The New England Patriots never trailed in their 48-18 throttling of the Washington Commanders on Friday night as the home team returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and never looked back.
While the fans in attendance were certainly pleased with the outcome, first-year Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel let starting quarterback Drake Maye have it over one mistake that the second-year signal caller cannot make moving forward.
On the first series of the game for Maye and the New England offense, the former North Carolina Tar Heels standout held onto the ball too long while trying to make a play. This resulted in Commanders defender Jer’Zhan Newton forcing a fumble that Washington ultimately recovered.
That decision did not sit well with Vrabel for the rest of the night and he made that clear when speaking with the media, via Karen Guregian of MassLive.com.
Even with blowout win, Mike Vrabel wasn't happy with Drake Maye, singling out play in particular from the preseason opener against Washington https://t.co/2IvhEaUSRN
— Karen Guregian (@kguregian) August 9, 2025
Patriots' Mike Vrabel Calls Out Drake Maye's Early Turnover in 48-18 Win
“That’s a bad decision,” Vrabel said, per Guregian. “I think we’re going to need better from him. I think he knows that. That’s obvious. It wasn’t there. We just have to find a way to get rid of the football or take a sack and punt and play defense.”
Vrabel was teammates with Tom Brady during his tenure as a player in New England. He knows what championship-level quarterback play looks like. Part of the reason why he was brought back to the Patriots was to elevate this franchise back to the heights it enjoyed over the last two decades. This is the type of coaching that will lead to that transformation occurring sooner rather than later.
As nice as it was to see New England pick up a 30-point victory in its exhibition opener, this outcome means absolutely nothing when it comes to the goals that Vrabel has for the Patriots this season. Instead, this is the time of year when Vrabel should be harder on his players, especially younger ones in important roles like the one that Maye occupies.
To achieve sustained success in any sport you must be dedicated to the entire process. For a quarterback like Maye, that starts with protecting the football. After racking up 10 interceptions and two lost fumbles during his rookie campaign, Vrabel is going to demand that his leader in the huddle clean that area of his game up now that he has 13 regular-season appearances under his belt.
Fortunately for Maye, he has the opportunity to do just that when training camp practices resume ahead of next weekend's preseason tilt against the Minnesota Vikings.