The Patriots (9-2) came into Week 11 on short rest after a hard-fought Week 10 win down in Tampa Bay (6-3), outlasting the Buccaneers 28-23 for their biggest win of the season.
In the process, a lot of guys got banged up.
It only led to four inactives from the normal group of rotational players across both sides of the ball, but make no mistake about it - those guys were feeling the impact of 10 straight weeks of football as they exited Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.
Add in Week 11 arriving for New England on just four days of rest, and the Patriots were vulnerable with the Jets (2-8) coming to town for Thursday Night Football.
They gutted it out, and put together a decisive 27-14 win over their AFC East rivals.
Thursday’s win for the Patriots gives them eight in a row - the first time they’ve hit that mark in a single season since starting the year 8-0 in 2019. That 8-0 start was a part of a 10-game regular season winning streak that started in Week 16 during the 2018 season. If you include postseason play, that two-season streak made it to 13 games, including a victory over the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
That 2019 season ended with Tom Brady losing his final game in a Patriots uniform at the hands of Mike Vrabel in the divisional round, when his Titans beat New England 20-13.
Fast forward to 2025, and Vrabel is running the show at 1 Patriot Place. And by the looks of it, this season looks like it could finish a little differently than 2019 did.
Here are your Ups & Downs for Week 11:
Ups:
- Drake Maye: He was getting “M-V-P!” chants before the game even started, and the 23-year-old quarterback lived up to the billing.
Over the first three drives of the game, Maye was 11 of 11 for 110 passing yards and a passer rating of 108.3. On the second drive in particular, Maye had three passes of 19 yards or more, methodically picking the Jets defense apart on their way to a second touchdown on as many possessions.
I want to skip ahead to the third quarter, where Maye had a three-play sequence that ramped the “M-V-P!” chants up as loud as they’ve been all season long.
On a 2nd and 8 from the 50, Maye showed an amazing ability to escape pressure in the pocket, using some pretty footwork while keeping his eyes down field. In maybe his most Mahomes-ian throw of the day, Maye hit Diggs for 29 yards down field to set up a 1st and 10 from the Jets 29.
One play later, he was at it again.
Rolling out of the pocket, Maye looked like he was going to slide into a short gain, possibly even run out of bounds. Instead, in maybe his most Favre-ian throw of the day, he lightly tossed the ball to Diggs again, this time for a gain of 18 yards.
The crowd was going nuts.
After a 5-yard run from TreVeyon Henderson to the Jets 6-yard line, Maye went right back to his rookie running back on a corner route that helped put the Patriots up 21-7 with 7:46 to go in the third quarter.
You could feel the electricity in the building.
With the entire nation watching, Maye gave them a front row seat to his unofficial MVP campaign on that drive.
A few highlight throws throughout the second half were just the cherry on top.
Matthew Stafford throws lots of touchdowns, but it’s hard to imagine watching that drive and thinking there’s anyone in the NFL playing quarterback better than Maye.
- Stefon Diggs: Just like their Week 5 game under the lights in Buffalo, MVP candidate Drake Maye was finding his former All-Pro wide receiver early and often.
On the opening drive alone, Maye found Diggs three times for 16 receiving yards, with two of those catches coming on third down.
And as we just discussed, Diggs was the recipient of consecutive insane plays by Maye that helped get the volume level in Gillette Stadium to a season-high, by my estimation.
Maye goes to Diggs when he needs it most. Having a go-to guy in the receivers room is something the Patriots haven’t had since Julian Edelman’s last healthy season (with respect to Jakobi Meyers, of course). It makes Maye’s life a lot easier, and is part of the engine that has this 2025 season headed in the direction of a potential No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Diggs finished the day with 9 catches on 11 targets for 105 receiving yards.
- Tush Push (Minus the Tush Part) & A Nice Game For TreVeyon Henderson: On the Patriots’ first touchdown of the game, running back TreVeyon Henderson had a lot of help.
