Drake Maye against the Tennessee Titans, November 2024. Photo by Tennessee Titans, CC-BY-3.0, resized.Drake Maye, three picks to three-touchdown habit
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Photo by Mark Goebel, CC-BY-2.0, resized.The bar from 2025
In his second season Maye led the Patriots to a 14-3 record and the AFC East title. He led the league in passer rating, completion percentage and yards per attempt, and threw for 4,394 yards with 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
He finished second in the MVP vote, 361 points to Matthew Stafford’s 366, the closest race since 2003. The season ended in Super Bowl LX, a 29-13 loss to Seattle.
Lumen Field in Seattle, July 2023. Photo by PCN02WPS, CC-BY-SA-4.0, resized.A rematch that slipped away
The 2026 season opened on Sept. 9 in Seattle, on the night the Seahawks raised their Super Bowl banner. New England led 10-0 early in the third quarter, with Sam Darnold already out of the game.
Then Maye threw interceptions on the Patriots’ last three possessions. The final one, by Josh Jobe in the end zone with 21 seconds left, sealed a 13-10 loss. All three came on deep throws.
“It was unacceptable.”— Drake Maye, on the final interception in Seattle
- L 13-10 at Seattle: 1 TD, 3 INT
- W 20-3 vs. Pittsburgh: 0 TD, 1 INT
- L 35-6 at Jacksonville: 0 TD, 2 INT, a lost fumble
The turn in Buffalo
On Oct. 4 in Orchard Park, Maye threw two touchdown passes to Romeo Doubs and a 23-yarder to Efton Chism III late in a 29-26 win over the Bills.
A week later he completed 26 of 34 for 374 yards, four touchdown passes and a rushing score as New England beat Las Vegas 45-17. On Sunday he threw three more and was not sacked in a 26-19 win over the Jets.
Passer rating by game, 2026
Tom Brady with the Patriots at FedExField, Aug. 28, 2009. Photo by Keith Allison, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.A run last seen in 2014
Three straight games with at least three touchdown passes is something no Patriots quarterback had done since Tom Brady in 2014, Mike Reiss noted.
Maye was not celebrating after the Jets game. He pointed to two lost fumbles and a slow start, and agreed with Mike Vrabel that New England had been fortunate.
“It was sloppy, it wasn’t clean.”— Drake Maye, after the 26-19 win over the Jets
Two halves of a season
Soldier Field in Chicago, seen from the air in May 2014. Photo by Ken Lund, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.Thursday in Chicago
The 4-2 Patriots visit the 4-2 Bears on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 8:15 p.m. ET, which is 3:15 a.m. Friday in Cairo. It is Maye’s second meeting with Caleb Williams, the first pick of the 2024 draft, two spots ahead of him.
The first was a 19-3 New England win at Soldier Field in November 2024, when both were rookies and Williams was sacked nine times. Williams returned from a torn hamstring on Sunday and completed 30 of 36 for 305 yards in a 31-23 win at Atlanta.
The short week hits New England up front. Guards Alijah Vera-Tucker and Ben Brown and right tackle Morgan Moses were all hurt against the Jets. Doubs, whose 261 receiving yards still lead the team, went on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.
- Patriots 19, Bears 3: Maye vs. Williams, rookie year
- Patriots at Bears, 8:15 p.m. ET
- Patriots at Miami
Six games in, Maye’s numbers look like two different quarterbacks: one touchdown and six interceptions, then ten and one. New England won the games that followed the change. Thursday in Chicago, on a short week and a patched line, is the next test of which version is the real one in 2026.
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