When you start the season the way the Patriots have, especially offensively, it can get noisy quickly.

One of the least-talked-about factors in Drake Maye's terrible start to this season came to a head against the Jaguars: the quarterback pressure allowed.

Greg Bedard of BostonSportsJournal.com joins the show and opens the hour discussing the Patriots struggles from Sunday’s game against the Jaguars, and what is happening with Drake Maye?

For those of you saying this is a small sample size for Drake Maye, he has now had 7 straight games with a negative EPA. That coincides with what our eyes told us

Breaking down the key sequences in the Patriots' blowout loss to the Jaguars, including:• Drake Maye's three turnovers;• Four Jaguars touchdowns, including Trevor Lawrence's masterclass in throwing with anticipation and conviction;• The end of first half sequence;• Some questionable defensive calls.

Mike Vrabel addressed the media on Monday in the wake of Sunday's 35-6 blowout loss to the Jaguars, and he touched on a variety of topics, especially Drake Maye. Let's go through it:

Greg Bedard breaks down the latest Patriots loss to the Jaguars and analyzes the concerning trends surrounding Drake Maye.

"From now until the time that we practice, we're gonna meet, we're gonna watch it. You know, we'll show the good, the bad, and the stuff that gets us beat tomorrow. I'll think of everything I possibly can for us to perform better." It should be a lengthy "stuff that gets you beat" portion of the film. Because, holy hell, that was terrible in a bunch of different ways, besides Drake Maye doing his Mac Jones In Frankfurt imitation.

The Patriots have a quarterback problem. That was a sentence I didn’t think I’d be typing in September of 2026. But Drake Maye has rarely looked like the player who nearly won the NFL MVP award last season.

You didn't think it could get any worse for Maye after the fourth quarter in Seattle, and a lackluster performance against the Steelers. Oh, but it did. A lot worse. Like Mac Jones in Frankfort, Germany, bad. It started on the second drive of the game when, after driving to the Jacksonville 35 in a scoreless game, Maye dropped the ball attempting to pass for a fumble that the Jaguars converted into a touchdown.

The Jaguars have won nine of their last 10 regular-season games dating back to Week 11 of 2025, tying the Seattle Seahawks for the most wins in the NFL in that span. The Jaguars own a +170 point differential over that 10-game span, the best scoring margin in the NFL by over 50 points.

I've seen that movie before for Maye: last season's trip to Miami, when the quarterback, surrounded by questions all week after a poor performance in a loss to the Raiders, put together his best career game to that point. It included a fast start (led 12-0, thanks to two Andy Borregales missed extra points), and a touchdown drive after trailing 20-15 late in the third quarter.

The best player for the Patriots this summer has been their best player through the first two weeks of the regular season. Christian Gonzalez has, at least so far, made a case as the top cornerback in football.

The Patriots got their first win against the Steelers, but the offense remains a big concern heading to Jacksonville.

One word Mike Vrabel used in describing what he wants from Maye on Wednesday was “decisive.” Heck, I put it in quotes in the headline of that story. He really hammered that home. So I wondered if McDaniels had seen any improvement on that front from week one to week two?

During his Wednesday afternoon press conference, Mike Vrabel didn’t want to relitigate Drake Maye’s performance in Sunday’s win over the Steelers. At least not to start.

Breaking down some of the 12 minus plays (plus the interception penalty of an additional -1) — and a few where I didn't even penalize Drake Maye — I ascribed to the quarterback, which led to his worst-ever grade under my scoring (only 29 dropbacks hurt the percentage) in the win over the Steelers:

Greg Bedard of BostonSportsJournal.com joins the show and opens the hour with his thoughts about the Patriots' win and Drake Maye’s struggles on Sunday.

We're in a strange place.The Patriots won a game Sunday to get to .500. They were the far more physical team, affected the quarterback to the level their head coach demanded - Christian Barmore wasn’t the only one who said Mike Vrabel got on their ass - and got a half-dozen “x-plays,” offensively, as they like to say over there. Those were all undeniable positives, and a good response to what happened in Seattle.And yet, there’s this uneasy feeling. Drake Maye doesn’t look like himself.

The Patriots got their first victory of the season, 20-3 over the Steelers, on Sunday. Breaking down five key plays in the game through video and written analysis.

A year ago, the Patriots were one of the league's healthiest teams, losing 154 games to injury. That was the 4th fewest in the league, per Sports Info Solutions, trailing only the Raiders, Jaguars and Rams.This year, the storm clouds started rolling in early...

Greg Bedard discusses the Patriots' win over the Steelers and Drake Maye's struggles to start the season with 98.5 The SportsHub and CLNS.

Through two weeks of the 2026 season, Drake Maye is not a good quarterback. Doesn't mean he's still going to be there in a week or a month. But as of Sept. 20, 2026, Maye is a subpar NFL starter.Through two games and Sunday's 4 p.m. slate, Maye's passer rating of 63.1 is only better than Matthew Stafford (plays his second game on Sunday night), and the Falcons' two-headed disaster of Cooper Rush and someone named Jack Strand.

