Jets now have to contend with the emergence of Patriots QB Drake Maye
The Patriots' Drake Maye and Jets coach Aaron Glenn. Credit: AP/Robert F. Bukaty
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.
The Jets didn’t get to see much of Drake Maye when he was a rookie quarterback. It doesn’t feel as if they’ll be that lucky going forward.
When they faced the Patriots in Week 3 last year, Maye made his NFL debut, coming off the bench in mop-up duty late in the fourth quarter of the Jets’ 24-3 win at MetLife Stadium. He completed 4 of 8 passes for 22 yards.
About a month later, in Week 8, he started against the Jets and ran for a touchdown early on but was knocked out of the game with a concussion before halftime. He completed 3 of 6 passes for 23 yards before backup Jacoby Brissett led the Patriots to a 25-22 win.
Thursday night was a completely different story and, from all appearances, a completely different quarterback. Playing in front of a home crowd that serenaded him with MVP chants for most of the game, Maye was in complete control of the contest. He completed his first 11 passes and finished 25-for-34 for 281 yards and a touchdown in a 27-14 win over the Jets.
There were various moments during the game when Maye looked a bit like reigning MVP Josh Allen, such as when he tiptoed on the sideline before dropping off a pass. At other times, he looked like Patrick Mahomes, such as when he delivered a quick jump pass for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Or maybe he wasn’t doing impressions. Maybe it was just him.
That’s the worst possible scenario for the Jets. They have barely emerged from a long era in which the Patriots dominated them, thanks mostly to having the best quarterback in the division — and, oh yeah, in history — for two decades or so. Now, without so much as a breather in between, the Patriots look to be reloaded at the position. This while the Bills and Allen are still one of the most dangerous if currently underperforming offenses in the league.
Add to that the somber fact that the Jets entered Thursday night’s game against the Patriots with Justin Fields riding a two-game winning streak but still barely keeping a grip on his starting job with the team. Fields’ production wasn’t as miserable as it had been — he completed 15 of 26 for 116 yards and a touchdown and ran for 67 and a touchdown, and three of his incomplete passes were dropped by AD Mitchell in his Jets debut — but it was capped by a fumble midway through the fourth quarter and then an incompletion for Jeremy Ruckert on fourth-and-4 from the 15 with 1:57 left.
It was far from the kind of poise with which his counterpart performed.
There clearly is an arms race in the AFC East. Two teams have arms. Two teams do not. The Jets, in case you haven’t figured it out, are in the second group.
They visited Gillette Stadium not only to measure themselves against a Patriots team that had won seven in a row and represented a steep step up in competition from the previous two foes, but also to face Maye for the first time since his laughable rookie flails against them. It figured to give them an idea of where they stand now, and maybe even a clear glimpse of just how bad things can get for them over the next few years.
“That is a well-coached team and they have a quarterback who is playing really really well, which we all knew,” Jets coach Aaron Glenn said after the game. He said he saw “nothing different” from Maye in this game than what he has been doing all season long.
The players couldn’t help but compliment Maye. Will McDonald IV called him “a really good quarterback.” Linebacker Quincy Williams said he was “nice,” a subtle but effective description.
Jets cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. played against Maye in college and also last year when he was in Tennessee.
“Everything was kind of new to him, he was a rookie,” Brownlee said of that version of Maye. “From playing him last year to this year, he has gotten way better. Tons better. You can tell he’s put the time in and put the work in . . . I’ve been a fan of him since college, so kudos to him.”
At some point the Jets will want to get their own Maye. That’s why they traded away Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner, to secure the draft capital that will go toward landing a rookie quarterback for them to groom. Maybe when they visit Gillette Stadium next year, they’ll have that QB on their team.
This time, though, it was the Patriots who had the clear head start on them.
“I think everybody knows he’s a good athlete, but he’s really a good athlete,” Glenn said of Maye during this short week. “And to be that big? And then just going into his second year in the league, to be able to process the information that he’s processing right now, I mean, it’s pretty unique to see that from such a young guy. To have all the talk of MVP candidate right now and the way he’s going about doing his business, he’s doing a good job.”
Not only has Maye led the Patriots to a 9-2 record that more than doubles the win total from a year ago and matches the combined wins of the previous two seasons, but he entered Thursday’s game with 19 touchdown passes, 2,555 passing yards and only five interceptions. He has had five games with a completion rate of at least 75% and at least two TD passes, which ties for the fourth most in a season in NFL history. Only Tom Brady (2007), Matt Ryan (2016) and Jared Goff (2024) have had more, and Brady and Ryan earned MVP honors in those seasons.
Maybe the Jets will have a young quarterback like that someday. For now? “Everything revolves around how he operates and what he does,” Glenn said of Maye during the week.
And that includes this rivalry.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
