It wasn’t smooth. They didn’t seem totally comfortable. But, in the end, everything worked out.
That’s how it’s gone for the Patriots in 2025. And that’s how it went for them on Sunday. Both in the game itself — where they beat the Browns, 32-13 — but also in the tunnel for pregame player introductions.
The Patriots haven’t started a game that way in years. They made it popular to emerge from the locker room as a team after being introduced in that fashion ahead of their first Super Bowl victory 24 years ago.
But head coach Mike Vrabel called for a change in Week 8, his team’s first game back at home after three weeks on the road.
“I was a little bit nervous for it,” said Drake Maye, who went last among the team’s offensive starters. “I got no swag… We’ll work on it.”
Maye found his groove eventually.
After the Patriots scored just nine points in the first half, the second-year quarterback completed all six of his third-quarter attempts for 82 yards and three touchdowns. He also picked up 34 yards as a scrambler in that frame. The Patriots finished the third quarter up 23-7 and were able to survive an at-times sloppy fourth quarter to earn their fifth straight win.
Aside from the fact that individual player introductions are back at Gillette Stadium, here’s what we learned about the Patriots as they pushed their record to 6-2…
Maye deserves first-half NFL MVP honors
Of course there is no such thing as first-half MVP honors. But Drake Maye been that good. For a team from which not much was expected. With an offensive supporting cast that, before the season began, left much to be desired.
Halfway through his first season in Josh McDaniels’ system, Maye looks like he could be the most confident quarterback in the NFL.
For the seventh consecutive game, Maye finished with over 200 yards passing and a passer rating of 100.0 or better. The only other quarterbacks to achieve that feat: Aaron Rodgers (twice), Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
Pretty good company.
Against one of the best defenses in football — the Browns ranked first in yards allowed going into the game and third in EPA per play — Maye lit it up again. He went 18-for-24 for 282 yards (11.8 yards per attempt) with three touchdowns and a pick. He was sacked six times but finished with a passer rating of 135.8.
Patrick Mahomes looks like himself. Daniel Jones has been dynamite for the AFC-leading Colts. But no one in the NFL has been more valuable to his team than the 23-year-old who left the field a winner in Foxboro on Sunday.
Maye’s downfield passing continues to impress
Maye was going against one of the league’s best pass-rushers in Myles Garrett. He was going against a defensive unit that pressured quarterbacks more quickly, on average (2.41 seconds), than any other.
And yet… he remained an aggressive downfield thrower.
His third-quarter touchdown to Kayshon Boutte was a javelin toss for 39 yards. He hit Austin Hooper down the middle of the field for a 31-yard shot. He found Mack Hollins along the sidelines for a gain of 21 yards. Outside of a pick to Carson Schwesigner — who looked like he was spying Maye on the play — Maye’s accuracy was once again on point.
According to NextGen Stats, Maye’s completion percentage over expected — an accuracy metric — was a whopping 15.5 percent, which was highest in the NFL going into Sunday’s late slate of games.
According to ESPN, Maye’s 54.5 percent dropback success rate against defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s unit was the second-best rate against Schwartz in his 49 games with the Browns.
We wondered if Maye might have to be more of a “Checkdown Charlie” going up against Garrett and Co. Not the case. Going into the late games Sunday, no one averaged more air yards per throw than Maye (11.9).
Maye was sacked six times, and Vrabel noted after the game that his quarterback might have been able to get rid of the ball more quickly at times.
“We’ve got to get the ball out on time and understand who it is that we’re dealing with,” Vrabel said. “I don’t think that as long as we’re keeping them clean and not some vicious hits, we have to be able to be better in that regard. I think, when we give him time to throw, it’s pretty good.
“It’s good to see us hit a couple [explosive] plays, but we knew that was going to be a challenge with this front. Then the way that they played and certainly with Myles Garrett, committing two people to him and him still affecting the quarterback is obviously impressive.”
Boutte looking like a football-tracking whiz
Every week, it seems, Kayshon Boutte is on the receiving end of a deep shot from Maye.
Asked last week how he tracks the football as consistently as he does, Boutte explained that it might have been due in part to him adapting to an injury he suffered in college.
“I think I’ve always been a good tracker of the football. I would say before my surgery I was always able to go up and high-point the ball.
“But now with the two plates and six screws in my right ankle? Now I’m limited as to how high I can jump. Just being able to track the ball is really big for me. I feel like I’m 100 percent when it comes to tracking the ball. I’m confident in my hands.”
Maye tried to drop one in the bucket to Boutte along the left sideline in the second quarter but it fell incomplete. Still, Boutte finished with three catches for 75 yards and his fifth touchdown of the season.
McDaniels was in his bag in the third quarter
The Patriots were able to muster just nine points in the first half, but they caught fire during their first drive in the third quarter. And it felt like a drive that had offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ fingerprints all over it.
After a first-down scramble by Maye, McDaniels called for a fake handoff and misdirection pitch to TreVeyon Henderson. Later, McDaniels got the ball to his rookie back again in space with another pitch play. That was followed by a double-pass from Rhamondre Stevenson to Drake Maye to Mack Hollins.
Then came a designed quarterback option pitch and an end-around run to DeMario Douglas. Finally, on a bootleg roll-out, Maye hit Hunter Henry for a walk-in score.
There was creativity. There was deception. And, most importantly, there were points.
“Just a classic Coach McDaniels drive,” Maye said. “He’s just dialing it up multiple times and getting guys open and really making it easy for me.
“He’s done it his whole life, and I feel like he was put on this earth to be an offensive coordinator. It was fun to be in the headset with him.”
Henderson got going, but…
After just nine offensive snaps against the Titans, TreVeyon Henderson said he understood that was due in part to that particular matchup and Stevenson getting hot.
Against the Browns, he was much more involved, taking 10 carries — his most since getting 11 against the Steelers after Stevenson was docked playing time for fumbling — for 75 yards, which was more than double his previous season high (32 yards against the Panthers).
Credit McDaniels for getting the ball to Henderson on some outside runs and with a variety of pitches that allowed Henderson to get in space, where he can use his speed and force missed tackles.
Henderson did, however, fumble near the goal line in the fourth quarter. He was excellent in the ball-security category at Ohio State, where he didn’t lose a fumble in four years.
…Garrett did his best to ruin the game
Myles Garrett needed just one sack to move ahead of Reggie White for the most sacks (since 1982, when sacks were tracked as an official statistic) by an NFL player under the age of 30.
He had four more, proving how much of a force of nature he can be on any given week. Garrett won off the left edge against Will Campbell, off the right edge against Morgan Moses, through double-teams, inside and out.
Vrabel lauded Garrett’s rare ability after the game.
“Just size, speed, athleticism, and having watched him last year, it’s impressive, and it’s hard,” Vrabel said. “We’re trying to chip him, and he Gumbys around one guy and then speed bursts the other guy. He’s just an elite athlete with a tremendous skill set.
“I’m glad that we don’t play him twice every year unless we’re both in the playoffs. He’s just a dynamic player, and they do a nice job with him. He certainly impacts a lot of football games.”
Christian Barmore benched for the first quarter
It’s unclear exactly why Christian Barmore didn’t play in the first quarter, but Vrabel indicated that he held his defensive tackle out for disciplinary reasons.
“I had to make a decision,” Vrabel said. “My job is to protect the team, so when there’s actions that I don’t feel like are commiserate with what we want to do here, I’ve got to make a decision, and we move on.”
When Barmore got in, he made an impact, helping stop two trick plays at the end of the first half. He finished with one tackle.
