Following their crushing 29-13 Super Bowl 60 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, the New England Patriots are coming under fire for, their critics say, failing to reveal the full extent of quarterback Drake Maye’s shoulder injury heading into the game.
In the days leading up to the Patriotsâ first Super Bowl appearance in seven years, head coach Mike Vrabel downplayed Maye’s injury, saying that his level of concern over his quarterback’s shoulder was “not much. I try not to have a whole lot of concern.” Maye himself repeatedly told reporters that he was “feeling great” ahead of the game.
But in his post-game comments, Maye admitted that he received a pain-killing injection in the shoulder prior to playing.
The revelation, which appeared to indicate that Maye’s shoulder injury was more serious than he or his team had previously indicated, led Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio to call the disparity “a prime example of the existence â and value â of inside information in pro football.”
Maye Accused of ‘Not Telling the Truth’
Another critic, sportswriter Jay Mariotti, flatly accused Maye of “not telling the truth” when the 23-year-old No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft claimed that he had “turned a corner” with his shoulder injury while on his team flight from New England to California’s Bay Area before the Super Bowl, and that his shoulder felt “fine.”
Just three days before the Super Bowl, Maye insisted to reporters that he was “not trying to lie to you guys, when I say Iâm feeling great.”
“In the days preceding the game, the Patriots and quarterback Drake Maye did everything they could to create the impression that his injured throwing shoulder was fine. It was not,” Florio wrote. “The fact that Maye received a pain-killing injection before the game proves it.”
So what happened?
According to a former NFL team physician for the San Diego Chargers, Dr. David Chao, the fault lies not with the Patriots but with NFL rules on injury reporting.
“The Patriots did everything appropriately in their reporting of Drake Maye,” Chao said in an online video. “A team is required to give an honest estimation of the chances of play. And there’s only four choices: Out, Doubtful, Questionable, nothing, meaning ‘Playing.’ There’s no ‘probable’ anymore. They had him on there as nothing, meaning he’s 100 percent playing. He played. There’s no shenanigans there.”
League Reporting Rules Slammed as ‘Woeful’
The Patriots injury report for Super Bowl week did, in fact, include Maye for all three practices â Wednesday, Thursday and Friday â due to a “right shoulder” injury. His final game status was left blank, indicating that he was fully expected to play in Sunday’s game.
“Of course, that complies with the leagueâs woefully minimal injury-reporting rules. They focus on availability only, not effectiveness,” Florio noted. “But, to the average person, the message is unmistakable. Maye was fine.”
Florio ripped Maye for saying he was “not trying to lie” about his shoulder.
“He wasnât trying to lie,” the Pro Football Talk founder wrote on Monday. “He was, as suggested by the pain-killing injection he received six days later, successfully doing so.”
Maye denied that the shoulder affected his level of play in the Super Bowl. And in fact, Maye finished by completing 27 of 43 passes for 295 yards, albeit with two interceptions. His passer rating of 79.1 was actually higher than the number posted by his opponent, Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, at 74.7.
But Maye took six sacks and committed three turnovers. His passing yardage may also be misleading, as 126 of his passing yards, 43 percent, came on just four passes â one each to wide receivers Mack Hollins, Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte, and another to running back TreVeyon Henderson.
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