{"id":712924,"date":"2026-01-29T02:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T02:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/712924\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T02:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T02:40:21","slug":"cam-newton-keeps-discrediting-mayes-role-in-super-bowl-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/712924\/","title":{"rendered":"Cam Newton keeps discrediting Maye\u2019s role in Super Bowl run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNew England Patriots\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThey\u2019re not here because of Drake Maye,\u201d Newton said. \u201cThat\u2019s just facts.<\/p>\n

\"Former
\n\tCam Newton believes Drake Maye has been more of a passenger during the Patriots’ run to Super Bowl LX. (AP Photo\/Jacob Kupferman)\t<\/p>\n

Drake Maye grew up in North Carolina as a fan of Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n

But the former Panthers and Patriots QB hasn\u2019t exactly returned the love this season, serving as one of Maye\u2019s largest detractors amid the young quarterback\u2019s MVP-caliber season in New England.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Newton continued his critique of Maye on the latest episode of his \u201c4th & 1\u201d podcast<\/a> \u2014 arguing that Maye hasn\u2019t held a lot of sway over New England\u2019s run to Super Bowl LX.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aIt\u2019s giving Trent Dilfer, it\u2019s giving Jim McMahon, Brad Johnson, Rex Grossman. All of those names combined benefited off a great defense alone. They\u2019re not here because of Drake Maye,\u201d Newton said. \u201cThat\u2019s just facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes that make Drake Maye a bad player? No. Did Drake Maye do enough to win a football game? Yes. But I would also say Drake Maye did enough to lose a game that he won, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

In McMahon, Johnson, Grossman, and Dilfer, Newton also listed quarterbacks who punched their ticket to the Super Bowl behind some elite defenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New England\u2019s defense has been dominant so far this postseason, allowing just 26 total points through three wins against the Chargers, Texans, and Broncos.<\/p>\n

Maye and the Patriots\u2019 offense hasn\u2019t been as dynamic since the regular season ended \u2014 averaging just 18.0 points per game over that same three-game stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In three playoff games, Maye has completed 55.8 percent of his passes while throwing for four touchdowns and two interceptions. He has been knocked for six fumbles (three lost), but has also run for 141 yards and one touchdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a far cry from the production generated by Maye and the Patriots during regular-season action. New England ranked second in the NFL in points per game (28.8), while Maye completed 72.0 percent of his passes for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Granted, Maye and the Patriots have also overcome three postseason matchups against teams that all ranked in the top-five in total defense this season \u2014 with Maye standing as the first QB in league history to win three playoff games against a trio of top-five defenses in one playoff run (No. 5 Chargers, No. 1 Texans, No. 2 Broncos).\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that Newton has discounted Maye\u2019s contributions \u2014 deeming him as a \u201cgame manager\u201d earlier this month.\u00a0<\/a>However, the former NFL MVP did add this week that Maye\u2019s contributions during this postseason run doesn\u2019t mean that he won\u2019t have a bright future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is what you have to understand about ol\u2019 Drake Maye,\u201d Newton said on Tuesday. \u201cIf he keeps this up with this trajectory, winning this early in his career, whether I like it, whether I love it, whether I hate it, hate it some more, hate it even more than that, despise it or just don\u2019t wanna give credit when credit\u2019s due, Drake Maye will go down as an all-time great. Even superseding the individual that played there that got a statue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

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Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New England Patriots They\u2019re not here because of Drake Maye,\u201d Newton said. \u201cThat\u2019s just facts. Cam Newton believes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-712924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115976080769960522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}