The Patriots’ (11-3) loss on Sunday, on paper, looks like a close loss to the team that has ruled the AFC East the last five years.
Losing 35-31 to the Bills (10-4), whether it’s at home or on the road, will almost never be viewed through any lens other than “you hung with one of the best quarterbacks of this generation.”
But when you actually consider the circumstances of the ballgame - a 21-0 lead with 5:53 remaining in the second quarter, followed by a 24-7 lead heading into halftime - it’s completely fair to be critical of New England for blowing it in Week 15, whether Josh Allen is playing for the other team or not.
Allowing five touchdowns on five consecutive drives is almost always going to beget a loss. But it’s not just the defense that deserves blame for this loss.
When you have an MVP candidate on your sideline as well, you’re going to need more from him down the stretch while dueling with the man who just won the award in 2024.
While Drake Maye’s impact was felt on the game early with both his arm and legs, he was a non-factor during the final 30 minutes of football.
It wasn’t enough to land him in the “Downs” section of my column on Sunday, but it also wasn’t enough to help his team win their 11th-straight regular season game for the first time since the 2007 season (sigh).
NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran talked about Maye’s performance when he joined Jones and Keefe on Tuesday.
“If you can't stop them defensively, that's the complimentary football that gets discussed so often,” said Curran. “I just thought it was interesting because that again, too - I was more caught up in that yesterday as I was continuing to process it.
“And really, the fact of the number of throws that - and Phil [Perry] and I talked on our podcast, he really highlighted a few of the missed throws that got away, with just the bodily inaccuracy and placement of some of the throws. So it was not a good game for him. I defended him quite a bit in our postgame show. But in looking at it a little harder, there were a lot of unforced errors, I think, that presented themselves.”
On the day, Maye was just 14 of 23 passing for 155 yards, with no passing touchdowns and an interception. He was sacked 3 times for a loss of 16 yards, and sported a QBR of 58.8 and a passer rating of 62.8.
And while his legs were a big help early (4 rushes for 42 yards and 2 touchdowns), the offense went away from that as the game went along.
Yesterday was only the second time all season Maye has not thrown a touchdown pass. The other game, ironically, coming against the Bills in Week 5. On the year, it was his lowest passing yard total and passer rating, along with his second-lowest completion percentage and fourth-lowest QBR.
If Maye can muster up one scoring drive of his own in the second half outside of TreVeyon Henderson’s 65-yard touchdown run with 9:49 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Patriots are sitting here on Tuesday two days removed from winning their first AFC East title since 2019.
Instead, they’ll need wins against both the Jets (3-11) and Dolphins (6-8) in the final two weeks of the season to secure the division crown.
Maye will have a chance to bounce back in Week 16 with the entire nation watching, as they’ll head down to Baltimore to take on the Ravens (7-7) on Sunday Night Football. As of publishing, the Patriots sit as a 3-point underdog, per OddsTrader, while sitting on the moneyline at +130 at FanDuel.
Tune in each and every Monday throughout the football season to Patriots Monday on WEEI. Head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show at 6:30 a.m. ET, and quarterback Drake Maye joins WEEI Afternoons.