While Mike Vrabel shook hands with Mike Macdonald after their Super Bowl loss, Drake Maye was left waiting for Sam Darnold. Once fans caught wind of this, there were mixed reactions about the Seattle Seahawks QB.

Sports Journalist, Dov Kleiman, posted a video on X where the Patriots QB could be seen looking in Darnold's direction, reportedly waiting for a handshake.

"Maye waited patiently and even walked around the field looking for Darnold but he was nowhere to be found. Just awful," Kleiman's tweet read.

It's tradition for QBs to meet at the halfway line after a game and shake hands. And after the Super Bowl, when fans didn't see it happen, they assumed it was due to the devastating loss Maye and his team faced.

After all, just a few weeks ago, Carson Beck did something similar when the Hurricanes lost to the Hoosiers at the College Football Championship.

However, once fans saw Maye waiting for Darnold, they were agitated.

Sam Darnold Battles Criticism

One fan commented, "I saw it too - so messed up! Poor Drake 🥹"

Throughout the video, Maye kept looking back towards the celebrating Seahawks as if he was waiting for Darnold to come up to him. Maye, in his second year at the Patriots, played in the Super Bowl after getting injections for his injured shoulder. Fans felt the loss would be ever so slightly easier with a gesture from his opponent.

Another user wrote, "Classless move by Sam Darnold. Respect is earned on the field, but it’s shown after the whistle. Shout out to Mike Morris for actually chasing Drake Maye down to show love. Nobody should be left hanging like that after a game. Smh."

DE Mike Morris did catch up to Maye and shook hands with him, and the two hugged. But even that didn't keep fans from criticizing Darnold. However, there were some who supported Darnold.

"Drake Maye never had it easier, Darnold had to go thru h*** to get there, Maye doesnt deserve respect cause he never earned any." After all, Sam Darnold finally found redemption after years of near misses and being traded from teams. That's probably why another fan added:

"Probably too caught up in celebration. Still, it should be one of the first things you do after a game in my opinion," they wrote. Back when Carson Beck left for the locker room after the CFB Championship loss, it invited scathing criticism from the fans for disrespecting the tradition. However, since it was the winning QB, celebrations took precedence.

As a result, one fan said, "Probably too caught up in celebration. Still, it should be one of the first things you do after a game in my opinion."

Written by

Reyansh Dubey

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar