The term “fake news” may have been popularized by the former president of the United States, but it is in fact a real thing. The term describes a piece of a publicized information that is either partially, or wholly incorrect. MGM Rewards, most likely due to poor proofreading in their advertising department, recently posted a fake statistic about New England Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye.
Maye, the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, has gotten off to a promising start. He began the year behind Jacoby Brissett, but with little promise to the Patriots season, the team has turned to him to run the offense going forward. Against the Houston Texans on October 13th, Maye threw for 243 yards and 3 touchdowns in his first career start.
A week later, Maye had 276 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 32-16 loss to the Jaguars. To celebrate his auspicious beginning, MGM Rewards posted on social media how only Maye and Dan Marino have thrown for 500+ yards and 5+ touchdowns in their first career starts. This would be true if MGM Rewards mentioned rookie quarterbacks, but they incompetently forgot this piece of critical information, making their post fake news.
The bottom of their advertisement clearly states “Only QB’s since 1950” and not “Only rookie QB’s since 1950.” The fact of the matter is, not every quarterback gets their first start in their rookie season. And several have achieved this goal just between Marino and Maye.
Kurt Warner was an undrafted free agent for the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but never made it out of training camp. After an incredibly successful campaign in the Arena Football League, Warner found his way onto the St. Louis Rams roster in 1998.
The start of the 1999 season, Warner was expected to spend the season backing up Trent Green, but a knee injury forced Kurt into the spotlight. On September 12, 1999, Warner made his first career start against the Baltimore Ravens. In a 27-10 victory, he threw for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Two weeks later, he made his second career start against the Falcons. He threw for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 35-7 win over the Atlanta Falcons. That’s 584 yards and 6 touchdowns in his first two career starts.
The Packers had another quarterback on their roster that achieved the same feat. Matt Flynn was taken in the 7th round (209th overall) by the Packers in the 2008 NFL Draft. He wouldn’t get his first career start until December 19, 2010 against Maye’s current team, the Patriots. In a 31-27 loss, Flynn threw for 251 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Unlike Maye, Marino, and Warner, Flynn would not make his first two career starts back to back. He made his second start on January 1, 2012, the last game of the regular season for the Packers, who had already secured a first round bye in the playoffs.
Against the division rival Detroit Lions, Flynn went off. He threw for 480 yards and six touchdowns. These two starts, in which he threw for 731 yards and 9 touchdowns, earned him a large contract with the Seattle Seahawks to be their starter for the 2012 season. It did not work out for him though, as Seattle’s third-round pick that year (a 5’10 quarterback from Wisconsin) won the starting job in the preseason, and never let it go.
It’s hard to believe that MGM Rewards intentionally put false information out there for public consumption. The most likely scenario is a gaff by the writing team, missed by the editors, which has let to rosy red cheeks of embarrassment for the casino loyalty program.
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