New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels talks with quarterback Drake Maye during training camp at Gillette Stadium on Friday, July 31, 2026. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels talks with quarterback Drake Maye during training camp at Gillette Stadium on Friday, July 31, 2026. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
Week 1 certainly didn’t go as planned for the Patriots.
The Patriots lost to a Seahawks team whose starting quarterback exited the game during the first quarter because of three late interceptions from Drake Maye, an ineffective rushing attack, and an injury to A.J. Brown that landed the talented wide receiver on injured reserve.
Naturally, fans have questions about the 2026 season after a disappointing loss. Let’s get into them in this week’s mailbag.
@ThePatriotsNow: After Week 1, what concerns you more: Drake Maye’s late-game turnovers, the Patriots’ conservative play-calling, or the inability to establish the run? And how much do you think the A.J. Brown injury changes this offense going forward? #MailDoug
I would personally rank those:
1. Inability to establish the run
2. Drake Maye’s late-game turnovers
3. Josh McDaniels’ conservative play-calling
Here’s why:
1. I see the run game being the biggest long-term concern out of those three categories. Based on what we saw last year and this preseason, I’m not confident that the Patriots will have a strong rushing attack. The offensive line was not giving Rhamondre Stevenson much room to run, and he wasn’t creating big plays on his own. And Stevenson was better than TreVeyon Henderson last season and in training camp. So, I don’t personally believe that Henderson will transform the rushing attack moving forward. I think they’ll have more success running the ball against weaker defenses, but I’m not convinced it will be a strength.
2. Maye’s turnovers are ultimately what cost the Patriots the game, so that has to be viewed as a pretty major concern. The first interception to Romeo Doubs was far too risky, and it wasn’t a well-placed ball. The second interception was savvy coverage from the Seahawks’ secondary and at least slightly more justifiable on Maye’s part, because he didn’t know that safety Julain Love would fill the gap in the secondary that Devon Witherspoon was evacuating. The third interception was the riskiest and most inexcusable because of the situation. A field goal ties the game and sends it to overtime. Maye underthrew Mack Hollins off his back foot and gave his receiver no chance at the ball or the breakup. So, why is that a concern? Because Maye should be making better decisions entering his third year. Does this game mean he’ll make similar mistakes in the future? No, absolutely not. But it was a bad start.
3. McDaniels’ conservative approach was going to result in a win. The Seahawks only scored three points before Maye started throwing interceptions. The Seahawks have tremendous talent on defense and the best defensive head coach in the NFL. And going conservative was resulting in points. To me, it wasn’t McDaniels’ conservative playcalls that cost the Patriots the game. It was Maye’s risky decisions.
And on Brown, I don’t think you throw away the offense and start anew, but it changes a lot. Brown was going to be the focal point of the offense, and now Maye is going to be forced to spread the ball around a lot more. Maybe Doubs plays better in the coming weeks, and he emerges as the top receiver until Brown returns, but until he proves himself, it’s going to be all hands on deck.
@AlexDaAverage: When will the team finally accept that Josh is not a good playcaller and his style doesnt really fit the modern NFL? He gets so much credit for having Tom Brady and beating up on mid tier teams
I mean, I guess we’ll see what happens the rest of the season, but how soon we forget that the Patriots’ offense was first in EPA per play last season. They were fifth when you add in the postseason.
I understand that the Patriots played a weak schedule last year, but in all reality, that was mostly weak offenses they were playing, not weak defenses. And I’m going to take a 17- or 21-game sample size over Week 1 against what might wind up being the best defense in the NFL.
I think this is a long way of saying that we don’t need to overreact to Week 1.
@OneKumar_NFL: What’s going on with the WRs? Is Williams getting an expanded role? Is Doubs being moved outside? I assume Douglas isn’t being moved outside where he struggled. Maybe Hollins has his role grow?
On Wednesday night, Hollins was thrust into Brown’s role. It’s possible that we see that moving forward, especially since Maye showed confidence throwing him the ball. Doubs is already an outside receiver, so he’ll likely stay in that role. And Williams will see more snaps in the future. He played just 12 snaps in the opener, even with Brown’s injury.
@CallumHutchin20: Do you think it was just one bad game and it will turn around?
Yes and no.
I think it was one very bad game from Maye, and he’ll turn it around.
But losing Brown for four weeks on injured reserve hurts. The Patriots can’t let this snowball. They’ve got to recover against the Steelers, Jaguars, Bills and Raiders.
@Thecolours: I was told this year was going to be different for Pop. What I saw with Maye’s 2nd interception was more of the same from Pop floating into the defender instead of finding the empty space in zone. I think its time to start Chism in the slot, and move Pop around.
Well, I don’t know who was saying that. But DeMario Douglas was being used as a starter in training camp, and he played 44 offensive snaps in Week 1. He averaged just 17 offensive snaps per game last season. So, it was already different for Douglas in Week 1.
I wouldn’t necessarily blame Maye’s second interception on Douglas. I don’t know where else you want him to go in that route, because he has Witherspoon to one side and Love to the other.
We’ll find out what the Patriots think of Chism now, because he will be active.
@JasonBrass89111: Efton Chism will be the Patriots most productive receiver this season. 950 yards . I’ll check back in at the end of the season
We have another big fan of Chism here in Jason. I can’t personally foresee a way that Chism gets to 950 yards this season. He’s currently the 5th wide receiver in the pecking order, but we’ll see what McDaniels has planned.