From doubt to dominance, the author admits their mistake: Drake Maye isn't just good, he's the Patriots' offensive star, leading them to unexpected heights.
All season long, I marveled at the fact that New England Patriots QB Drake Maye was one of the leading candidates to win the NFL's MVP Award. I told people that I didn't think he was a very good QB and thought he was only getting momentum because he was the QB of a team with a really good record and no star players to speak of.
I will admit when I am wrong, although sometimes it takes a while, and I was wrong about this one.
Drake Maye is not only a really good QB, leaps and bounds better than he was in his rookie campaign (when he somehow made a Pro Bowl!), but he is the star player and he's maybe the main reason why the New England offense has been as good as it has been this season.
Let me show you some of the stats that I like to look at when I get into arguments about whether certain QBs are good or not....
- 5th in On Target % (Is he accurate? Yes.)
- 35th in Drop % (Are his WRs helping him out or not? Yes, but maybe his accuracy is helping them catch more balls?)
- 2nd in Intended Air Yards / Pass Attempt (Is he throwing the ball downfield? Yes.)
- 1st in Completed Air Yards / Pass Attempt (Is he completing passes downfield? Yes.)
- 24th in YAC Per Completion (Are his stats being boosted by WR YAC? No!)
- 20th in Pocket Time (Is his offensive line giving him an abnormal advantage? Also no.)
- 17th in Pressure % (He's facing an average amount of pressure.)
As a matter of fact, I had trouble finding any stats that didn't show Drake Maye to be one of the top QBs in the league this season. And his growth from last year to this year is startling:
- Completion % jumped from 66.6% to 72.0%
- TD % up from 4.4% to 6.3%
- Int % down from 3.0% to 1.6%
- Success % way up from 46% to 54.7%
- Yards per attempt up from 6.7 to 8.9, air yards per attempt up from 6.29 to 9.46.
- Passing yards per game up from 175.1 to 258.5.
He's also run for 450 yards and 4 touchdowns, but he's shown himself to be such a stellar pocket passer that the team hardly ever calls run plays for him anymore (he leads the league in scrambles out of pocket by a lot, though).
And the only real difference between this year's Patriots team (14-3) and last year's Patriots team (3-9 with Maye as the starter) is an entirely new coaching staff, the addition of journeyman WR Stefon Diggs, and a year of growth and maturity from the guy behind center.
I know, even with Justin Herbert's broken hand, it's easy to head into most games thinking that the Los Angeles Chargers have the advantage at the QB position. After doubting it for about two seasons now, I think I have to admit that might not be true on Sunday night in New England.