Drake Maye Super Bowl flop shows how special Joe Burrow's Year 2 run was

Dear New England Patriots fans,

Cincinnati Bengals stan here. Joe Burrow ride-or-die. I know you grew accustomed to near-annual Super Bowl trips during those Tom Brady-Bill Belichick days. Or at least you thought you had a shot every single year. And you thought correctly.

Harsh reality check incoming. Your Year 2 quarterback, Drake Maye, just led your team to Super Bowl LX. While I would personally argue there's no such thing as a "cupcake schedule" at the NFL level, your 2025 team had about as close to that as you could ever fathom.

That fact was exposed in front of the entire world, as Maye was overwhelmed by the Seattle Seahawks' swarming defense in a 29-13 loss.

But since Maye is so early in his career, and expectations for you Patriots supporters begin at "six Super Bowl victories!", you will assuredly claim there's no way you won't be back to the Big Bowl within a year or two.

I've got news for you; it's not so good. Call it a cautionary tale from a guy whose 6-11 team almost beat y'all in Week 12 with Joe Flacco's falling-off right arm at QB.

The vast chasm between Joe Burrow & Drake Maye's Year 2 Super Bowl performances should seriously alarm Patriots fans

I'm a prophet from the future. Actually no, I'm just a sad sack whose team came within three points of beating the mighty (still mighty! Perhaps mightier?) Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. My guy Burrow actually got us three points away from the next Super Bowl at Arrowhead Stadium. Against, you know, three-time Super Bowl champ Patrick Mahomes, captain of the new NFL dynasty in Kansas City.

...That went awry, as Joseph Ossai tackled Mahomes out of bounds for a 15-yard penalty to set up a winning Harrison Butker field goal. Bengals lose by exact same score as prior Super Bowl, 23-30.

So, New Englanders, I get the temptation to believe that the whole AFC more or less runs through you now. Maye will learn from this. Get better. You'll find more reinforcements on the offensive line and be back on the NFL's biggest stage in no time.

I'm here to tell you that ain't gonna happen. Like I said, prophet. Clairvoyant. Someone who knows ball.

The degree of difficulty Maye and Burrow faced in their Year 2 Super Bowl appearances was similar. I would argue Joe Shiesty had it way worse. And he played far better.

Yes, the Patriots have a superior organization, a superior coaching staff, and a superior tradition of winning. That's beyond reproach. What's also beyond reproach? This notion that the reigning MVP runner-up Maye is in the same galaxy as Burrow as a quarterback. Whether you're comparing the second season or the Burrow of today, warts (read: brutal injuries) and all.

Whereas New England invested in at least passable offensive linemen and nailed multiple draft picks entering Maye's sophomore campaign, Burrow dragged a literal practice squad-caliber o-line to within three points of a Lombardi Trophy.

Maye apologists will cite the incessant pressure he was under in Sunday's 29-13 loss to the Seahawks. Let's take a closer look at some key stats, via ESPN Insights on X/Twitter:

• "Pressured 19 times (t-3rd most in career).
• 10 off-target passes (career high)
• Sacked 6 times (tied for career high)
• Committed 3 turnovers when pressured (career high)"

Wanna see what those same numbers look like from Burrow in Super Bowl LVI (courtesy of PFF), against the likes of, oh I don't know, Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Leonard Floyd and Co? With actual, deserving, reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford, Triple Crown wide receiver Cooper Kupp, and elite-of-elite head coach Sean McVay spearheading the other offense's attack?

• Pressured 18 times (per-game average number of pressures Burrow faced in the last nine games of that season, including playoffs: 16.3)
• 11 total incompletions (22-for-33 with two drops, one on third down by Tyler Boyd that might've cost them the game)
• Sacked 7 times (most since two games prior, when Burrow took nine sacks en route to beating the Mike Vrabel-led, No. 1 seed Titans on the road)
• Committed zero turnovers when pressured (nor in the entire game, in fact)

Maye looked like he didn't know what to do when Seahawks coach Mike McDonald dialed up anything exotic. He seemed confused even on four-man rushes. Seeing ghosts, to use some infamous Sam Darnold phraseology.

