University of Kwazulu-Natal

Patriots Qb Drake Maye Is The Best In The Nfl At One Key Stat

Bonisiwe Shabane
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patriots qb drake maye is the best in the nfl at one key stat

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... 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. Drake Maye showed the entire NFL how good he can be. On Sunday Night Football in Week 5, Maye made a bunch of big-time throws to shock the Buffalo Bills in the best win the New England Patriots have had in years. The second-year QB made the best throw of his career, rolling right and delivering a dime on the run up the right sideline to Stefon Diggs.

That was just one of many throws down the field that Maye has succeeded on this year. MORE: How Shedeur Sanders' role is impacted by Joe Flacco trade Send this article to your social connections. Send this article to your social connections. Drake Maye’s putting up a season strong enough to earn MVP consideration. In fact, some believe the Patriots quarterback is the MVP frontrunner through the first half of the 2025 NFL season.

Of course, that depends on who you ask. Executives of teams throughout the league aren’t as bullish on the idea of Maye being the NFL’s first-half MVP. Maye received just one MVP vote from the 42 executives surveyed by Monday Morning Quarterback’s Albert Breer. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford garnered the most votes with 13, while six other quarterbacks (Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones) received more votes than Maye. In the same poll, Maye received the third-most votes for Offensive Player of the Year (three). He trails Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (27.5) and Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (nine).

After roughly half a decade's absence from real Super Bowl contention, there's no need to deny reality anymore. The 8-2 New England Patriots are back. Doubt Mike Vrabel's bunch at your own risk because they are a wagon. The biggest reason the Patriots are once again a superpower is the play of second-year quarterback Drake Maye. The former No. 3 overall draft pick has blossomed into a veritable superstar this season.

At the time of this writing, Maye is on pace for over 4,300 yards passing, 32 touchdown passes, and just nine interceptions. Oh, and he's also completing nearly 72 percent of his passes with a robust 8.9 yards per pass attempt while sitting No. 2 overall amongst all quarterbacks in composite Expected Points Added (EPA) and Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE). If I didn't know any better, that sounds like an NFL MVP-caliber season for Maye. Well, that's because it is. The question now is whether Maye really does have a legit shot of winning MVP in just his second season.

Outside of Maye's stellar play, the best way to assess this is to see his current competition. Let's take a quick look at the tale of the tape, at the time of publishing: FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL: 1. Maye & tight windows: There is a growing list of statistics that capture how well quarterback Drake Maye has played during the Patriots' current five-game winning streak, and here is one that maybe has...

NFL Next Gen Stats defines tight window throws as a pass thrown when the receiver has 1 yard or less of separation from the nearest defender at the time of the catch. Maye's mark easily leads the NFL, followed by the Seahawks' Sam Darnold (48%) and Broncos' Bo Nix (43.3%). "Tight-window throws are something in this league that I've kind of learned from college that, in man, it's going to be close coverage. And it may not be as open as it is in college, but in the NFL it's open," Maye said. "So just giving our guy a chance, and realize that receivers, tight ends and even running backs have caught the ball their whole life, and guys on defense aren't as used to playing the... Maye hopes to continue his tight-window success Sunday when the 6-2 Patriots host the 3-4 Atlanta Falcons at Gillette Stadium (1 p.m.

ET, CBS), with New England eyeing its sixth victory in a row. The blitz-happy Falcons defense ranks first in the NFL for fewest passing yards allowed per game (149.1) and that likely means a lot of tight-window throws. After struggling mightily in the deep passing game over the last few seasons, the Patriots and quarterback Drake Maye rank third in the NFL in explosive pass percentage in 2025. Kenneth Richmond / Getty Images FOXBORO, Mass. — During those backyard games that still stick out vividly for Drake Maye, he was rarely the quarterback.

One drawback to being the youngest of four boys is that the older brothers got to pick the fun positions. So Maye was usually a wide receiver. “They wouldn’t let me play quarterback,” Maye said with a smile. So Maye didn’t get the rush of hitting a deep pass until later on. As the spotlight on Maye grew and the recruiting stars came, attendance swelled at Myers Park High in Charlotte, N.C., when Maye played. And even as Maye has developed into a terrific NFL quarterback in his second season with the New England Patriots, he still thinks back to that feeling he first experienced on high school fields,...

The way a stadium falls quiet for just a split second when the quarterback heaves the ball deep downfield. The nervous energy of waiting to see if it’ll be caught. FOXBORO — Progress has not always been linear for Drake Maye, but the future still looks bright for the young Patriots quarterback. It appears Maye is beginning to take a second-year leap this season while playing for a new head coach in Mike Vrabel, in a new system under offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and with improved... But Maye has also still played inconsistently through the first three weeks of the season as he’s led the Patriots to a 1-2 record. Depending on what stat you’re weighing, Maye has either already ascended into the upper echelon of quarterbacks or he’s a young, turnover-prone passer only still flashing traits.

Let’s dive deeper into those numbers to find out where Maye really stands among NFL quarterbacks. Let’s start extremely surface level. Maye is completing 72.6% of his passes for 785 yards with five touchdowns, two interceptions and a 101.3 passer rating. He ranks second in completion percentage, fifth in yards, 13th in yards per attempt, seventh in touchdowns, 13th-highest in interceptions and ninth in passer rating. That paints the picture of a top-10 quarterback in the NFL.

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