FOXBOROUGH — Drake Maye was smiling as he jogged back into the huddle. Not because he’d just ripped off a 28-yard scramble. And certainly not because a section of fans at Gillette Stadium had begun chanting:
“M-V-P!”
Maye was actually laughing as his Patriots teammates needled him for his awkward looking slide that ended the run at the Cleveland 39-yard line.
On the next play, Maye left nothing to needle. He stepped into a perfect throw down the left side toward the end zone where Kayshon Boutte ran under it.
In two plays that went 67 yards, Maye showed his running and throwing ability. His instincts and athleticism. The chants started again. Longer and louder.
Fans across sports have been overusing that chant to pump the tires of the local stars for decades. But this was neither homerism run amok nor premature adulation.
If the V in MVP means anything, Maye has a real case in just his second year in the NFL. That bodes well for both the immediate and long-term future of the Patriots, who have the second-best record in the AFC. With Maye they’re a playoff team. Without him, they’d be barely watchable.
Anyone who needed a reminder on just how miserable life is with bad quarterback play could simply have looked across the field on Sunday. Bailey Zappe is the Browns’ No. 3 QB. That’s the same Zappe who a lot of Patriots fans wanted to be the starter in New England just two years ago.
Cleveland has been like a nature preserve for bad passers for most of the last two decades, a place where quarterbacks who weren’t ready enough, healthy enough or talented enough for the NFL could still collect a paycheck.
But even the Browns have two QBs better than Zappe.
Maye has taken New England from a place to debate which stiff gave them the best chance to be competitive to a discussion of where the Patriots quarterback ranks among the best in the NFL.
Sunday’s game played out the way his season has. Maye made a few mistakes early. But the more he saw of the Browns’ vaunted defense, the better he was at attacking it.
Cleveland came to Foxborough leading the NFL with the fewest yards per game allowed at 256.1. On Sunday, Maye racked up 332 yards on his own (282 passing, 50 rushing).
With the Patriots trailing 7-6, Maye finished the first half leading a go-ahead field-goal drive before intermission and then led New England to touchdowns on three straight possessions in the third quarter.
Even Myles Garrett, who’d just spent the afternoon intimately acquainting Maye with the Gillette Stadium turf, raved about the Patriots quarterback.
“He is good quarterback who is soon to be a great quarterback. I like how he’s grown. I know it’s nice to be a part of his journey. Hate to be on this end of it, but it’s nice to see how he’s leading his team,” said Garrett, who sacked Maye five times. “He’s helped them rebuild into what they are now, so, in a way, I’m proud of him.”
Maye tried to deflect the MVP talk, joking about his awkward slide.
But he’s not going to hold it off for long. He’s playing too well. Maye’s candidacy is serious. Vegas oddsmakers have him behind only Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in their MVP odds. Daniel Jones and Baker Mayfield will probably factor into the picture too.
Maye’s statistics are good and are likely to get better with four games remaining against teams ranked in the bottom 10 of the NFL in passing yards allowed. His completion percentage (75.2) and passer rating (118.7) are both among the tops in the NFL.
More importantly, he’s revived the Patriots, who have more wins already this year than in either of the previous two.
Kayshon Boutte doesn’t have an MVP vote, but he’s monitoring the race.
“If you look around the league at the other guys too, they’re doing great stuff too,” Boutte said. “Drake’s doing everything they’re doing, there’s not anything that he’s not doing.”
Story by Matt Vautour, masslive.com
