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For most of three quarters Wednesday night, the New England Patriots were in control of their Super Bowl rematch with the Seattle Seahawks.
But mistakes — most notably three late interceptions thrown by Drake Maye — doomed the Patriots down the stretch and allowed the Seahawks to rally for a 13-10 win.
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After the game, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was blunt about how the game was lost.
“We want to be aggressive and just not reckless,” Vrabel told reporters in his postgame news conference.
Vrabel went on to say that “it’s never just about one guy.” But he stated the obvious later when discussing how the Patriots lost the game despite a strong effort on defense..
“You can’t throw three interceptions,” Vrabel said. “Drake knows that.”
New England’s defense was stifling for much of the game, forcing punts on each of Seattle’s first five possessions that didn’t include the end of the first half. The Seahawks fianlly got on the board with a field goal in the final four minutes of the third quarter.
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Then Maye’s mistakes set them up for victory.
With 14:27 remaining and New England holding a 10-3 lead, Maye took an unnecessary risk with a deep ball into double coverage on second-and-9 from midfield. Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett picked Maye off inside Seattle’s 10-yard line.
The interception set Seattle up for its only touchdown of the game, a 45-yard catch-and-run from Drew Lock to Jaxon Smith-Njigba that tied the game at 10-10..
On the next New England drive, Maye turned the ball over again. After Romeo Doubs dropped a sure first down on a Maye deep ball on second down, Maye again looked downfield on third-and-14. This time, Seahawks safety Julian Love came away with the interception that ultimately set Seattle up for a go-ahead field goal.
Then, on the last New England drive of the game, Maye made perhaps his worst mistake of the night.
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With the Patriots in range of a game-tying field goal, Maye forced a pass into the end zone on third-and-5 targeting Mack Hollins. Instead, he found Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe, who intercepted the ball and got both feet down by the sideline for a game-sealing interception. Maye threw the ball under pressure of his back foot.
Had Maye thrown the ball away, Patriots kicker Andy Borregales would have had a look at a 34-yard field goal with a chance to send the game to overtime.
It added up to three interceptions by Maye on New England’s final three drives that ultimately cost them the game. It was a tough look for Maye against a Seahawks defense that was the only unit to intercept Maye mutliple times last season in the Super Bowl.
Maye will now have 11 days to sit on the mistakes before a chance for redemption in a Week 2 matchup againt the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 20.
