{"id":722264,"date":"2026-02-01T21:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/722264\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T21:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:20:29","slug":"drake-maye-speaks-at-patriots-send-off-rally-before-super-bowl-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/722264\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Maye speaks at Patriots&#8217; send-off rally before Super Bowl 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It was an electric scene at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, when the Patriots were celebrated by New England faithful \u2014 not to mention the Dropkick Murphys \u2014 before jetting off to Super Bowl 2026 in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback Drake Maye took the stage in frigid Foxborough, hyping up the crowd just two days after missing practice due to illness and injury.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst off, man, I just want to thank you guys. You guys have been great all season. Man, wouldn\u2019t be here without you guys. What a journey, and we still got work left to do. Shout out to these guys, love you guys,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcboston.com\/news\/local\/patriots-send-off-rally-gillette-stadium-livestream\/3888034\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Maye said<\/a> alongside teammates, according to NBC Boston. \u201cCelebrate when we get back. Go Pats, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drake Maye speaks at a Patriots Super Bowl rally on Feb. 1, 2026. AP<\/p>\n<p>Maye, 23, was showered with \u201cMVP\u201d chants while gracing the stage as he looks to cap off a sensational sophomore season with a Super Bowl title.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots\u2019 third overall pick in 2024, Maye and the team \u2014 guided by first-year coach Mike Vrabel \u2014 have gone from worst (4-13 in 2024) to first (14-3) in just a season\u2019s time.<\/p>\n<p>Only the Seahawks stand in the way of the Patriots\u2019 first Super Bowl triumph since 2019, when Tom Brady was still under center and Bill Belichick was on the sidelines.<\/p>\n<p>Patriots QB Drake Maye (10) gets tackled by the Broncos in the AFC Championship on Jan. 25, 2026. AP<\/p>\n<p>Maye\u2019s health has been a question entering Super Bowl week after the quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/28\/sports\/drake-maye-lands-on-injury-report-as-patriots-prepare-for-super-bowl-practices\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">landed on the injury report<\/a> Wednesday with a right shoulder issue.<\/p>\n<p>The quarterback was not at practice Friday, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/30\/sports\/drake-maye-misses-patriots-practice-in-super-bowl-2026-injury-drama\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">with Vrabel explaining<\/a> it was a combination of \u201cinjury and illness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of guys over the last month or six weeks here with illness,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cTrying to do what\u2019s best for the player and the team, trying to take care of guys, not spread anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drake Maye looks on during practice on Jan. 29, 2026. AP<\/p>\n<p>Maye said Thursday he\u2019s preparing to go for the big game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to be ready to go,\u201d Maye told reporters. \u201cThis is the game you dream of playing in, so looking forward to getting out there and getting a chance to play in the Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Super Bowl 2026 kicks off from Levi\u2019s Stadium on Feb. 8.<\/p>\n<p>The Seahawks <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/25\/betting\/super-bowl-2026-odds-seahawks-favored-over-patriots\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">are favored by 4.5<\/a> over the Patriots, according to the FanDuel Sportsbook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was an electric scene at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, when the Patriots were celebrated by New England&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[833,7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,84,208,9,505,41484],"class_list":{"0":"post-722264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-drake-maye","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-england","11":"tag-new-england-patriots","12":"tag-newengland","13":"tag-newenglandpatriots","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-playoffs","16":"tag-patriots","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-super-bowl","19":"tag-super-bowl-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115997470250155276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722264","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=722264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}