Drake Maye Replaces Dianna Russini as Mike Vrabel's Biggest Problem | Ep 1236

Jason Whitlock (0:00)

That was the nightmare scenario for Mike Vrabel, the Patriots coach, the way the Patriots lost to the Seattle Seahawks inside Lumen Field.

The only thing that could have made the night worse would have been NBC's Maria Taylor interviewing Dianna Russini at halftime. Lucky for Braves, his favorite NFL insider has likely promised that interview to Dave Portnoy, Dan Lebertard, John Stugots or whichever media exec wants to platform Russini's Pillow Talk podcast. But I digress.

Charles Baker (0:36)

This is that fire. Grab your popcorn.

Jason Whitlock (0:40)

The National Football League kicked off its season Wednesday night, and the game was boring for viewers and an absolute train wreck for the league's most infamous coxmen. Five plays into the Super Bowl rematch, Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold limped off the field with an injured hip after a Draymond Jones sack. Suddenly, a game Vrabel could afford to lose to the defending champions turned into a game the defending AFC champions should probably win. Yes, the Patriots were on the road against a formidable defense and a 12th man crowd that gives everyone trouble. Banner-raising night in Seattle, Super Bowl film still warm on the video board. That building wanted a coronation. What it got instead for three quarters was a wounded champion and a backup named Drew Lock, a man who threw three passes all of last season, trying to remember where the exits were. The patch led 7-0 at halftime. Drake Maye found rookie Eli Raritan for a two-yard touchdown after Josh Job interfered with AJ Brown on a flea flicker. Early in the third, Andy Borgalis drilled a 50-yarder after a roughing the punter gift, 10-0.

Vrabel was in the driver's seat, perfectly positioned to quiet the offseason noise about his personal life, primed to prove his philandering hadn't compromised his ability to lead young men.

Then, wide receiver AJ. Brown limped into the Patriots' locker room with a hobbled right ankle and never returned. The very receiver Vrabel and Russini coveted didn't make it a full game for the coach who risked it all to pair him with Drake Maye.

The Diva acquisition went dark. The stadium was still waiting for its party.

You know what happened next? Drake Maye imploded. He started throwing picks like he was Jameis Winston in a contract year in Tampa Bay. You remember 30 INT, Jameis. Well, Maye tossed three interceptions in the fourth quarter. Nehemiah Pritchett, Julian Love, Josh Job toe tapping in the end zone with the clock dying and the season's first moral already written. After the Pritchett pick, Lock finally woke up and hit Jackson Smith in Jigba for a 45 yards on fourth and one. Jason Myers knocked through a 26 yarder, Seattle 13, New England 10

The defending champs survived the wound. The AFC champs donated the ending. Vrabel left week one with major questions about his young quarterback, an injured Diva wide receiver, and a hometown media crew that won't shy away from wondering if Russini and that controversy damaged the magic of Mike Vrabel. Yeah, this was a nightmare. Here's the part the soap opera crowd is not going to miss. They just found another villain, maybe a villain just as dangerous as Diana Russini, maybe worse, a villain that has killed far more coaching careers than a mistress ever will. Nothing is more lethal than a young quarterback with promise who falls off a cliff. Russini is bad weather, embarrassing weather, bad thunderstorm, expensive thunderstorm, weather that keeps the crawler hot in the morning shows fed. She does not call protections though. She does not stare down Mike McDonald's pressure and decide whether the ball leaves his hand a beat early. She does not turn a 10 point lead against a backup quarterback into a fourth quarter scavenger hunt for the other team's secondary. Tabloid oxygen can stain a reputation. It cannot post the kind of tape that makes an owner start taking long walks. Drake Maye can. Drake Maye's last five games, seven touchdowns, 11 turnovers, seven interceptions, four fumbles lost, 24 sacks taken, 143 yards lost on those sacks, 6.6 yards per attempt, 5.6 net. That is not a cold stretch. That is a cliff with a press pass. Those numbers do not just feed the talk shows. Those numbers put a head coach in hot water with the only jury that matters in Foxboro.

Robert Kraft, the happy ending owner, does not care about a jump off. He cares about replacing Tom Brady. That is the brutal hierarchy of Vrabel's Wednesday. The off season handed critics a character argument. The opener handed ownership a football one. And football always outranks the bedroom in a building that still measures every quarterback against a ghost in a silver helmet. Every host who wanted a clean reason to keep the Russini story alive, just got three more interceptions. A medical subplot named AJ Brown and a five game body of work that looks less like growing pains and more like a franchise alarm clock. Vrabel did not merely lose a game. He lost the one night where winning would have bought him quiet. And his quarterback was the man who sold the quiet back to Seattle in bulk. Now, before the Paloan turns into a cartoon, Seattle's defense is not a week one mirage. Mike McDonald's unit picked up right where the Super Bowl film left off.