Drake Maye calls criticism of Patriots’ coaches ‘B.S.’ after loss to Bills
"He wants to win. We all want to win. We're all frustrated."
Even with a daunting matchup against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium set for Sunday, most of the narratives hovering over Gillette Stadium this past week had little to do with the Patriots’ road matchup against the top team in the AFC East.
Rather, most of the discourse revolved around both Jerod Mayo’s job security in New England amid a lackluster season — and whether offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was also feeling the heat after seemingly being thrown under the bus by Mayo after a loss to the Cardinals.
Speaking after New England’s 24-21 loss to the Bills on Sunday, Maye pushed back against the talk surrounding the team’s coaching staff.
“Just trying to block out that noise,” Maye said of the narratives around Mayo and Van Pelt. “I think it’s a bunch of conversations about our coaching staff and stuff like that. I think it’s some B.S. to be quite honest. Coach Mayo, like I said, we got his back and he coaches hard. He wants to win. We all want to win. We’re all frustrated.
“AVP has been calling great [plays] the past weeks — we’re just plays away. And especially me turning the ball over, I think it’s just a testament to these guys to keep fighting. We keep fighting.”
Sunday marked another frustrating result for New England, who actually put together a competitive performance in a game against Buffalo where they were viewed as heavy underdogs.
New England jumped out to a 14-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter, while the Patriots’ regressing defense bent but didn’t break for most of the evening against a Bills offense that scored 30 or more points in eight straight games before Sunday’s matchup.
But Maye and the Patriots’ offense unraveled down the stretch — committing three turnovers in the second half that allowed Buffalo to pull away for good.
Even if Maye put together a few highlight-reel plays in the loss, he harped more on his miscues and turnovers after the team fell to 3-12.
“When you lose, it’s tough to kind of think about the positives,” Maye said. “It’s so frustrating and I’ve got to hold myself from some anger. At some point, it turns from disappointment to just kind of — you’re getting real frustrated. … I’m so proud of the guys. And Coach Mayo said that at the end of tonight’s breakdown, he said he was proud of us, but at the same time, it’s not where we want to be.”
There have been few silver linings to draw from a season where both Maye and Christian Gonzalez have been the lone standouts on offense and defense.
But under Mayo and his revamped coaching staff, Maye stressed that New England remains headed in the right direction entering the 2025 season.
“We’re not gonna make the playoffs, we’re out of the race,” Maye acknowledged. “And these guys are coming in and we’re frustrated [when] we don’t score, and they’ve got energy in practice, and they’ve got energy coming into the game.
“We want to win. There’s guys not even playing it that are yelling on the sidelines and want to win. I think we’re building something good, building something that feels right here. And I’m proud to be a Patriot.”
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