Quarterback Drake Maye led the New England Patriots to their eighth consecutive victory on Thursday night, taking down the New York Jets by double digits and scoring 21 unanswered points before the end of the third quarter.
Maye went 25-for-32 (73.5%) for 281 passing yards and one touchdown. He finished with a QB rating of 107.6, and it marked his fourth consecutive game throwing for 250-plus yards. Maye has a league-leading 2,836 passing yards, 20 touchdowns (tied for second in the NFL) and just five interceptions under his belt through 11 games.
With Thursday’s win, the Patriots improved to 9-2 on the season, good for first place in the AFC East.
On Friday’s edition of “The Herd,” FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd broke down why he believes Maye is primarily to thank for their recent success and why the 23-year-old deserves to win NFL MVP.
“[In the NFL], winning games comes down to your quarterback making five, six, seven [good] throws or decisions,” Cowherd said. “High-level execution. … Mike Vrabel isn’t winning that game last night with Justin Fields as his quarterback.
“It was a reasonably close game, but Drake Maye made six or seven decisions and throws that [were] incredibly high-level. That kid is so good on first down. … He completed 78% of his throws on first down. Last night, he was 9-for-11. … It’s amazing. He had a jump pass, a couple of sideline throws. That’s the difference. … You gotta have a guy who can execute at a high level intellectually, physically, emotionally, and that is potential MVP Drake Maye.”
Should Drake Maye win MVP for turning around New England?
“So much of what Drake Maye does, it was [what Tom] Brady [did],” Cowherd added. “He’s a more athletic version of Brady. He’s not, right now, pre-snap as good as Brady, but Brady was so good on first down. You were never playing behind the sticks. That’s exactly what Drake Maye does. It’s a gift. He’s great at it.
“You know, I said they were going to double their win total from last year. My bad, they were going to triple it.”
New England finished 4-13 in 2024 under former head coach Jerod Mayo, who was selected as the successor to long-time Patriots coach Bill Belichick but was ultimately fired after just one season.
Up next, Maye and the Patriots face the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in Week 12.
Four quarterbacks have made up the past seven MVP winners: Josh Allen (2024), Lamar Jackson (2023, 2019), Patrick Mahomes (2022, 2018) and Aaron Rodgers (2021-20). If Maye were to win the award, he’d join Mahomes as the third-youngest NFL MVP behind Jackson and Jim Brown, who won the award in 1957 at 21 and remains the youngest NFL MVP.
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