Patriots' Mike Vrabel defends Drake Maye after nightmare outing in Super Bowl loss to Seahawks

Second-year New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye endured a nightmare outing in his Super Bowl debut on Sunday night, as he was consistently harassed by a menacing Seattle Seahawks defense throughout what became a 29-13 defeat. 

In total, Maye was responsible for three turnovers (one fumble, two interceptions) in the loss. Following Super Bowl LX, first-year Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel defended his young signal-caller.

Mike Vrabel: Super Bowl loss not just on Drake Maye

"We can sit here and try to put it on one guy," Vrabel explained, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "You’ll be disappointed because that’ll never happen. It starts with us as a coaching staff and making sure that we’re doing our part. Obviously, we have to be able to execute, we gotta be able to protect. When we do protect, we have to be able to progress through and throw the ball with guys open and help the quarterback. And then he’s gotta be better. That’s just how it goes, that’s never gonna change."

While Maye completed 27-of-43 pass attempts for 295 yards and two touchdowns, those scores occurred in the fourth quarter after the Seahawks had built massive leads. Meanwhile, Maye's final giveaway of the evening was taken to the house for a Seattle touchdown that allowed casual fans to start getting ready for bed with under five minutes remaining in regulation.

Mike Vrabel discusses Drake Maye's problems with Seahawks' pass rush

Maye seemed rattled by the Seahawks' pass rush throughout the contest, and he ultimately took six sacks. According to Chris Mason of MassLive, Vrabel declined to single anybody out for New England's offensive struggles. 

"Nobody played good enough for us to win," Vrabel added. "...Sacks are — that’s a team number. Whether we block them every time and the quarterback is responsible or whether there is somewhere to go with the football. There were times throughout there were sacks where somebody got beat, there were times when it was on the quarterback, and there was times where it was on the guys we were throwing to. So I’m sure that one of those three things led to the six sacks that we had."

Per ESPN's Mike Reiss, Maye revealed after the Super Bowl that he received a pain-killing injection for his injured right throwing shoulder before the game got underway. Maye and Vrabel both downplayed the issue throughout Super Bowl week, but one can't help but wonder how the 23-year-old would have performed had he been able to enter Levi's Stadium a bit healthier.