Rich’s Advice for the Patriots on How to Get Drake Maye Back on Track

Drake Maye missed the MVP award by one vote last year. Three weeks into this season, he has played like anything but, and Rich thinks the fix might already be sitting in the Patriots' film room.

The diagnosis came first. Kurt Warner told the show Maye's confidence appears to be shot, and Rich agreed it is not a practice problem. "It's not like he doesn't practice like he doesn't mean it," Rich said. "He just can't bring it into a game, whatever he's doing in practice."

Maye's supporting cast is not helping. A.J. Brown is out for at least another two games, maybe a month, and he was supposed to be the guy who lifted Maye to the next level. New England's offseason plan, as Rich laid it out, was to add Brown, solidify the line by bringing in Alijah Vera-Tucker from the Jets, get Will Campbell more up to speed at left tackle, and lean on TreVeyon Henderson, who was hurt in week one and has had trouble staying on the field on third down because of pass protection.

So who catches the ball now? Romeo Doubs dropped a big one in the first half against Jacksonville. "Not hyperbolically, if he catches that, Pats win the game," one member of the crew said, "because the very next throw was an interception."

Mike Vrabel did not hide from it either. On his local radio show Monday, after getting a little pointed with Greg Hill, the Patriots coach compared Maye's struggles to golf. "Sometimes we're so focused on it that we try to choke the life out of the golf club and we're squeezing it so damn tight that the ball has no choice but to go sideways," Vrabel said. "We need to stop trying to choke the life out of every single play. We need to relax."

When Hill pressed him on Maye's end zone throw toward Efton Chism, which Travis Hunter picked off for his first career interception, Vrabel had a short answer. "I don't know. You'd have to ask him what he believes," he said. Asked for his own assessment instead: "That it's a terrible decision."

"The Northeast, man," Rich said. "There's just sports conversations you just don't hear in other places."

Then Rich got to his advice. "You just show him the video from last year's game in Buffalo," he said. The Patriots had started 1-2, dropped "a 40 burger on Carolina" in week four, and went into Buffalo at 2-2 on a Sunday night. Maye was "spectacular," Rich said, going 22 of 30 for 273 yards. He did not throw a touchdown, "but man, he made the moves," and New England won 23-20 as the defense got Josh Allen turned around. The crew remembered Maye rolling right and finding Stefon Diggs on what looked like "a Josh Allen type throw." From that 1-2 start, New England lost only one more game the rest of the season, at home to Buffalo.

"Show him one cut up after another," Rich said. "That's the guy. You're still him. You recognize that guy, Drake?" He spelled out the message: you went into one of the toughest places to play, against one of the toughest opponents, and won. "When the chips were down, you made the throws. You were the one that was difficult to sack. You were the one who didn't make the mistakes."

Rich admitted Vrabel's golf analogy hit uncomfortably close to home. "He just described my golf game," he said. "That's not good for your quarterback." Golf is counterintuitive: "You want to hit it further, swing easier."

The crew agreed that is the trap Maye is in. Trying to lock in harder when things go bad becomes "paralysis by over analysis." TJ had floated a theory during the break: how different would this look if Maye had actually won MVP? The thinking was that he might have the belief to play "a little more free and a little more loose" instead of trying to hit a home run on every snap. Nobody claimed to know for sure. "Getting in the mind of a 23-year-old is not anything I want to be in the business of just yet," one of them said.

Statistically, it is ugly. Maye threw eight interceptions all of last year and already has six in three games. Even the win over Pittsburgh came with only 14 completions, and the 208 yards were inflated by a 60-yarder to Doubs.

Nor does the schedule get easier. New England heads to Buffalo, which has been putting up points but giving them up, too. A loss there means 1-3 with what could be a 4-0 Raiders team coming to town, and then the Jets, who would love nothing more than to stick it in New England's eye. Through three weeks, the crew noted, Geno Smith looks like the better quarterback, completing over 70 percent by taking easy wins and stretching the field when it opens up. Maye led the league in downfield throws last year. This year, "you just don't have any of that."

Rich's prescription is simple. Stop squeezing the club. Go watch the tape of the guy who already did it.