As the New England Patriots displayed failures in the red zone in the 21-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon, it was no doubt a disappointing display for the offense. While Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has been praised for how he's started the season so far, he would admit his struggles against the Steelers.
Maye would end up throwing for 268 yards to go along with two touchdowns, one interception, one fumble loss, and took five sacks. Speaking to the media during his post-game press conference, Maye expressed how it “hurts” that he “cost” New England the game as they had opportunities towards the end to possibly win the contest.
“Just hurting ourselves. It hurts,” Maye said, according to the team's website. “You know, I think it's one of those things that like it kept piling on. Big Morgan Moses brought the team together, brought the offense together, and went back, and we scored. I hit Hunt, and then, yeah, we got the ball back tied, and, yeah, I cost us. So it hurts. I think something to learn from, it's a long season, defense played their butts off, and the guys in the locker room are playing hard, they're fighting hard, so it was tough and it stings.”
Patriots' Mike Vrabel speaks honestly on Drake Maye's performance
While the quarterback matchup on Sunday featured the Patriots' young star in Maye going up against Aaron Rodgers, the former would make costly mistakes that gave the Steelers the opportunity to take control of the game. New England head coach Mike Vrabel kept it real on Maye's outing, saying while there were some positive aspects, there were “unfortunately some decisions that have to be better,” according to MassLive.
“A lot of good and unfortunately some decisions that have to be better,” Vrabel said. “I’m sure we have to protect him better, and just understanding you don’t have to win it all in one play. There’s opportunities to move on and save the day on the next play. You just can’t put the ball in harms way at that position.”
“There’s a lot of good things in there and some decision making that we need to have be better for us and for himself.”
The Patriots look to bounce back next Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