After an outside run looked like Henderson should’ve been down at around the 3 yard line, a group of six Patriots (by my count) pushed the pile into the end zone.
It was sick.
Shoutout to Henderson for being able to keep his legs churning forward so his teammates could get in there and give him the shove needed to make it a one-point game. And extra point later, and it was a 7-7 ballgame with 14:17 to go in the second quarter.
On the next possession, Henderson showed incredible patience on his second touchdown run of the game, waiting a beat and using incredible footwork to trot his way into the endzone to help put the Patriots up 14-7 with 7:54 to go in the second quarter.
As we mentioned before, Henderson also had the receiving touchdown to cap off Maye’s MVP resume piece in the third quarter.
He finished the day with 19 carries for 62 rushing yards, good for 2 touchdowns on the ground and 1 through the air. He also added 5 catches for 31 receiving yards.
I asked the question last week, and I’ll ask it again:
Is Rhamondre Stevenson getting Wally Pipp’d by the rookie out of Ohio State?
- Mack Hollins: As this season moves along, Hollins is more and more becoming one of Maye’s favorite targets.
4 catches on the day for 64 yards, good for 16 yards per catch.
Something I’ve picked up on with Hollins is his ability to find open space on the field. It reminds me of Travis Kelce, to a degree. That sense of space plus being as sure-handed as anyone on the team has shot Hollins up the receiving pecking order.
A couple of former Tar Heels are making Chapel Hill proud up in Foxborough, MA.
Downs:
- Another Week, Another Slow-Starting Defense: It appears the Patriots are truly not past this.
14 plays, 72 yards, and a touchdown for the Jets to open the ballgame. The drive ate up 8:04 on the clock, and saw the Jets gobble up 56 yards on the ground on 11 carries.
Granted, they lost their best player in the middle of the defense after only six plays (more on that later), but most of the Jets’ damage was done running on the outside.
New York knew the Patriots were coming in with tired legs, and they took advantage.
At the end of the day, did this end up biting them? No. And it hasn’t really all season long. But once big boy football starts in January, this needs to be cleaned up.
- Conservative Play Calling to End First Half: After forcing the Jets into a three-and-out with under two minutes to play in the first half, the Patriots were set up for a second straight week where the double whammy could be implemented - score to end the half, score to open the half.
Yet New England decided not to operate with a ton of urgency, letting the clock get down to 34 seconds left in the second quarter on a 3rd and 6. Maye was sacked for a loss of 10 on the play, but the Pats got bailed out by a bad illegal contact penalty by the Jets in the secondary to keep their drive alive from the 50 yard line.
Four plays later, Andy Borregales missed a 45-yard field goal to keep the game at 14-7 as time expired in the half.
It was a missed opportunity, no doubt. And I wonder had things gone differently there if the momentum heading into the second half would have led to the offense looking different on their first drive in the third quarter (a three-and-out).
What they executed to a tee against the Bucs in Week 10, they botched badly against the Jets in Week 11.
- An Important Injury to Monitor: On the opening drive of the ballgame, standout defensive tackle Milton Williams exited the ballgame with an ankle injury. After a quick trip to the blue tent, he went back to the locker room for further evaluation. Shortly after the Jets were going up 7-0, the team announced Williams would be questionable to return.
Williams came back out on the sidelines, but was seen hanging out on the bench with his helmet off. At 7:25 in the fourth quarter, the Patriots announced that Williams would be out for the remainder of the game.
The Patriots’ run defense has been a strength all season long. Williams has been, quite possibly, the main driver of that success. Hopefully the mini bye gives Williams the rest he needs to nurse that ankle back to full health before his team’s next regular season game.
As of publishing, the Patriots are 5.5-point favorites for their Week 12 matchup with the Bengals (3-6). You can get them at -240 on the moneyline, and the total sits at 51.
If Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is back for that one, the line is surely to shift.
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.