Inside Drake Maye’s ‘honest’ moment with Josh McDaniels during Patriots’ AFC title win
FOXBORO — Drake Maye and Josh McDaniels sat on the Patriots bench during last Sunday’s AFC Championship Game win over the Broncos, mentally tasked and physically blinded by snow whipping into their faces.
Maye turned to McDaniels, shook his head, and said, “It’s hard, good God,” before his offensive coordinator comforted him in a moment that’s now gone viral from the Patriots’ mic’d up segment in the 10-7 win.
Drake Maye: “It’s hard… Good God”
Josh McDaniels: “Look at me, it’s gonna be hard, but look, this will be the most rewarding 6 1/2 minutes of our lives if we can get it done.” 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The vulnerability here… holy moly man.
🎥: @Patriots pic.twitter.com/CyoaTUQpti
— Michael Rodnick (@MJRodnick) January 28, 2026
McDaniels opened up about that moment with the Herald.
“It was one game in the first half, and then in the second half, especially toward the end of the third quarter and into the fourth, it became like almost an entirely new event,” McDaniels said. “Because the wind, the snow, the field was terrible, in terms of, covered with snow, and footing was impossible. And so there were just so many things that I would say changed. And, I think what he was remarking about was just like, ‘Wow, we haven’t really dealt with anything like this all year in terms of not just a good team, which they were, but also all this other stuff also. And so I thought he was great in terms of being honest.
“And then I was just trying to say, ‘Hey, look, I don’t know what we’re going to need to do to finish it out, but whatever we need to do here, whether that was if they tied it at 10 and we needed to go down and score. Or if they didn’t tie it at 10, and we needed to try to run the clock out, just, ‘Hey, look, this is going to be the most rewarding time of our life if we can get this done.’ And just trying to give him some reassurance that, ‘Look, I’m in it with you.’
“We’re all battling through it, and nobody more than him. But he wasn’t in any way, shape or form, saying it was too hard. He was just saying, ‘Holy cow,’ I mean, almost like a real human moment. Are we looking at each other and really dealing with this? We’re squinting on the sideline because the snow is hitting us in the face. It was kind of one of those moments where you’re like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ The kid’s awesome. He’s incredibly humble and wants nothing more than to help our team win. And I thought it was a cool moment to be involved in, to also see him then pull it up and pull it out and do what he needed to do to win.”
Maye also gave his recollection of the moment, even though he said Thursday that he doesn’t really like watching himself mic’d up.
“I think when you’re playing in 10-degree weather with snow hitting your face, we’re slipping in the backfield and just — I think all the elements, combined with playing against a good defense, I think it’s tough,” Maye said. “I think the elements made it tough, and I think both sides would agree.
“So, just try to finish the game out. With how well our defense was playing, we wanted to help them out a little bit. We were able to get that last first down to not have to give it back to them, but really, just the difficulty of trying to do our part in the weather and the 30 mph winds where it’s tough to throw it. Just try to figure out something to try to pull our team to have an edge or to win. I think our defense really did that all day, and we were just trying to do a small thing to make up for it.”
Maye and McDaniels have formed an impressive partnership this season, their first together with the Patriots. The unit ranked second in scoring and third in total offense this season and is now days away from competing in Super Bowl LX against the Seahawks.
Maye had to learn a new system under a new coordinator in just his second season in the league. And things didn’t always look pretty during OTAs and training camp, but Maye asked the right questions, picked up the offense and was an MVP candidate this season.
“There was a moment before training camp even started, where we had been away from each other since the end of OTAs, and he came over to my house, and we were talking through the training camp installation. And it just felt different,” McDaniels said. “It felt like, ‘Okay, now we’re on the same page.’ And I’ve always told him, like, you tell me what you love, tell me what you hate. We’ll cross out the things you hate, we’ll do the things you love more. And he was really honest, and it was great. I felt like it was really an important part of it, not to over dramatize it, but I just think it was such a process for us. Me getting to know him, him getting to know me, us getting to know football together in a different way. It took a little time, but it was a fun journey.”
Maye took a giant leap in Year 2 and was an MVP candidate under McDaniels, completing 72% of his passes for 4,394 yards with 31 passing touchdowns and eight interceptions while also rushing 103 times for 450 yards with four touchdowns.
The entire Patriots’ offense will need to play better than they have this postseason on Sunday to beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX. The Patriots have beaten three top-five defenses in the playoffs, toppling the Chargers, Texans and Broncos, but Maye has shown some struggles, fumbling six times and throwing two interceptions while completing 55.8% of his passes for 533 yards.
More importantly, however, the Patriots have three playoff wins and they seek their fourth.
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