Drake Maye on WEEI 11/9: "We have to band together. We have a lot of football ahead of us"

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

I'm Drake, how's it going, man? Thanks for coming on with us, buddy.

Drake Maye (0:03)

Hey, guys.

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

Hey, all right. Well, obviously, not what you wanted yesterday, and I'm sure that the Patriots are, it wasn't probably an easy day of practice today. Let's just start with this. You know, you said afterwards that you guys haven't played a clean turnover-free game yet. Is there a common thread that you see on film, or does every week feel like it's a different problem?

Drake Maye (0:25)

Oh, I think the biggest issues are, you know, throwing me, throwing guys open, make sure I'm seeing in front of them, making good decisions with the football. And when we do have the football on our hands, make sure we just got good ball security. I think that's the biggest thing. It's coming now, the league of zone defense with the odds in the quarterback. And when you do have the ball in your hands, guys are stripping and punching the ball more than more than ever. So, I guess the two biggest things.

SPEAKER_1 (0:49)

I know Drake, you talked about battling and getting on the road this week.

Drake Maye (0:53)

How do you think the guys are handling that and getting started here on a Monday?

Yeah, one of the biggest things for international game is try to make the schedule. You're not making an issue. I think Coach Raible and our mindset of you'll get some days in the air before we go over there, to Munich to get some practice days and get things going is good. So, try to make the schedule non-issue and get back to work. I know we both have to travel a long ways. So, get our bodies going, get ready for the opponent mentally, and get back after it.

Ted Johnson (1:27)

Hey, Drake, just curious, how do you reset? How do you get that bad taste out of your mouth? Is there any somebody you consult with after games like this? Is there, just how do you, from a mindset standpoint, how do you just put that game behind you and move forward?

Drake Maye (1:44)

Yeah, I think it's, you know, every game has its own plays and set of plays that you want to have back. And it's just part of this position of owning them. You're just looking at the film and clearing up about what I could have done better, how I can learn from it, and just keep on trying to have an aggressive mentality, but also to be mindful of not being reckless. And Coach Brables always says that. So that's the mindset. And just get together with the teammates, coaches, and guys in the facility that realize we got a band together and realize that we still have a lot of football ahead of us.

SPEAKER_1 (2:19)

We're talking to Drake Maye and Drake Packers safety, Xavier McKinney, he was said afterwards that he read your eyes and broke when you hitched on that throw to Raritan. When you watched it back, could you have moved him with your eyes, or had that window already closed?

Drake Maye (2:36)

I think it would have been tough to move him. I think I could have fired in there probably more, or maybe thrown it some other places on that play, that would have been a better result. So he made a nice play. I think I saw Eli come on open and try to throw it out in front, and realize I probably should have thrown earlier a little harder.

SPEAKER_1 (2:54)

Can I just ask a basic question? When you're at the NFL level, how tough is it to be knowing you're going to one receiver, but also realizing that you have to look in a completely different direction just to throw those guys off?

Drake Maye (3:09)

That's what our job entails. That's what we have. So many practice reps, reps throughout our lifetime of growing up, seeing defenders, seeing routes, seeing concepts. No one is trying to know what coverage they're in and just try to find the voids. And that's, I wouldn't say it's something that is easy, but at the same time, it's what we do. It's what we have to do and do at a high level. And when you don't, you obviously see the consequences. And you saw that yesterday. Obviously, Drake, you guys don't make excuses, but you have a ton of injuries here, AJ and Dobbs and Trevion and Unwenu and Vera Tucker and now Ben Brown. How do you guys deal with that? And is it hard to not let it be an excuse?

It was part of the NFL. I think everybody deals with injuries. And the amount is based off the team and whether it's offense, defense. I think it just tries to be the next man up mentality. And it really takes everybody to prepare like a starter. I think that's a belief right now in this year.