FOXBORO — Before Thursday’s game even kicked off, the chants began echoing around Gillette Stadium.
They continued for the next three-plus hours, through the Patriots’ three touchdown drives, their game-clinching kneeldowns and their second-year quarterback’s victorious jog toward the locker room. They drowned out the audio on Amazon Prime’s postgame show, even as their target did his best to downplay them.
“M-V-P.”
“M-V-P.”
“M-V-P.”
They were chanting, of course, for Drake Maye, who boosted his legitimate MVP candidacy with another standout performance in a 27-14 victory over the Jets.
In the first primetime home game of his young career, Maye completed 25 of 34 passes for 281 yards and one touchdown with no turnovers to lead 9-2 New England to its eighth consecutive win.
“He’s playing at an elite level right now,” rookie left tackle Will Campbell said. “I’m biased, but I think he’s the best player in the NFL. There’s no game that we’re out of when we have him. Even how good of a player he is, he’s an even better person, and an even better teammate. That just makes it that much cooler. To be able to share the huddle and in the locker room, and be friends with somebody like that. I just look forward to the future, to continue to play with him, and grow with him. As we all continue to grow in this offense, he’s got everything in front of him now. I’m super excited to be a part of it.”
Maye’s nine incompletions included two drops by the otherwise reliable Stefon Diggs (nine catches, 105 yards), multiple miscommunications with rookie receiver Kyle Williams and a perfectly placed fourth-quarter deep ball that cornerback Brandon Stephens knocked out of Mack Hollins’ hands.
He was at his best on a third-quarter drive that culminated in a 6-yard touchdown pass to TreVeyon Henderson. Before finding the rookie running back in the end zone, Maye escaped the pocket and fired an off-platform 21-yard strike to Diggs, then pulled up just short of the sideline on a scramble and hit Diggs again for 18 yards. New England’s next possession featured connections of 26 yards to DeMario Douglas on third-and-10 and 13 yards to Diggs on third-and-5.
New York tried to combat Maye’s highly effective deep ball and the poise he’s shown against the blitz by employing a more conservative pass-rush approach paired with frequent zone coverage. Though that resulted in an uptick in checkdowns to Henderson, Maye still found success by zipping passes to Diggs, Hollins and tight end Hunter Henry into gaps in the Jets’ secondary.
Asked about the chanting he heard throughout the game, Maye tried to deflect attention toward Henderson, who scored three times in the win. He did the same after traveling Patriots fans regaled him with “MVP” cheers last Sunday in Tampa Bay, saying those could have been directed at Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield.
“They may have been for TreVeyon tonight,” Maye said. “He scored three touchdowns. No, I think our fans have been great with me since I got here, since I got drafted. I just appreciate them for embracing me, and trying to embrace this city and give these fans and this team and just myself just leave it all out there and give it everything I got.”
He’s given them quite a bit this season.
Maye entered Week 11 with top-five marks in completion percentage (second), yards per attempt (second), passing yards (third), passing touchdowns (T-third) and passer rating (fifth). He ranked third among all quarterbacks in expected points added per play behind Seattle’s Sam Darnold and Green Bay’s Jordan Love, and second in completion percentage over expected behind Darnold. He’s posted a completion rate above 70% in seven of his 11 starts and a passer rating above 100 in nine of them — all for a Patriots team that currently boasts the league’s best record.
By any metric, Maye has been one of the NFL’s best QBs this season, and a very real MVP contender with six games remaining.
“I would say his performance in general has been what we expect,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said. “We have high expectations for Drake. He has high expectations for himself. He’ll continue to improve. I know that he’ll stay humble through this all. Again, as far as the performance tonight, I thought it was, again, in first view, pretty good. It was good enough to win. Took care of the football. We just have to continue to focus on the little things, operation, unforced errors throughout the offense. The only thing that really stops us is us offensively. So, continue to do that.”
As the Patriots kneeled out the clock against the Jets, Henry turned toward the crowd and raised his hands, calling for even louder chants.
“Shoot, he’s my MVP, man,” Henry said. “I love him to death as a player. Obviously, I love him to death as a person. He’s my guy. I’ll go to bat for him wherever he wants. I love competing for him, love playing with his and just love being on his team.”
