thecomeback
Tom Brady made a return to Foxboro over the weekend, participating in Rob Gronkowski's New England Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday and attending the Patriots' game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. While the induction event was a hit with New England fans, the game itself did not go as well.
Green Bay, led by Jordan Love's 372 passing yards and four total touchdowns, dominated the Patriots in a 45-27 rout. Drake Maye, New England's third-year quarterback, struggled significantly, throwing three costly interceptions.
After the game, Brady, now working as a broadcaster for FOX, took a lighthearted jab at Maye during postgame interviews. Speaking with Packers safety Evan Williams, who recorded five tackles and one interception, Brady pointed out that Maye had been unusually generous with his passes. "Xavier [McKinney] had two picks, you had one on the sideline," Brady said. "There was some deli meat given out by Drake Maye today."
Williams laughed off the comment, responding, "I'm not gonna say that, but he was giving us some gifts for sure." Brady added, "There was a few out there, and you made him pay."
The 'deli meat' reference traces back to Los Angeles Rams safety Quentin Lake, who last week used the same phrase to describe Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert's interceptions in a loss to the Rams. Lake later apologized to Herbert via text, clarifying that he did not intend to be disrespectful.
Brady's comment was likely not meant to be cruel toward Maye, even if it was a harsh assessment—though not an unfair one. After throwing only four touchdowns and seven interceptions in his first four games, Maye had tossed 11 touchdowns and just one interception in his next four before Sunday's rough outing.
Maye acknowledged his struggles after the loss, saying, "We haven't had a clean, a turnover-free game yet. It's, starting with me, it's one of the biggest differences between winning and losing football games. I'd say, put our defense in a bad spot in the first, the first drive, and just gave them the football and had some other chances down the field and got to see in front. I got to see in front. I feel like I was just a little late sometimes. I feel like we got into a throwing game, and that's partly because of what we did offensively, and then we didn't really get to build off the run game, and I think we just got to start the game, and me specifically, start better."
New England will look to bounce back this Sunday when they face the Detroit Lions in Munich, Germany.
Originally reported by thecomeback.