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Drake Maye, Patriots still have big questions to answer next season
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) looks on during the fourth quarter against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Drake Maye, Patriots still have big questions to answer next season

By Adam Gretz  |  Last updated Feb 9, 2026 12:08 AM ET

Even though it ended with an ugly 29-13 loss in Super Bowl LX to the Seattle Seahawks, the 2025 season is still going to be remembered as being a massive success for the New England Patriots. They went from four wins to the Super Bowl and established themselves as a major contender in the AFC for years to come. The presence of quarterback Drake Maye is the biggest reason for optimism.

But if the Patriots are going to get back to this level and then take the next step by actually winning it, both Maye and the offense as a whole have some big concerns and questions that need to be figured out.

Drake Maye and the Patriots offensive line struggled against top defenses

As great as Maye was during the regular season — and his performance resulted in him losing the NFL MVP by just a single vote — there was still the underlying question of how much of that performance was due to the Patriots' soft schedule. 

Teams can only play the opponents that are on their schedule, and the Patriots did what you want to see a good team do against a soft schedule: They mostly dominated it.

What has to be at least a little concerning is that when the competition picked up in the playoffs, Maye's performance took a noticeable drop. The Super Bowl was perhaps his worst performance of the season, and a poorly timed one at that.

But it was not just the Super Bowl where Maye struggled.

His entire postseason performance was underwhelming as he was plagued by turnovers, took sacks and struggled to hold onto the football.

Going by EPA (expected points added), Maye's playoff performance was the worst this century by a quarterback who started at least three games in a single postseason. 

The one thing to point out is that stretch of games came against some of the best defenses in football, including the absolute best defense in the NFL this season in the Super Bowl. That is a tall task. But if you are going to be a Super Bowl champion, those are the types of defenses you have to beat.

New England was able to overcome Maye's struggles earlier in the playoffs in large part because the opposing quarterbacks played even worse in their individual games, and because they got to play a backup quarterback in the AFC Championship game. 

They had no such luck on Sunday.

It would also be unfair to put all of this on Maye, because New England's offense is still lacking big-time playmakers at wide receiver and has serious concerns along the offensive line. Pass protection was a huge problem on Sunday as the Patriots were unable to slow down Seattle's relentless pass-rush. They could not pick up the blitz. They could not stop the four-man rushes. All night, it was a free-for-all at Maye. That is a tough environment to play well in.

But those are the things New England has to contend with and improve this offseason.

The worst thing a team in New England's position can do is just assume that because they made it this far one time that they are guaranteed to be back. They are not. It is a long road back to the Super Bowl, and the AFC still has a lot of great quarterbacks to contend with. The Patriots are also going to play a significantly more difficult schedule during the 2026 season. 

This season was a big step. They still have a few more big steps to take when it comes to the play of Maye and the rest of the roster around him. 

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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