Second-year quarterback Drake Maye has the Patriots riding an eight-game winning streak.
Second-year quarterback Drake Maye has the Patriots riding an eight-game winning streak.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
A little more than a year ago, during a Thursday night game against the Jets, Drake Maye made his NFL debut. Thrown in for the final offensive series of a blowout loss on the road, the result wasn’t pretty. The Patriots’ prized No. 3 pick was nearly picked off on his very first professional throw, and was left searching for his helmet after a sack on his final snap.
The decision by then-coach Jerod Mayo to play Maye that night is still a head-scratcher, with the Jets defense having pummeled Jacoby Brissett so much that the risk to the future of the franchise made no sense. Though it was obvious Maye was destined to be the starting quarterback eventually, a job he would officially claim only three weeks later, let’s just say it was an inauspicious beginning.
Here we are a little more than a year later, with Maye back on the field on a Thursday night, once again looking across at the Jets. Only this time, this team is all his, and this game is all his, too.
Amid the ever-growing chants of “MVP” that now provide the soundtrack to just about every step he takes on the field, Maye guided the Patriots to a 27-14 win with a game that showed everything about his evolution as a quarterback and as a leader. That’s eight straight and counting for New England, which heads into a mini-bye with the NFL’s best record (9-2), in first place in the AFC East (3-0), and holding the inside track on the conference’s No. 1 seed and home-field advantage that comes with it.
Of course, so much has changed, beginning with the firing of Mayo and the hiring of Mike Vrabel, an experienced leader who has quickly reset the foundation and culture of the franchise, making smart moves like the hiring of old friend Josh McDaniels to lead the offense. But if those two men are living up to their résumés, Maye is in the process of writing his own, burnishing it with these week-to-week examples of just how much he has grown and improved.
“He’s my MVP, man,” tight end Hunter Henry said. “I love him to death. As a player obviously, but I love him to death as a person. He’s my guy. I’ll go to bat for him wherever he wants. I love playing with him.”
Take Henry as a perfect example. A year ago, he was so clearly Maye’s security blanket, a big, hulking target with soft hands, a reliable star amid a dearth of high-level receiving targets, the perfect safety valve when any play didn’t go quite the way Maye wanted. But as the roster got better around them, with free agent additions Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins; subsequent high draft picks running back TreVeyon Henderson or receiver Kyle Williams adding to holdovers like running back Rhamondre Stevenson, and receivers Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas; Maye had no problem spreading the wealth.
From left, Stefon Diggs, Hunter Henry, coach Mike Vrabel and TreVeyon Henderson are all better for working with Drake Maye as their quarterback.
From left, Stefon Diggs, Hunter Henry, coach Mike Vrabel and TreVeyon Henderson are all better for working with Drake Maye as their quarterback.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
On Thursday, he found five receivers for completions, led by Diggs’s nine receptions for 105 yards, and it was the rookie Henderson continuing to shine while Stevenson is out with a toe injury. Henderson scored all three of the Patriots’ touchdowns, twice on runs of 7 yards and the third on a catch from the 6, leaving Maye to say of the current round of MVP chants, “I think they were for TreVeyon tonight. He scored three touchdowns.”
No wonder these guys love playing with him. That third-quarter drive, the one that ended with the Henderson catch, was crucial to the win, pushing a one-score lead to a 21-7 advantage. It was so important, given how the Pats had missed out on their chance for their favored double-dip score, missing a field goal as the first half expired and then going three-and-out on the opening third-quarter possession. What Maye did when he next got the ball was an absolute piece of football beauty.
Six plays, 69 yards, 3:30 off the clock. Four passes, all of them complete, including a 21-yarder to Diggs that saw Maye deftly move the pocket and hit his target, and another that saw him scramble all the way to the right sideline before thrusting the ball forward to Diggs, who ran back across the field for an 18-yard gain. A little Josh Allen on the first play, a bit of Patrick Mahomes on the second.
But more and more, it’s obvious he’s just fine being Drake Maye. At 23 years old, he’s really coming into his own.
“Just a lot of consistency man,” Henry said. “I feel like he doesn’t let bad things carry over. Maybe a miss or a drive where we didn’t execute like we wanted to, he has that next play mind-set. That consistency is so important for us. Obviously he is very talented throwing the football, but he’s doing all the extra things that make him pretty fun to play with.”
Maye finished the night completing 25 of 34 for 281 yards and a touchdown. The return of his patented accuracy after a slight dip last Sunday against the Buccaneers was pretty good. But his evolution and patience since a debut against the Jets a little more than a year ago? Even better.
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.