SAN JOSE, Calif. — Drake Maye didn’t shrug off questions about his shoulder.
Maye – who completed 10 of 21 passes in the Patriots’ ice-cold AFC Championship Game win – played a limited role in practice last week because of a shoulder injury and an undisclosed illness.
The quarterback’s shoulder injury is almost as big as football news heading into the show-stopping Super Bowl, but Maye said he thinks he’s turned a corner in his recovery Sunday.
He put it to the test on Monday.
“I feel good. I’m going to be good. I threw good,” Maye said of his workout before appearing at Super Bowl LX Opening Night. “I threw a lot more than I normally would, and it felt good.”
Does offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels have any concerns about the limitations on the MVP candidate come Monday?
“No,” McDaniels said simply.
Worried about nothing?
“There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m 100% for the game — this is the Super Bowl,” Maye said. “We get two weeks to prepare and do whatever we have to do to fix it. I’m confident.”
The last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowl was February 2002.
That’s six championships and nine Super Bowl appearances.
Mike Vrabel was the quarterback for those Patriots, who were eager to prove themselves as 14-point underdogs to the Rams.
He is the head coach now and his team is under 4.5 points.
“It deserves a person [be],” Vrabel said. “We don’t like it.”
Roger Goodell feels more confused than guilty about Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub.
Goodell issued a penalty (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.
“The second winningest coach in NFL history, six Super Bowls as a head coach and two as a defensive coordinator, that’s a Hall of Fame career,” Goodell said Monday at his annual Super Bowl week conference. “But there is a decision-making process.”
Goodell took exception to the idea that he sits on the board of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, clarifying that his role (and the NFL’s not affiliated) is only to approve the voters who are 50 members of the media.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft — Belichick’s former royal partner turned archnemesis — sat in the front row as Goodell spoke. Kraft was also elected to the Hall of Fame class of 2026.
“Bill Belichick’s record goes without saying — same with the Patriots and Robert Kraft,” Goodell said. “They’re amazing. They’ve contributed so much to this game and I believe they’re going to be Hall of Famers.”
Super Bowl LX halftime performer Bad Bunny made an anti-ICE statement Sunday at the Grammy Awards, adding to speculation that he may use his big stage at the Super Bowl to send political messages.
Goodell called the Puerto Rican rapper, who sings most of his songs in Spanish, “one of the greatest singers in the world.”
Goodell made it clear that he and Bad Bunny have discussed their expectations.
“He understood the field he was in,” Goodell said. “This platform is used to bring people together and to be able to bring people together with their creativity, and their talent, and be able to use this moment to do that. I think the artists of the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that, and I think he’s going to have a great performance.”
All speculation that the NFL will have to expand the schedule to 18 games is premature, Goodell said, taking a less optimistic stance than he has taken in the past.
“It’s something we want to talk about with the union,” Goodell said. “Not provided.”
Goodell’s plan is to push the schedule to 16 international games – there will be nine in 2026 – and for every team to participate in one per season.
We are only one of 10 NFL head coaching positions that have gone to a minority (Robert Saleh).
Only two offensive coordinators (Mike McDaniel and Eric Bieniemy) have been hired so far.
But Goodell “hasn’t given up” on accepting that the Rooney Rule isn’t having the desired effect.
“We still have a lot to do,” Goodell said. “We are in a competitive league. Teams try to find a coach they think can win.”