Mind you, I'm only focusing on this game. Super Bowl Sunday. The entire postseason was not a banner one for Drake "The Schedule" Maye.

In stark contrast, Burrow and his average time to throw of two-point-three-nine-seconds (Maye's was 2.56 seconds in the first half of Super Bowl LX, per ESPN's Brady Henderson) managed to produce 263 passing yards and a 100.9 passer rating.

A writer at a major publication had the gall to label Burrow's Super Bowl debut as "one to forget." You could say I got a little triggered.

If folks are going to blame Maye's pass protection, well, I'll self-quote from the piece I linked to above to underscore the dreadfulness of the Bengals' o-line in Super Bowl LVI.

"PFF pass blocking grades (perfect score is 100; near-impossible to score as high as 90) for the Bengals' SBLVI o-line were as follows:

• Jonah Williams — 41.4 (would rank third-to-last in 2025 among all tackles)
• Quinton Spain — 20.3
• Trey Hopkins — 50.9 (would rank second-to-last in 2025)
• Hakeem Adeniji — 26.0
• Isaiah Prince — 2.4"

Would it shock you to learn that Quinton Spain and Trey Hopkins never played another NFL down? Or that Jonah Williams is a full-time right tackle now? You see the grades for the other two fellas. Not great, Bob.

The Patriots drafted left tackle Will Campbell with the fourth overall pick. He was PFF's 28th-rated tackle in the regular season!

Those who thought the Patriots were outmatched by Seattle's defensive front must've forgotten about the most lopsided duel in the trenches in Super Bowl history from the Bengals-Rams matchup.

I know Burrow had the edge in wide receiver talent over Maye thanks to Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. However, let's not pretend New England was trotting out a bunch of scrubs that Maye couldn't distribute the ball to.

Stefon Diggs had 85 catches this season. Kayshon Boutte dunked on two-time first-team All-Pro Derek Stingley Jr. for a massive touchdown in the Pats' Divisional Round win over Houston. Hunter Henry is still getting it done as a stellar tight end; he hauled in seven TDs during the regular season.

The tandem of Mack Hollins and Demario Douglas has to be in the running for the NFL's best WR3-WR4 combo. I'd take either of them over Andrei Iosivias and whomever else is behind Chase and Higgins nowadays. OK maybe not Mack Hollins. Weird vibes from him, always.

We're in the home stretch folks, I promise.

My primary point is, the Bengals took until the middle of Burrow's sixth NFL season to finally field an offensive line worthy of him. They've been poor as can be on defense the last three years, and it's cost them the playoffs.

New England's schedule is about to be a lot tougher as a defending division champion. Maye will have a lot of psychological scar tissue to overcome from this devastating Super Bowl loss.

And remember, too, Burrow was coming off a COVID-hampered rookie season and an absolutely shredded knee when he carried the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI. Joe Brrr is a stone-cold killer with some pretty superhuman resilience. Does Drake Maye have that quality? He seems more like an aw-shucks type of guy who got to the Super Bowl stage, and the lights were too bright.

That's not a knock on Maye, I promise. He's freaking 23 years old. I don't know how he held it together this long. Wildly impressive composure and maturity. It's just that, the flaws were obvious about Maye and this Patriots team throughout the season. It culminated in a grand finale of public-facing humiliation of the highest order.

We'll see what Maye is made of. All I know is, Josh Allen is still in that AFC East division, and the road is about to get a lot tougher. As conference champs, everyone's coming for you with a little extra juice.

Speaking from immensely painful personal experience, no matter how much belief you have in your Year 2 quarterback, it takes a village. And that village can fail your QB more often than not, ye Pats Faithful. For not everyone is Tom Brady. Nor has a Jalen Hurts-analogous powerhouse roster to complement the whole shebang (subliminal Ricky Martin reference sneaking in from the Bad Bunny halftime show).