Eliot Wolf: Drake Maye's shoulder wasn't to blame for offensive struggles

Drake Maye needed a pain-killing injection in his right shoulder before Super Bowl LX.

The Patriots quarterback didn't play as he had in the regular season, going 27-of-43 for 295 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions and a lost fumble. How much did the NFL's No. 1 scoring defense in the Seahawks have to do with that, and how much, if any, had to do with his injured shoulder?

General Manager Eliot Wolf dismissed Maye's shoulder as an excuse for the team's offensive struggles.

"I think that's probably a question better asked to him," Wolf said. "I didn't feel that way. I just felt like we just couldn't get into rhythm offensively."

Maye's second season has the Patriots excited about the future.

He completed an NFL-best 72 percent of his passes for 4,394 yards with 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions in finishing second in MVP voting.

"Satisfied is a tremendous understatement," Wolf said. "Drake made a ton of progress in a lot of areas, not only at the start of the season, but throughout the season. I think people forget that he's 23 years old and there's a been a lot on his shoulders, and there will continue to be with the expectation that it has being the quarterback of the New England Patriots. But I'm just really excited about him, his toughness, his competitiveness. He's always the same guy. Obviously, there are areas on the field that he's going to improve, and he's going to work with coach [Josh] McDaniels and [quarterbacks] coach [Ashton] Grant and get those things taken care of."