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Is it still too early to panic about Drake May and the New England Patriots? Their head coach doesn't think so. Following the Patriots week three blowout loss to Jacksonville, another three turnover game for May, Mike Greyel was pretty candid about his team's brutal start. Well, my concern level is very high for this football team. I just want to coach uh and improve, you know. So, I think that's the biggest thing is when you come off a game like that, um, you just want to get back and work and there's nothing you can do about it. U, but we have to take care of the football, you know, I mean, we can't force things, you know, we can't do things on [snorts] in all three phases that, you know, end up, you know, getting you beat. So, certainly,
we have to, you know, fix a lot of things. That is undeniable. Three games in, the reigning AFC champs are 1-2 with a negative point differential. But the number one concern has to be May because last year's MVP runnerup has looked utterly lost in 2026. Unable to push the ball downfield with any consistency and way too mistakrone. And his early season struggles came to a head in Jacksonville where a historically bad performance got him benched late in the game. Get this. With his two interception, one fumble, 14 for 25 effort against the Jags, May posted the lowest total QB rating by a Patriots quarterback since Bayiley Zappy in week 18 of the 2023 season.
Meanwhile, by EPA per play, May's performance was by far the worst of any quarterback in the NFL in week three. Worse than Malik Willis, worse than Cam Ward, worse than Jameus Winston. And he is down bad. You know, can't get out of my own way u personally. So, we got to, you know, I got to look myself in the mirror and let's uh and take this as a turning point. You know, it's, you know, week three. In the same time, we got to have some fuel and realize that uh what we're doing out there offensively is, you know, it's that time to finish all acceptable for 3 weeks. So, um I got start with myself and then leave these guys. We got to get back at us. If nothing else, May is self-aware
because his performance in 2026 has been shockingly bad. And you know what else would be shockingly bad? If you didn't smash the subscribe button, like this video, and leave a comment. How about that for a segue? Through three games, May leads the NFL with six interceptions. In fact, he's the first Patriots quarterback to throw six picks through the first three games in a season since Drew Bledsoe in 1994. Hell, May is only two interceptions shy of his total from 2025. And not for nothing, his interceptions have largely come in big spots. In the Patriots season opener, a Super Bowl rematch, May threw three picks in the fourth quarter, including a game-sealing interception in the end zone with his team down only a
field goal and less than 30 seconds left in regulation. Then in week three, May's first pick again came in the end zone with his team on Jacksonville's 2-yd line and already down by two scores. And his second interception came on his first snap after the Jags went up 21-3. Ultimately, no quarterback has a higher turnover worthy play rate in 2026 than May, whose decision-making and ball placement have regressed to a stunning degree. But it's not just the interceptions and the ball security issues that have plagued May early on. He's also just been way less efficient. One year after leading the NFL in completion rate, May is completing only 63.8% of his passes, which is not only below league average, but it's lower
than the completion rate he managed as a rookie in 2024. And not only that, but his big play ability has deserted him. In 2025, May was one of the best deep ball passers in the league. Only eventual MVP Matt Stafford had a higher PFF grade on throws of 20 plus air yards than May, who had a 9 to1 touchdown to interception ratio on such throws with the second highest completion rate and yards per attempt. But it's been a different story this year. So far, on throws of 20 plus air yards, May is 5 for13 with four interceptions and zero touchdowns. He just hasn't been able to attack vertically at all. Hence, his current average of 195 passing yards per game, which ranks 28th in the league,
just below Deshun Watson. Put that all together and you're looking at a quarterback who resides in the bottom five among starters in just about every meaningful statistic from big-time throw rate to EPA per play to total QB rating. Chris Sims summed up May's 2026 pretty bluntly on Pro Football Talk. I mean, Drake May right now, just to let you know, is by far the worst throwing quarterback out of the 32 quarterbacks that are playing in the NFL right now. And they have got to be concerned and they're going to say all the right things, but Josh McDaniels and Vrabel know throwers when they see it. And they know he ain't throwing it up to NFL starting capacity right now. However, to be fair to May, there are some
mitigating factors. For starters, May's supporting cast is pretty banged up. The Patriots lost their top wide receiver AJ Brown in the first game of the season, leaving May with a pretty uninspiring group of pass catchers. For the year, the Patriots top targets at wide receiver have been M. Collins, who turned 33 earlier this month and has never had even 700 receiving yards in a season in 9 years in the NFL, and then Deario Douglas, who was on the field for barely a quarter of New England's offensive snaps a season ago. On top of that, the Patriots are also down a key piece of their offensive line in Michael Lewenu, who suffered a gruesome ankle injury in week two, got placed on the
IR, and is likely done for the year. As a result, May's been under pressure a good deal, and he's had way less time in the pocket than he did in 2025. Plus, the Patriots have squared off against some top- end defenses so far. The Seahawks obviously had the NFL's best defense last year as they bullied their way to a Super Bowl title, but the Steelers, who the Patriots beat in week two, have a top 10 defense by EPA early on this season. and the Jaguars actually have the stingiest defense in the NFL through three weeks. However, the fact that May and the Patriots offense have struggled so mightily against these top defenses hasn't helped dispel the idea that last year's success, their 14-3
regular season and eventual AFC title was fueled by a super soft schedule. If you recall, the Patriots in 2025 had the easiest regular season schedule by opponent's win percentage this century and the third easiest schedule by any team in the last 50 years. and they got some huge breaks in the playoffs, too. When they played the Chargers in the wildard round, Los Angeles was down both of its starting offensive tackles. When the Patriots played the Texans in the divisional round, Houston was without its leading receiver in Nico Collins. And when New England squared off against Denver for the AFC title, the Broncos didn't have their starting quarterback in Bo Nicks. That's about as charmed of
a path to the Super Bowl as a team could hope for. And when the Patriots faced off against the Seahawks, another 14- win team that played one of the toughest schedules in the league, New England got exposed. May in particular in Super Bowl 60, May threw multiple interceptions, lost the fumble, and ultimately posted the sixth lowest EPA per drop back in the Super Bowl of any QB this century. It was a sobering performance that reframed his and the Patriots entire season. And as of right now, at least, it seemingly exposed May as a schedule merchant who struggles against quality defenses and has a concerning knack for
needlessly putting the football in harm's way. Although, if we're being really real, Mace gets started before the Super Bowl because he's now put up a negative EPA per drop back in six straight games, a stretch that goes all the way back to his divisional round performance against Houston. Now, having said all of that, we're only three games into the 2026 campaign. May has plenty of time to clean it up and get the Patriots season back on track. And for the record, he's hardly the first QB to take a step backward in his third season after looking pretty good early on in his career. There was Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence. Hell, remember how badly Ben Rothllessberger regressed in
year three? He led the league in interceptions the year after carrying the Steelers to a Super Bowl title and two years after being named offensive rookie of the year. And then after that down year, Big Ben and both those other guys made the necessary adjustments and got their careers back on track. But if May is going to replicate that trajectory and potentially shed his unflattering nickname, the schedule, he also needs to make some adjustments. Because this current version of him isn't just bad, it's Bailey Zappy bad.
