Taking a 42-3 lead over the New York Jets with eight minutes to go in the third quarter, Mike Vrabel had seen enough. With victory virtually guaranteed and the playoffs looming in the distance, the New England Patriots’ head coach decided to pull his starting quarterback.
Needless to say, Drake Maye had a decent day. Leading the Patriots to six touchdowns on six possessions, he completed 19 of 21 pass attempts for 256 yards and five scores to five different receiving targets.
Even in the midst of an
impressive season, this output stands out. And it showed once again that Maye is a worthy candidate for the NFL MVP award this year.
While the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford remains the betting favorite to end up with the trophy, the Patriots’ young passer continues to bolster his case. Just ask his coach.
“They don’t give me a vote, but I would [vote for him],” said Mike Vrabel when asked about Maye’s MVP case following Sunday’s game. “There’s nobody else that we want as our quarterback, or that I want as our quarterback.”
Following in the footsteps of Patriots Hall of Famers Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady, Maye became the third quarterback in franchise history to cross the 4,000-yard barrier in a single season against the Jets. He did so in spectacular fashion, regardless of the quality of the opposition.
The base stats outlined above, after all, tell only part of the story.
Maye finished the game with 36 total expected points added, an average of 1.24 EPA per play. In layman’s terms, this means that every time he either threw or ran the ball, he added a value equivalent of 1.24 points to the Patriots’ effort.
Where do those numbers rank historically? In the frame of reference used on rbsdm.com — between 2010 and 2020 — Maye finds himself in the 100 percentile.
The same is true for his completion percentage above expectation of 29.3. Yes, the Jets provided virtually no resistance, but Maye still hit on 90.5% of his passes when the numbers only projected him to complete 61.2%.
Maye did acknowledge that he threw the ball well against New York, but he also made sure to shout out his support system after the eventual 42-10 victory.
“One thing is the play calling,” he said. “It’s getting guys open. Guys run the right routes, with the right at-the-top-of-the-route, with the right feel for zone. I feel like I was throwing it pretty well and, from there, the guys up front keep on blocking their butts off and give me time to make plays and extend plays and find guys down the field. …
“It takes everybody, 11 on each and every play. And whether it’s me throwing for that many yards or throwing for 20 yards, whatever it takes to win, I think that’s the most important thing.”
So far this season, winning has been the Patriots’ modus operandi. Sunday’s was their 13th victory of the year, and it allowed them to clinch their division later that afternoon.
For Maye, that success is what matters the most — individual accolades be damned.
“The thing I care about is our win-loss record,” the MVP aspirant said. “We still have some work left to do and some games ahead that should be fun.”
