It’s going to be very tough to argue against putting Drake Maye in any top-5 quarterback conversation after he dissected the league’s best defense Sunday, leading the Patriots to a 32-13 victory over Cleveland and their fifth-straight win.
We all saw the kid arrived against the Bills. What should scare the pants off the rest of the league is how he’s not slowing down.
The first half at Gillette Stadium was a slog. Predictably, Browns wrecking ball Myles Garrett made mincemeat of the Patriots’ young offensive linemen, in addition to any tight ends New England tried to throw in to supplement Maye’s pass protection. Garrett posted four sacks, and for a good stretch, the Patriots were spinning their wheels in the red zone like it was 2023 again. Maye threw a boneheaded interception and fumbled after a Garrett jump-scare, and it looked very much like fans at Gillette wouldn’t be treated to the 25+ point extravaganzas they’d been watching on television, but rather, a score in the teens with the Patriots gritting through a fourth quarter.
Instead, by the time the final quarter rolled around, New England was up double-digits and “MVP” chants echoed down from the stands.
The fans may have a point.
Look, this writer has been the first to say that while Maye has been on an unreal heater, it’s unsustainable, and quite frankly, unfair to expect that the second-year quarterback won’t come back to Earth.
But Maye entered a different, if increasingly familiar, stratosphere after halftime. Rookie TreVeyon Henderson’s back-to-back runs to open the quarter offered a much-needed wrinkle to Josh McDaniels’ offense, and allowed him to call a wide-open look to tight end Hunter Henry in the red zone, while all eyes were on Henderson up the middle. After that score, Maye got Stefon Diggs his first touchdown grab since Week 6 of 2024. Then, he shot up the middle of the field for 28 yards. To cap it all off, he found Kayshon Boutte on a 39-yard connection to put the team up 30-7.
It’s become a fool’s errand to try to predict when Maye will stumble. Understandably, before Cleveland's statistically elite units, he hadn’t faced tough defenses for most of the early part of this season. His NFL resume is still very short. Projections of Maye being in line with Josh Allen, or even Justin Herbert – are just that: projections that are based on faith and belief, rather than very much evidence. Because he’s looked like MVP Candidate A, he will probably turn into that guy, eventually.
Maye has terrific touch for the ball and his feel and timing improves as games go on, even under immense pressure. What may be most impressive, however, is how he’s able to shake off his mistakes and simply move on. That quality looks increasingly rare for young quarterbacks. More often than not, they compound mistakes and look trapped in their own head. Think: 2023 era Mac Jones, (sorry for the stray attack, but it’s a good example). Maye lives the cliché so many athletes parrot. He turns the page. He looks like the mistake never happened, and he’s just here to have a good time.
Let’s note that Sunday’s win over the Browns was a case of complementary play that supplemented Maye’s excellence. When the offense sputtered in the red zone at the game’s start, the Patriots’ run defense was once again stellar, holding budding star Quinshon Judkins to just 19 yards. He averaged 77 per game heading into this week. New England could still stand to improve their pass rush, but credit Robert Spillane and Jaylinn Hawkins for picking off Gabriel twice after he’s managed to play an interception-free game in his short career before facing the Patriots.
Ultimately, though, the matchup was a test for Maye, and he finished the day with another A. He went toe-to-toe with the most formidable pass rush in the NFL, he handled man coverage after picking apart soft zones for most of the month, and he continues to play not only as the best quarterback from his draft class, but the best quarterback drafted in the last six years.
Few predicted this rapid ascension. At this rate, there’s no telling when – or even, if – a fall will come this year.