahawks’ fierce and consistent pass rush. It showed with too many rushed and off-target throws.
But the fact that he stood in there, and found a way to get his team in striking distance in the fourth quarter, says something about what he should be able to do in the future. His 35-yard touchdown pass to Mack Hollins early in the fourth to cut the deficit to 19-7 was remarkable. It was a pinpoint throw in tight coverage that came late in a game where nothing was going right.
Maye’s numbers overall weren’t terrible: 27 of 43 for 295 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. But almost all of that came in the fourth quarter, mostly when it was too late to make a difference. And the pick-6 he threw late in the fourth was an exclamation point on his miserable night, as well as what for him was, at least statistically, an unremarkable postseason run.
Maye wasn’t nearly at his best in Super Bowl LX, but that’s often the case for young starting QBs in the big game. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
But that’s OK, because not every quarterback can be Tom Brady, calmly leading a game-winning Super Bowl drive so early in his career. Imagine if Brady had shown up in his first Super Bowl 24 years ago with a lesser team, facing a much stronger defense.
That, in a sense, is what just happened to the 23-year-old Maye. It’s what happens to most young quarterbacks in their first big postseason games, with the notable exception of Patrick Mahomes.
And no, Maye may never have a career like Brady or Mahomes. That would be an unfair expectation. But he showed this season that he has the talent, poise and demeanor to be successful for a long time. He was the MVP runner-up for good reason, putting up huge numbers and carrying his team to a 14-3 record despite being sacked 47 times.
Imagine what he’ll do in the future with better protection, better receivers, and more experience against good teams in big starts. And that’s what he got on Sunday night — a much-needed lesson. Sometimes, unfortunately, the best lessons are hard.
But Maye will be better for it. The Patriots will be better for it, too. And they have the chance to get better quickly. Yes, this was a bad way to wrap up a magical season — a disappointing finish to a remarkable year. But this was probably more than just a bitter ending for Maye and the Patriots.
Like it or not, it’s likely just the beginning.
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