Drake Maye played one of the best games of his young Patriots career today as he amassed 278 all-purpose yards in a 42-10 win against the New York Jets. Maye went 19/21 today with a 157 Passer Rating as he became the first player in NFL history with a 90% completion percentage, 250 yards, and five touchdowns. Backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs replaced Maye with 5:31 remaining in the third quarter, so his stat line could’ve been even more insane.
Maye’s five touchdown passes today were a career high, including four of them coming in the first half. This was just one of those games where he was on fire and couldn’t be stopped. So much so that his first incompletion was a drop from rookie Kyle Williams at the end of the first half. It genuinely felt like Maye was having a field day in New York as he was picking apart their defense so effortlessly, seemingly without breaking a sweat.
New England forced the Jets into four three-and-outs in their first five drives and scored a touchdown on six straight drives.
The Patriots move to 8-0 on the road this season, becoming the only team this season to be undefeated away from home.
Maye distributes the ball to everyone as he threw touchdowns to five different players today. Stefon Diggs is the team’s number one receiver, a security blanket, but they have an abundance of different weapons that they rely on weekly.
Austin Hooper, Rhamondre Stevenson, Diggs, Hunter Henry, and Efton Chism III all found pay dirt today. Maye was cool, calm, and collected as New England absolutely thrashed the Jets on Sunday. It felt like every throw he had was on the money, his confidence was oozing, and New England receivers did a great job at getting open. It was really cool to see Chism produce in his first real opportunity as a receiver in the league, as he was a preseason darling. With the injuries to Kayshon Boutte and Mack Hollins, Chism was given this golden chance to produce, and he did with 40 yards and his first career touchdown.
Any given day, Diggs, Kyle Williams, Boutte, Pop Douglas, Hollins, Henry, and Hooper can all have a game. This isn’t one of those teams where you can just zero in on one guy; they have players who’ve made big-time plays all season. New England has nowhere near the best wide receiver core, but they have legit depth and a bunch of really good options.
The run game was solid today, too, with TreVeyon Henderson leading the backfield with 82 rushing yards. Even when he couldn’t punch it in, Maye threw a zip pass touchdown to Diggs for a touchdown on 4th and goal, because why not? It also feels as if Stevenson has stepped up immensely out of nowhere as well. This is a legit running back duo with the elusiveness that Henderson has and the power, blocking, and receiving talent that Stevenson possesses.
The Patriots aren’t playing with their food against inferior opponents. They know all about inferior opponents, as this has been them ever since Mac Jones’s sophomore season. This is also why coaching matters, as Mike Vrabel has been a godsend for them, and he embodies what this team is all about. At the end of the 1st half, Vrabel called a timeout to make the Jets call another play, even though New England was already up 35-3. Even though the score was lopsided, there was clearly a fire lit up under him and the rest of the team, as even Christian Barmore had to be held back.
The Jets also ran back-to-back fake punts at the beginning of the 3rd quarter on fourth down. They were able to convert the first time around with a three-yard pass from their punter, but they weren’t as lucky the second time around on a run play.
New York rookie quarterback Brady Cook wasn’t a factor for most of the game and threw an interception to Jaylinn Hawkins. New England’s defense was humming on all cylinders outside of Breece Hall’s 59-yard touchdown, where most of New England’s backups were in the game. The Patriots held the Jets to 0/2 in the red zone today, which is massive as they’ve given up the highest amount of red zone touchdowns this season.
Diggs was phenomenal with 93 receiving yards in the first half, including an incredible catch that he somehow came down with. This is the perfect time for this duo to start heating up again with the playoffs right around the corner. Diggs is also 30 yards away from being the first 1,000-yard Patriots receiver since Julian Edelman in 2019.
Even after all this, the Patriots needed the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Buffalo Bills to officially clinch the AFC East. The defending champions did so by beating the Bills 13-12 and gave New England something back after their Super Bowl LII win against them in 2018.
Josh Allen and the Bills were shut out threw three quarters, including a very impressive goal-line stand at the end of the third quarter. This is one of those games that has to be so infuriating for Eagles fans, as the defense was stout, but the offense was very lackluster. It’s actually absurd that Jalen Hurts completed zero passes in the second half, yet the Eagles still won. This is why defense wins championships, as even an overworked Eagles defense got a game-winning 2-point conversion stop on Allen. Even after giving up back-to-back touchdown drives, they came through when it mattered most.
The Patriots are AFC East Champions for the first time since 2019 and were finally able to grasp the division title away in a year in which nobody predicted they would. The Bills were expected by everyone to win the division, and the first time anyone even thought about New England was in their Week 5 Sunday Night Football win in Buffalo.
New England has the guy at quarterback in Drake Maye, and TreVeyon Henderson rose to the occasion in the second half of the season. The receivers have done enough, but the defense has seen their play tail off. A little bit of that can be attributed to the fact that Milton Williams has been out since Week 11, and Robert Spillane has been out recently as well. Still, though, they have their flaws as they don’t quite generate enough turnovers or pressure to be too confident in them.
Which is why it helps to have a guy like Drake Maye, who can elevate those around him and bail certain phases of the team out.
Now that the Patriots have won the AFC East, they can set their eyes on potentially getting the first seed in the AFC next week and getting a much-needed bye.
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