The Seahawks kicked off the 2026 NFL season the way they ended last year, by beating the New England Patriots and making Drake Maye look really bad in the process.
The defending Super Bowl champions withstood an injury to their starting quarterback, Sam Darnold, and picked off Maye three times in the fourth quarter to get a 13-10 win in front of a sellout home crowd that had a lot to celebrate on Wednesday night.
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Maye’s third and final interception was not only his worst throw of the night, but it came at the worst possible time for New England. The third-year quarterback out of North Carolina drove the Patriots down the field in the final few minutes and had them set up for at least a game-tying field goal. But then with just over 20 seconds left on the clock, he forced a pass to Mack Hollins in the end zone that was picked off by Seattle’s Josh Jobe.
Cris Collinsworth, who was on the call for NBC, couldn’t believe the decision Maye made on that game-ending play. After staying quiet for well over a minute as Mike Tirico announced the play and reacted to what had just happened, Collinsworth weighed in on what Maye did wrong.
“I can't believe that throw,” Collinsworth said. “Wow. I mean, there are certain things you just can't do or try when you have field goal range and overtime in your grasp. And that was the play. Off his back foot, fading away and didn’t get it out of bounds. Ouch.”
Here’s how that played out:
Collinsworth was absolutely right. Maye did everything wrong on that play and it cost his team a chance of at least getting to overtime on the road in the season opener against the defending champs. The QB, who was second in MVP voting last year, is expected by many to make another big jump this year as he gets even more comfortable in the NFL. That decision in the biggest moment of the game is just something he can’t do.
What Drake Maye and Mike Vrabel had to say after the game
Maye was rightfully frustrated after the loss and called his interception that sealed it “unacceptable.”
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"It was something where we had a certain protection on, we were cutting [with offensive tackles], and I was trying to get rid of it," Maye said. "I realized Mack was there in the back and didn't put enough on it to get it out [of bounds]. It was just unacceptable. With a chance to send it to overtime at the worst, and the only thing you can’t do is turn the ball over—that's what I did."
Maye, who threw for 178 yards and a touchdown along with his three interceptions, didn’t shy away from his fourth-quarter failures against the Seahawks.
“Yeah, we had the game under control,” Maye said. “Thought we had a good plan to start chipping away and be patient and lost patience and it cost us, decisions that cost us the game on my part, on my end. I vow to myself to be better and realize it’s a long season but at the same time we can’t have those. We can’t have those. It’s unacceptable and I know we got to get back to work. That wasn’t how I play football and how I want to represent my game and playing quarterback for the Patriots.”
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said the obvious about Maye’s struggles down the stretch.
“You can’t throw three interceptions,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “Drake knows that. We put ourselves in some long yardage situations on the one. That was probably forced and I think the guy made a great play on the last one.”
Regarding the final interception, Vrabel said: “I mean we're trying to be aggressive and obviously win the football game but not reckless. And again, you don’t get any do-overs but we'll have to learn from it and you know, stick together. Never just about one guy. I think everybody knows that by now.”
The Patriots will look to rebound in Week 2 when they host Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers.
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ANDY NESBITT
Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.
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