The Seahawks may have turned Drake Maye into a cautionary tale

SANTA CLARA — Even with the biggest moment in Drake Maye’s career turning into the longest night of his football life, it’s easy to assume the young Patriots quarterback will get another crack at Super Bowl glory.

The Seahawks wreaked havoc on Maye, teaching him one harsh lesson after another Sunday in Super Bowl 2026 by pummeling him into three turnovers in their 29-13 victory.

But at 23 years old and just completing his second NFL season, Maye is a baby in the whole scheme of things. Some would even say he’s way ahead of schedule.

He’ll be back.

He’s playing for a great organization in New England, where the leadership of head coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will make sure Maye is back to this point again.

It’s not like the Patriots are some superteam. They have flaws and holes in their roster. But when have they not done everything possible to fix any and all problems? Be it throwing money at them or shrewdly using the draft to upgrade the weak links?

Yes, on this night, the Seahawks and their defensive mastermind head coach Mike Macdonald put the clamps on Maye in a way that was as dominant as it seemed unfair.

Macdonald and his gang of game wreckers attacked the obviously overwhelmed Maye from every angle and all imaginable vantage points, sending cornerback Devon Witherspoon flying at him via creative and confusing zone blitzes for two sacks. The second ended with Witherspoon knocking the ball free from Maye into the arms of Uchenna Nwosu, who returned it 45 yards for a pick-six touchdown return to make it 29-7.

At times, they rolled defensive linemen around exotic line stunts to eventually barrel across Maye’s face.

Sometimes it was as simple as Rylie Mills running roughshod over his blocker and pushing himself right into the lap of Maye for a sack.

After Maye dealt with all the complex line play, blitzing and coverage schemes the Seahawks drew up for him, Mills’ simplistic brute-force pass rush probably looked like a Collatz conjecture math problem to Maye.

It was everything you expected Macdonald to do against a second-year quarterback.

But Maye’s young. He’ll learn.

And the Patriots will be determined in how they continue to tinker and rebuild their budding star.

But we’ve seen this movie too many times before to simply assume Maye is some shoo-in for multiple bites at the Super Bowl apple.

It made the Seahawks’ masterful game plan against Maye on Sunday, and what it potentially took from him, potentially devastating.

Ever heard of a guy named Dan Marino, who was one year younger than Maye when he led the Dolphins to Super Bowl 19 in 1985? The most physically gifted quarterback to ever step foot on a football field was going to be a perennial Super Bowl contestant, even after the Dolphins lost to Joe Montana and the 49ers.

Marino never returned to football’s biggest stage. For all his statistical dominance, arm action, and prolific gifts, Marino will go down as one of the most noted one-and-doners of all time.

Marino is the face of a group of quarterbacks who climbed their way to the highest mountain, only to slip at their moment of truth. Never to return to that highest peak again.

The careers of Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, Rex Grossman, Matt Hasselbeck, Donovan McNabb, Jake Delhomme, Rich Gannon, Kerry Collins, Steve McNair, Chris Chandler, Neil O’Donnell, Stan Humphries, Daryle Lamonica, and Joe Kapp all came and went without those quarterbacks getting back to football’s nirvana.

As talented as Maye is, and as resolved as the Patriots are to maximize their prized asset, that is the reality they now face. No doubt he will pick himself back up from the pain of Sunday night. He will learn from the experience and grow from it.

But the sense of lost opportunity was prominent at Levi’s Stadium as the darkness of night pushed aside what was a glorious, sun-drenched Bay Area day. So too was the stark comprehension that the Seahawks took something from Maye and the Patriots in how they confused and harassed the young quarterback.

They sacked him seven times, including one that ended up with Derick Hall punching the ball out of Maye’s hands for a fumble. Byron Murphy pounced on it for a turnover, leading to a Seahawks touchdown to go up 19-0.

They kept his gifted arm in check by harassing him into 27 of 43 passing for 295 yards. A good chunk of which happened after the Seahawks went up by three scores. And just when it seemed like Maye was finding his legs, even throwing a 35-yard touchdown to Mack Hollins to cut the lead to 19-7, he overthrew his target into the hands of Julian Love.

The Seahawks paid off the interception with Jason Myers’ fifth field goal to go up 22-7 with 5:35 left.

Maye is too young and too inexperienced to offer a viable counter.

He’ll certainly learn.

But there is no guarantee he will ever get another shot to play on football’s biggest stage.