Breaking News: Drake Maye is Becoming a Very Good Quarterback

It goes without saying, but I'm saying it anyway. Three games into this grand experiment of trying to return the Patriots to some hazy shade of their former brilliance isn't going so well. What I was calling the Summer of Hope has turned into the Autumn of Everything Feeling Just Like it Did Before. Or actually worse, in some regards:

But even having Mike Vrabel's team show less discipline and situational awareness (see Demario Douglas taking a step backwards after catching a pass on 4th & Exactly Where You're Standing) than Jerod Mayo's 4-13 abomination is no reason to give into despair. There is always some good to be found if you look hard enought. It's like the Buddhist "Parable of the Monk and the Tigers." Where a monk is chased off a cliff by tigers, grabs a vine that is about to break, causing him to drop down to where other tigers are waiting to eat him. And as he finds himself caught between death from above and below, he finds a strawberry, picks it and eats it. And in that moment, he's happy for what he's been given. 

So with the Patriots being chased off a metaphorical cliff by some Raiders and Steelers, and Panthers waiting to devour them on Sunday, let's not let the situation distract us from the sweet gift of nature that has been ripening right in front of our eyes these past few weeks. Let's instead live in the moment, and savor what's been happening with Drake Maye. 

As bad as things might be in terms of penalties, turnovers, and tackling - which I get is the equivalent of your doctor starting a sentence with "Aside from the failure of your heart, lungs and kidneys ...", but bear with me - if nothing else Maye has his team moving the ball and putting points on the scoreboard. Which just so happns to be the perfect place for your points. 

A year ago at this time, the Pats were coming off a 24-3 humiliation at the hands of the Jets in prime time. They were averaging 13.0 points, 246 total yards and a disgraceful 102 passing yards. As we speak, Maye has them averaging 20.0 points, 346 totay yards, and 246 through the air. Which isn't good enough to overcome their drive-killing unforced errors and turnovers, but it's not nothing. Those numbers are good for 21st (they finished 30th last year), 11th (31st) and 7th (dead last) in the league. 

As far as Maye himself, here's where his numbers stand:

Completion %: 2nd, with 72.6%

Passing yards: 5th, 785

Passing touchdowns: 7th, 5

1st downs: 6th, 37

Success rate: 7th, 49.2%

Passer rating: 9th, 101.3

Catchable Throw Rate: 3rd, 81.1% 

Completion Rate: 2nd, 72.6%  

Adjusted Completion Rate: 2nd, 83.8%   

Completion Over Expectation: 1st, 9.4%

And he's leading all passers in efficiency on 3rd & 4th downs:

All of which have come, depending on which analytics site you go by, with the 9th least average time to throw at just 2.7 seconds. And are more impressive still when you consider the lack of help from the run game:

Speaking of the run game, Maye is 10th in rushing yards among quarterbacks with 87, and 9th with 4.1 YPA among all non-RBs with at least 15 carries. 

If you want to drill down into the more esoteric ways to measure performance, and I do whenever they help my argument, there's these:

Boston Herald - Maye ranks sixth in total EPA (expected points added), eighth in EPA/play, fifth in completion percentage over expected, seventh in success rate and seventh in accuracy rate. Once again, it appears Maye ranks as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks and that he’s already taken the requisite jump this season. …

FTN has him charted with four turnover-worthy throws. PFF charted him with four turnover-worthy plays. He ranks 13th-highest in FTN’s turnover-worthy throw rate, and he ranks 13th-highest in PFF’s turnover-worthy play rate. He ranked 11th-highest in turnover-worthy throw rate in 2024 and third-highest in turnover-worthy play rate, so it’s an ongoing issue that bears monitoring.

That stuff about the turnovers is, of course, mission critical. QBs throw picks. And since they touch the ball all the time, they fumble it the most. Which doesn't make it acceptable. But as many mistakes as he's made, he's still at or above average in the league at his position. 

And yet for all of these numbers, he's demonstrating the exact attitude you want out of the QB1 on a 1-2 team:

So there you have it. If nothing else, Vrabel and Josh McDaniels have so far succeeded when it comes to the No. 1 priority of this franchise in 2025. Developing their 23 year old Franchise Quarterback into one of the best in the league. The guy who can carry a team to victory when not much else is going right, like he did in Miami in Week 2. It's a small sample size right now. But that doesn't mean we have no right to feel good about this major part of Patriots return to glory being addressed. Without this, nothing else will matter. So let's just enjoy it.