If you can be out there making NFL history in a Week 6 win over the one-win Saints, things must be going well. And for Drake Maye and the Patriots, things are going well.
A week after Maye led a thrilling win against the undefeated Bills, he led the Patriots to a grinding win over the Saints, overcoming second-half offensive doldrums to make enough big fourth-quarter plays to seal the win. Maye was 18-for-26 passing with 261 yards and three touchdowns, and took only one sack, for one yard. He posted his fifth straight 100-plus passer rating, at 140.1.
In doing so, the NFL pointed out, Maye joined some elite company, including Super Bowl champ Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs.
Wrote the NFL on Twitter/X: “Drake Maye joins Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, and Dan Marino as the only QBs age 23 or younger with 200+ pass yards and a 100+ passer rating in 5 consecutive games.”
Drake Maye Now 4th in Passer Rating
That’s a lot of qualifiers, of course, but the point is that Maye is very, very good at a very, very young age. Marino is a Hall of Famer, Mahomes is sure to be one, too, and Prescott likely will join them.
Maye had a passer rating of 80.6 in the Patriots’ opening loss to the Raiders, a game he (and all of New England) would very much like to play over again. He was 30-for-46 passing with 287 yards, a touchdown and a frustrating interception that day, but since then, he has had passer ratings over 100 every week: 137.3 vs. Miami; 102.1 vs. Pittsburgh; 155.6 vs. Carolina; 101.1 vs. Buffalo; and 140.1 vs. New Orleans.
Maye is fourth in the NFL among starting quarterbacks, with a 112.5 passer rating.
Patriots Taking Shots Down the Field
What was encouraging for the Patriots was that, against the Saints, Maye repeatedly took big shots down the field, something he’d done on a more limited basis to open the season. That could be a sign that the team is willing to open him up more, and give him more trust.
No such throw was bigger than the one he hit to Kayshon Boutte in the fourth quarter, a 21-yard play to the sideline that converted a third-and-11 from the New England 30-yard line as the two-minute warning approached.
“It’s about making good decisions,” Maye said. “It’s about trying to prove it over and over and over again. You know, being consistent and doing that, knowing when to be smart with the football. That’s the biggest thing that, you know, in that situation, try to get a first down, safe throw and what a play by Boutte.”
Drake Maye: Patriots Have ‘More Work to Do’
But there were plenty of miscues for the Patriots, too, and some areas of concern. The running game, for example, continues to be stuck in mud, as the team gained only 73 yards on 31 carries, an anemic 2.4 yards per carry.
Maye will take the win, but knows there are ways to get better.
“We got more work to do. That’s the big thing,” he said. “It feels good getting in the win column consistently. That’s three in a row, we gotta keep going and building on it. We’re on the road again—but it feels good to win on the road. Just trying to step up, leadership-wise and the defense covered our butts in the second half.”
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