Archives for February 5, 2026

SANTA CLARA – (Wire Service Report) – There’s more security than Patriots players around the Santa Clara hotel the team is staying at this week, one of the novel elements of the Super Bowl for New England players and staff making their maiden voyage on this eight-night sleepover.

Every player and coach — from the most identifiable in quarterback Drake Maye and head coach Mike Vrabel to 5-foot-10 face-in-the-crowd rookie wide receiver Efton Chism III — follows the mandate to wear a lanyard around his neck with his plastic 3×4-inch name tag fully displayed for security checks at every exit and entrance of the property. On Monday, for example, Maye had to flash his badge to uniformed officers to exit in the morning, return to the building, enter a meeting room, return to the lobby, exit for practice, return from practice, exit for In-N-Out Burger and return.

Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots as a player, made it a strict point to stress grace and being a polite Patriot when the team receives a request from support staff, security, equipment managers and janitors. It’s his new Patriot Way.

“Those little things that go a long way, do things right, and coach Vrabel is the best at it,” Maye said Thursday at 8 a.m. PT media before the team loaded buses to Stanford University for another full squad practice.

Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels were present when 24-year-old Tom Brady started Super Bowl XXXVI. Vrabel was 26. He started at outside linebacker with Tedy Bruschi and Roman Phifer with a mandate to corral Marshall Faulk and put Kurt Warner on his can to douse the “Greatest Show on Turf.”

Their unique perspective as observers of Brady’s ascension and active participants in the Patriots’ dynasty has been gold for Maye as he advances in the NFL’s ultimate treasure hunt for the Lombardi Trophy.

One example: McDaniels has stressed to Maye the competitive stamina required to play in a Super Bowl. The pace and cadence of daily and even hourly activities the task of winning a Super Bowl requires of the position. Brady did not participate in family events during the week as a matter of course if only briefly interacting with them when the team’s traveling party multiples to include spouses and children on Friday.

Brady and the Patriots beat the Rams, 20-17, riding the quarterback’s arm on the final possession. McDaniels was on a headset but Charlie Weis was offensive coordinator. When the Patriots saw their 17-3 lead dissolve and the game was tied with 1:37 on the clock, coaches discussed briefly playing it safe and going to overtime.

“They let the kid go out and rip it. I remember Drew (Bledsoe) saying (to Brady) ‘Just go out there and sling the ball. Play like you always have,’” McDaniels said. “And he did. Those are the types of situations the best players in football live for. Hopefully we have one of those in us if we need it on Sunday.”

Brady completed his first two passes — to running back J.R. Redmond — and hit him again between two incompletions to get the ball to the Patriots 40. The 23-yard connection to Troy Brown down the left sideline put Adam Vinatieri within range and a quick-hitter to tight end Jermaine Wiggins got him six yards closer to the 48-yard game winner.

McDaniels said he uses Brady on teaching tapes for quarterbacks and Maye has seen plenty of examples of execution in the four- and two-minute offense with No. 12’s play doing the teaching. Without directly comparing Brady and Maye, McDaniels knows there is at least one visible common trait the quarterbacks share.

“He wants to have the last shot. If you play quarterback in the National Football League, that’s probably one of the prerequisites, that you would like to have the ball in your hand at the end,” McDaniels said.

Numbers back up the idea of Maye rising to meet elevated pressure. Against the blitz, he had 16 touchdowns, one interception and a 115.8 passer rating. Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald noticed.

“The thing that makes Drake so dangerous is, in addition to the arm talent, the processing and the movement, he’s got a playmaking ability late in, late in, late in plays,” Macdonald said.

Vrabel sees flashes of Brady’s trademark competitiveness. Daily. From trying to be the first and last in the building to pickup basketball and everything in between, Maye has an obvious and trained refuse-to-lose mindset.

“Every 2-on-2 basketball game in the backyard prepared me for this. The joy of it but also the feeling you get of accomplishing beating my older brothers, compete at a high level,” Maye said. “Watching my older brothers (Cole, Beau and Luke), excel in sports wanting the ball at the end of the games. And always being the player that you felt like, knowing that if they play well, they’re going to win the games. That’s the position I’m in now.”

– Field Level Media

PALO ALTO – (Staff, Pro Footbal Writers and Wire Service Report) – New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice as on-field preparations for Super Bowl LX against Seattle shifted gears.

The second-year quarterback, who injured his right shoulder during the AFC championship game, took all of the team’s first-team reps during a 90-minute practice at Stanford Stadium. He had told reporters earlier in the week that he was “feeling good” and that certainly appeared to be the case as the team worked through seven-on-seven and full-squad drills in full shoulder pads.

While the team installed much of its game plan during practices last week in Foxborough, head coach Mike Vrabel said his staff saved several elements of that plan so they would have new information to present to players in meetings and practices here in the Bay Area. This was a suggestion from offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who is coaching in his 10th Super Bowl as a member of the Patriots’ staff.

“No one has more experience than Josh with this, and he felt like that we needed to do something to keep them engaged and stimulated, so they weren’t looking at some things for the second or third time,” Vrabel said.

Vrabel is taking that engagement literally. After practice ended, Vrabel pulled a group of interior defensive linemen aside for extra instruction. Vrabel even got down into a three-point stance to work with defensive tackle Cory Durden on pass rush technique.

“We’re now talking about 36 hours being critical here, before people come in, friends and obligations that come with this game,” Vrabel said.

Team owners Robert and Jonathan Kraft arrived at Stanford with legendary Patriots receiver Julian Edelman. Like McDaniels, those three men are quite familiar with the Super Bowl preparation process, but it’s all new for most of Vrabel’s squad. No Patriot remains on the roster from their last Super Bowl and only five players on the current roster have prior Super Bowl experience.

“We’ve got some things to clean up, and then we’ve got to forge ahead,” Vrabel said. “We want to continue to keep the energy and the enthusiasm, but the execution is going to end up really helping us win the game.”

Maye was listed on the team’s first injury report with the shoulder, but as a full participant. Linebacker Robert Spillane was the only Patriots player who did not participate as he continues to recover from an ankle injury he suffered in the AFC title game in Denver. Linebacker Harold Landry was listed as a limited participant with a knee injury. Other players listed on the injury report were backup offensive lineman Thayer Munford Jr. (limited, knee) and defensive tackle Joshua Farmer (full participant, hamstring.) Farmer remains on the injured reserved list but has been designed to return.

–Pro Football Writers of America