Viral photo potentially backs Drake Maye's blood on football excuse

Jordy McElroy, Patriots WireSat, October 3, 2026 at 12:22 AM UTC

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A new viral image has emerged that seemingly shows quite a bit of blood on the ball that New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye fumbled in last week's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Early in the game, Maye dropped back for a pass, and the ball slipped out of his hands with no contact from a defender. It was one of the worst turnovers of Maye's young career that had everyone asking the same question.

How does that even happen?

When asked about the fumble after the game, the third-year quarterback revealed there was blood on the ball that came from center Jared Wilson. Some believed Maye's explanation, and others were skeptical after a game where he turned the ball over three times. Was this merely an attempt for Maye to save face for arguably the worst game of his career?

That doesn't appear to be the case after the latest photo revealed by one of NBC Sports Boston's social media accounts, which was credited to Daelyn Waters.

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Wilson never denied Maye's story. In fact, he acknowledged that his hand was bleeding during the game, but he didn't remember whether it happened before or after the fumbled snap.

“I just got cut up. I have no idea when it happened,” Wilson said, via MassLive's Mark Daniels. “Drake was like, ‘Jared, blood.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I got you, I’ll fix it.’ That’s pretty much how it goes.

“I have no idea what happened. I don’t know if this happened after or before [the fumble]. I really don’t know. Honestly. I just see it and get it fixed as fast as possible. They put some brown stuff on it to like kind of stop the bleeding and they just wrap it up and it’s fine. It’s like a 10-second process - tape it up. Done.”

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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Viral photo potentially backs Drake Maye's blood on football excuse

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Source: “AOL Sports”