Patriots quarterback Drake Maye completed 21 of 23 passes against the Titans to break Tom Brady's team completion record for a game.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye completed 21 of 23 passes against the Titans to break Tom Brady's team completion record for a game.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
NASHVILLE — A year ago, here in Tennessee, Drake Maye gave us a glimpse of his football magic. His daring scramble in the game’s final seconds, a 12-second dance from sideline to sideline that ended with him throwing a touchdown and pushing the Patriots to overtime, was one of the most impressive highlights of his rookie season.
But he also gave us a glimpse of his football demons, which is why the magic didn’t result in a win. As high as Maye soared as time expired in regulation, he crashed to the ground in OT, throwing the interception that ended the game.
In hindsight, it was a fitting representation of the 2024 Patriot experience, where occasional bursts of greatness were often subsumed by mistakes. No wonder the team that arrived in Tennessee this weekend bore little resemblance to the one that lost here last year, the result of a much-needed franchise reset.
But if the schedule makers made sure that new head coach Mike Vrabel would snare the headlines for the chance to torment the franchise that fired him, they just as surely opened the door to redemption for Maye.
And this time, the quarterback was ready.
Adding yet another gem to the best stretch of football of his young professional life, Maye was fantastic Sunday, completing 21 of his 23 passes (91.3 percent) for 222 yards, throwing two touchdowns, and rushing for an additional 62 yards, leading the Patriots to a 31-13 win. That’s four in a row now for first-place New England, a team that continues to surge, behind a quarterback who continues to grow into one of the best throwers of the football in today’s NFL.
“I think there’s an athleticism to him that’s really, really cool,” Vrabel said. “I think he’s really accurate from all different spots, whether it’s in the pocket, off platform, he’s really done a nice job so far spreading the football around.”
It’s not just that Maye spread it around, though he did connect with eight different receivers Sunday. It’s how he’s doing it. The two-minute drill before halftime that saw him open with a 9-yard scramble before hitting Hunter Henry for 12 yards and then Kayshon Boutte with a beautiful deep middle pass that went 39 yards for a touchdown. Quick, decisive, and mistake-free, the drive was so impressive, and so important, erasing a slow start. The TD put the Pats ahead for good, 17-13, and set the stage for a patented double score across halftime, a third-quarter touchdown by Rhamondre Stevenson that made it 24-13.
Maye completed all six of his throws in the Stevenson drive, wrapped around the lone pass thrown by backup Josh Dobbs, who had to come in when Maye was checked for a concussion. The last one Maye threw just before Stevenson’s 4-yard score was a fourth-and-1 toss to Demario Douglas, who did his best Spiderman impression to snare the ball with his right hand while his body was stretched to the left. Overall, the receivers were on their game all day, their efforts contagious in the best possible way. Like the 3-yard touchdown that tight end Austin Hooper grabbed over the top of his defender while getting two feet in bounds, a second-quarter score that capped an 11-play, 93-yard drive.
It all starts with Maye, whose evolution from the hyped-up newbie prone to sailing balls with too much exuberance or losing balls with too much carelessness to this calm, controlled presence in the pocket is forcing the league to take notice. Maybe it’s better coaching, or maybe it’s better protection, or maybe it’s better talent around him, improvements that allow him to avoid playing hero ball. But still, he has to do it.
On Sunday, he broke Tom Brady’s franchise record for completion percentage and became the first New England quarterback with three games in a season with an 80 percent completion rate. As if passing Brady isn’t eye-popping enough, he joined Patrick Mahomes and Dan Marino as the only players in NFL history under the age of 24 with at least 200 yards passing and a rating of 100 or higher in six straight games. His rating Sunday was 135.9.
It’s heady stuff that doesn’t seem to be going to Maye’s head.
“There’s a lot of demand there from [offensive coordinator] Josh McDaniels and myself, and he’s responded to that,” Vrabel said. “As far as leadership, he’s had to show this offense, and he’s kept talking about how he wants to earn it. I told him he’s earned it. If he doesn’t like something in practice, he gets it fixed. If he wants a better practice on Friday, he talks about it before we go out there. Those guys respond to him, the things that he says and the way that he operates.”
It’s like watching a franchise quarterback in the making.
“He keeps his poise,” Douglas said. “You know, never too high, never too low. And he comes into the game very prepared. A great leader, great leader. And his confidence is getting up there. I want it out of the room. As we play week after week after week, I need it to keep going up. Proud of him for sure.”
Late in the game Sunday, as the streams of disgruntled Titans fans streamed to the exits, the strong pockets of New England faithful serenaded their new coach with chants of “Vra-bel, Vra-bel.” No doubt, he earned it.
But as the coach later stood by his victorious locker room door and greeted everyone who ran inside with a hug and a high-five, another distant chant could be heard from the field. The last of the Patriots was finally making his way through the tunnel, and as Drake Maye jogged by, their voices rained overhead: “M-V-P.”
Not yet. But not impossible.
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.