Look, we’re not about to confuse the ‘26 Steelers offense with the ‘99 Rams or the ‘13 Broncos, but anytime you can take an Aaron Rodgers-led team and stuff it into a locker as the Patriots did, let’s give credit where credit is due.

Christian Gonzalez continued his strong play by locking up Metcalf; the Steelers couldn't run the ball (Jaylen Warren averaged 3.8, Rico Dowdle 3.1 before garbage time), and the Patriots were able to regularly make Aaron Rodgers uncomfortable in the pocket with well-timed pressure.

Top matchup - LG Alijah Vera-Tucker vs. DT Cam Heyward: This is the one matchup that really worries me in this game. Heyward has the immense strength that has given Vera-Tucker problems. Vera-Tucker had a rough opener. The Patriots need him to do a lot better here.

“I would say there was no film on him and our offense prior to Week 1 last year,” McDaniels said. “And so you go through the process of playing a season and 21 games or whatever the number was, and now there’s evidence of things he does, things he does in our offense, things we use him to do, how we use our players, et cetera.

"I think failing sometimes is a good precursor to a great lesson he's about to learn."

The Patriots are looking to avoid an 0-2 start against the Steelers, before heading to Jacksonville and Buffalo. I'm sure you have some questions.

Based on his last handful of games, Maye has been resistant, or at least slow to grasp the habits that he admits have been drilled into his brain from the moment Mike Vrabel walked in that door. Considering his youth, that’s not uncommon.

Attacking Rodgers is easier said than done. For starters, he’s seen it all, which makes fooling him nearly impossible.

Greg Bedard of BostonSportsJournal.com joins the show and opens the hour with his thoughts on the Patriots' season-opening loss to the Seahawks.

We'll never know how things would have played out if Drew Lock hadn't had to replace Sam Darnold, but the result was largely the same as the Super Bowl: the defense played well enough to win; the offense did not.

I’ll say this for Kyle Williams: the man doesn’t lack confidence. When asked what he brings to the table beyond the obvious - speed - he smiled and gave us this gem:

If you're second-guessing Josh McDaniels' offensive gameplan, or Mike Vrabel's game management ... that's fine, but you're missing the plot. Maybe you had sky-high offensive expectations considering Maye's 2025 season, and the additions of A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs. Maybe you're a big Maye fan, and you just want to make excuses for him, like in the Super Bowl (he was not hampered physically), and just don't want to face or hear the truth: Maye lost the game. Period.

After week one’s loss in Seattle, there are still plenty of reasons to be hopeful - a 10-0 lead in that environment is definitely noteworthy - but the negatives outweighed the positives, as reflected below.

The Pats leaned heavily on bigger personnel and were very run-heavy on early downs, despite a 29% success rate. That number, were it to hold up over an entire season, would have been dead last in 2025.

I'm not going to call it a debacle, even though it was, especially concerning Drake Maye. It's the first game of the season in the new NFL. The only thing that matters is what the Patriots — especially Maye — learn from this one, and how they apply those lessons going forward.

Greg Bedard discusses Drake Maye's performance in the Patriots' loss to the Seahawks to open the 2026 season.

On Wednesday night, Drake Maye reminded us he’s far from a finished product.

Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ 13-10 loss to the Seahawks in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Mike Vrabel lost his first game to the Raiders, Jerod Mayo won his first game against the Bengals. Did either of those results mean anything? No. And the same holds true here. A win doesn't mean anything, and neither will a loss. It's just a different era in the NFL, with no one playing real football in the preseason.

Who won? Both sides did, by acquiescing with a Week 1 deadline looming, though the organization actually surrendered more than the player did.

As the 2026 season begins, you have to wonder if the football gods will even things out, especially considering what transpired in the offseason with the head coach. Fate can be a cruel mistress. Just ask the Commanders about last season, one year after a Patriots-like run to the NFC Championship Game.

So with that as background (I will go into more detail on how I see the Patriots' season going on Wednesday), here is how we see things playing out this NFL season, and we offer our NFL and Patriots individual award winners:

After months of speculation and even some dire reports in the last 24 hours, the Patriots and cornerback Christian Gonzalez have reached an agreement on a contract extension that will make him the new highest-paid player at his position.

“I didn't do a good enough job. Point it at me. They 'out-everythinged' us in the game," McDaniels said, noting that Seattle did a good job with their rush concepts and when they did or didn’t blitz (and I’ll add, how they covered in some of those scenarios).

The last time we saw Drake Maye play a game that mattered, he - like his teammates - wasn’t good enough.

"I think it's an interesting dynamic; I've been on both sides," he said. “I think what's important for me is to try to communicate, to try to explain the players we really want to build around and have, and we've done that with Gonzo. Everybody knows that.

In case you didn't hear, the Patriots will be opening the NFL season on Wednesday in a Super Bowl rematch with the Seahawks. Plus, there's the Christian Gonzalez situation that is coming to a head.