Drake Maye fumbled eight times en route to leading the New England Patriots to a 14-3 season and the second seed in the AFC. That was tied for sixth-most among NFL quarterbacks in 2025, but fairly expected for a mobile quarterback. His fumble rate, per game, was lower than similarly elusive dual-threat passers like Jalen Hurts, Caleb Williams or Daniel Jones.
That changed once a postseason loaded with heavy-hitting pass rushes arrived. One of the league’s most pressured players saw even more static in the pocket. He fumbled six times in the Wild Card and Divisional Rounds as his efficiency dropped and the New England defense carried the franchise back to the Super Bowl. While he didn’t turn the ball over in a snowy AFC Championship Game against a star-studded Denver Broncos defense, his ball security could determine this year’s world champion.
So what’s the root cause of these turnover issues? It’s pretty much what you’d expect.
Drake Maye is getting hit more in the playoffs
The Patriots breezed through one of the easiest schedules in NFL history, but the defenses they faced often landed somewhere between “average” and “good.” Rookie Will Campbell and veteran Morgan Moses improved at the tackle positions as the season wore on; after giving up a dozen sacks in the first three games of 2025, Maye and his offensive line settled into something approaching normalcy. The second-year quarterback still got hit often — see back-to-back six-sack days against the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons — but generally was able to identify pressure and protect the ball.
That didn’t happen in the postseason. Games against the Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos put Maye in the crosshairs of dynamic edge rushers like Nik Bonitto, Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Odafe Oweh and Tuli Tuipulotu. Campbell and Moses were often left swatting at ghosts as defenders stealthily sliced into the pocket from his periphery.
The bulk of Maye’s fumbles came from edge pressure in the pocket, though one was the result of a successful scramble out of pressure before having the ball knocked loose after a modest gain. While he was often able to pull the ball back to his body and avoid disaster, he got hit often enough that his fumbles overshadowed his decision to eat the loss and live to play another down.
Maye was sacked on 8.7 percent of his dropbacks in the regular season. That’s nearly doubled to 16.3 percent in the playoffs. Naturally, a rise in fumbles followed. The fact he managed to hang on to the ball on a snowy day in Denver in the AFC title game feels like a minor miracle in comparison.
What does that mean for Super Bowl 60?
The Seattle Seahawks ranked fourth in pressure rate in the regular season, two slots behind a Denver Broncos defense that sacked Maye five times despite only pressuring him on a fifth of his dropbacks. However, Seattle only forced nine fumbles in the regular season (recovering seven) while losing more fumbles (13) than anyone else in the league. While Demarcus Lawrence will undoubtedly be a thorn in Maye’s side, the Patriots’ path to victory may revolve around flipping the script and creating the drive-killing turnovers they suffered en route to the Super Bowl.
