{"id":725645,"date":"2026-02-03T06:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T06:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/725645\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T06:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T06:49:19","slug":"patriots-drake-maye-insists-hell-be-just-fine-for-super-bowl-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/725645\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots’ Drake Maye insists he’ll be ‘just fine’ for Super Bowl 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 Drake Maye didn\u2019t stiff-arm questions about his shoulder.<\/p>\n

Maye \u2014 who completed just 10 of his 21 passes when the Patriots won the snowy AFC Championship game<\/a> \u2014 was a limited participant in practices last week because of a shoulder injury and an undisclosed illness.<\/p>\n

A starting quarterback with a shoulder injury<\/a> is about as big as the football news gets at the sideshow-filled Super Bowl, but Maye said he thinks that he turned a corner in his recovery Sunday.<\/p>\n

He put it to the test Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good. I\u2019ll be just fine. I threw a good bit,\u201d Maye said of his workout before appearing at Super Bowl LX Opening Night. \u201cI threw as much as I would in a normal practice, and it felt great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels have any concerns about limitations on his MVP candidate come Monday?<\/p>\n

\u201cNope,\u201d McDaniels said succinctly.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Maye attempts a throw for the Patriots during their AFC Championship game against the Broncos on Jan. 25. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Much ado about nothing?<\/p>\n

\u201cI really had no doubt being 100 percent for the game \u2014 this is the Super Bowl,\u201d Maye said. \u201cWe get two weeks to prepare for it and do whatever we have to do to get it right. I have confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last time the Patriots were a Super Bowl underdog was February 2002. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s six championships and nine Super Bowl appearances ago.<\/p>\n

Mike Vrabel was a linebacker for those Patriots, who cherished proving doubters wrong as 14-point underdogs to the Rams. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s head coach now and his team is a 4.5-point underdog.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody has to [be],\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cWe don\u2019t dislike it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roger Goodell is feeling more confused than guilty about Bill Belichick\u2019s Hall of Fame snub<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Goodell handed out the punishment (a maximum $500,000 fine to Belichick and the loss of a first-round draft pick) for the 2007 Spygate scandal that allegedly played a role in some voters keeping Belichick out of the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond-winningest coach in NFL history, six Super Bowls as a head coach and two as a defensive coordinator, that\u2019s a Hall of Fame career,\u201d Goodell said Monday during his annual Super Bowl week news conference. \u201cBut there\u2019s a decision-making process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NFLRoger Goodell addresses reporters during his Feb. 2 press conference. Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Goodell took special exception to the idea that he sits on a board of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, specifying that his role (and the unaffiliated NFL\u2019s) is only to approve the 50 media-member voters.<\/p>\n

Patriots owner Robert Kraft \u2014 Belichick\u2019s former partner in a dynasty turned archnemesis \u2014 sat in the front row as Goodell spoke. Kraft also is nominated for the 2026 Hall of Fame class.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Belichick\u2019s record goes without saying \u2014 same with the Patriots and Robert Kraft,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cThey\u2019re spectacular. They\u2019ve contributed so much to this game and I believe they\u2019ll be Hall of Famers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super Bowl LX halftime performer Bad Bunny made an anti-ICE statement Sunday at the Grammy Awards, which only added to speculation that he could use his bigger platform at the Super Bowl for political messaging.<\/p>\n

Goodell called the Puerto Rican rapper, who sings most of his lyrics in Spanish, \u201cone of the greatest artists of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodell made it clear that he and Bad Bunny have discussed expectations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe understood the platform he was on,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cThis platform is used to unite people and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, with their talent, and to be able to use this moment to do that. I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that, and I think he\u2019ll have a great performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the speculation that the NFL is bound to expand the schedule to 18 games might be premature, Goodell said in a slightly less optimistic stance than he has taken in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something that we want to talk about with the union,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cIt is not a given.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodell\u2019s plan is to push the schedule to 16 international games \u2014 there will be nine in 2026 \u2014 and have every team participate in one per season.<\/p>\n

Only one of the NFL\u2019s 10 head coach vacancies went to a minority (Robert Saleh). <\/p>\n

Only two offensive coordinators (Mike McDaniel and Eric Bieniemy) hired so far are minorities.<\/p>\n

But Goodell is not \u201cresigned\u201d to accepting that the Rooney Rule is not having the desired impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have more to do,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a competitive league. Teams are trying to get the coach they think could win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 Drake Maye didn\u2019t stiff-arm questions about his shoulder. Maye \u2014 who completed just 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[833,7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,261,9,505,41484],"class_list":{"0":"post-725645","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-patriots","16":"tag-seattle-seahawks","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-super-bowl","19":"tag-super-bowl-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116005371084819833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725645","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=725645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}