Heading into Super Bowl LX, New England Patriots fans have been hopeful that quarterback Drake Maye’s shoulder was healthy and wouldn’t be an issue.
Maye had suffered a shoulder injury against the Denver Broncos in the AFC title game, leading to concerns that it would impact his play against the Seattle Seahawks.
After he suited up and fully participated in practice leading up to the game, it seemed like it wouldn’t be a major issue. However, there were no guarantees.
So when NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark spoke with Maye in the minutes before the Super Bowl, the status of his shoulder was a major talking point. So much so that one would expect it to be Stark’s first question for the Patriots quarterback.
Instead, Stark asked Maye a generic question about what it was like to be playing in the Super Bowl and followed that up with a question about the Seattle defense before letting him go.
As soon as Maye walked away, Stark then turned to the camera to talk about Maye’s shoulder, even relaying comments that Maye himself had made before the televised interview.
Here’s that Drake Maye interview and Melissa Stark following it with an update on Maye’s shoulder. 🏈🎙️#SuperBowlLX #NFL #NBC https://t.co/E7hXcEBGvy pic.twitter.com/jwhXyMVyRs
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 9, 2026
“Melissa Stark interviewing Drake Maye pregame, not asking him about his shoulder and then adding after he left that he told her that his shoulder was fine,” wrote The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. “That was an odd sequence.”
Indeed. We’re not entirely sure what to make of why the interview played out that way. Why couldn’t Maye answer that question right then and there instead of getting a generic question about playing in the Super Bowl?
Not a big deal, ultimately, but just very odd.
