Some quick thoughts following the New England Patriots’ win over the Jets:
1) Coming into Thursday night’s game against New York, Drake Maye had quietly had a tough stretch when it came to his play in the first quarter in recent weeks.
Through the first seven weeks of the season, Maye was a combined 27-of-39 (69.2%) for 339 yards and 5 touchdowns in the opening quarter, which saw New England ranked third in the NFL in first-quarter scoring with 46 points behind just the Eagles (55) and Seahawks (49).
However, over the previous three games ahead of Thursday night, Maye had been just 10-of-19 (52.6%) for 176 yards and 2 TDs. Last week he was just 3-of-8 for 91 yards, with most of those yards coming on the 72-yard catch and run by Kyle Williams. It was one of his best throws of the afternoon, but Maye battled the elements and had issues with his accuracy during the early portion of the game.
As a result, the hope was that the second-year QB could get off to a more even start against New York in front of the home crowd, and Maye certainly answered that bell.
He started off 5-of-5 for 23 yards on New England’s first offensive possession, with Maye and the offense punching back after putting together a 13-play, 69-yard scoring drive that lasted nearly 8 minutes. That answered a Jets first drive where New York went 72 yards on 14 plays and scored on a touchdown run by Justin Fields to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead.
Maye was dialed in, finishing the first half 14-of-16 (87.5%) for 140 yards and his first incompletion of the night didn’t come until 3:36 left in the half, and it came on an uncharacteristic drop by Stefon Diggs.
But Maye’s fast start helped New England take a 14-7 lead into the locker room at the half and they never looked back, with chants of “MVP” raining down all night after Maye finished 25-of-35 (73.5%) for 281 yards along with a touchdown.
He’s been absolutely outstanding all year, quieting all the doubters who had written him off after Week 2. He’s been much better with his ball security and his vision and pocket awareness has just been incredible. That and the heads-up plays he continues to make throughout the football game, including one play Thursday night early in the third quarter, where he scrambled out to his right and then threw to Stefon Diggs as defenders closed in when they thought he was going to run out of bounds.
They thought they had him. But Maye knew where the line of scrimmage was, and as they came off Diggs to try and make a play on the young QB, Maye connected with the veteran. That moved the chains and set up his touchdown pass to Henderson a few plays later.
“I would say his performance in general has been what we expect,” said Mike Vrabel after the game. “We have high expectations for Drake. He has high expectations for himself. He’ll continue to improve. I know that he’ll stay humble through this all. Again, as far as the performance tonight, I thought it was, again, in first view, pretty good. It was good enough to win. We took care of the football. We just have to continue to focus on the little things, operation, unforced errors throughout the offense. The only thing that really stops us is us offensively.”
2) TreVeyon Henderson was terrific again on Thursday night as he continues to see an increased workload with Rhamondre Stevenson sidelined.
He finished the night with three touchdowns, with two coming on the ground, while the rookie hauled in another through the air early in the third quarter. He’s been outstanding in recent weeks, and his strength running the football, along with the fact that he inflicts some damage of his own on defenders, is something that certainly stands out. He’s also been significantly better in pass protection, which has likely been a factor in him clearly gaining the confidence of the coaching staff.
He carried the football 19 yards for 62 yards on Thursday night, with one of his touchdown runs coming as the guys around him pushed the pile and the Patriots forced their way into the end zone for the score. That was something Vrabel referenced in the locker room video after the game, and seeing the energy and fight this group has been playing with has been really fun to watch these last couple of weeks.
So far, Henderson’s been the explosive and versatile back they’ve been looking for, and he was certainly terrific in this one.
3) Stefon Diggs came up big on Thursday night, hauling in 9 passes on 11 targets for 105 yards. That was Diggs’ 3rd 100+ yard game of the season, and more importantly, he was responsible for two of the four passing first downs Maye had on third down in this game. He’s also New England’s leading receiver on third down this season, and that remained the case against the Jets after he was targeted five times with three receptions.
He’s been another player who many wondered how he’d fit in, but he’s been a terrific leader in the locker room, and he’s been the threat on the field they’ve been lacking. So far through 11 games, he’s also one of the key reasons this offense has scored over 100 points better than it did a year ago at this point in the season.
4) Jack Gibbens had a solid outing, with the linebacker finishing the night second on the team in tackles with six behind Robert Spillane (9), including one for a loss. He was active all over the field, and he’s also been one of New England’s better players on special teams this season.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed by Vrabel, with the veteran having drawn praise from his coach, who calls him “Dr. Gibby.”
“Dr. Gibby always knows, usually, what to do for the most part,” said Vrabel after the game. “He’s usually in the right place at the right time, sniffs out the screens. Just seems to be in the right place at the right time, does his job, usually does it fairly well. He’s a great teammate, cares deeply about his teammates, and he’s fun to coach, and he’s a great person to be around each and every day.”
5) Tough night for rookie Kyle Williams, who clearly wasn’t on the same page with Maye in this one. Williams had a chance at another big play Thursday night, but that went awry after a deep pass down the field came off of Maye’s hand a little strangely and hung up long enough where it was nearly picked off.
Another deep pass up the left sideline where Williams didn’t break off his route went incomplete, as did another where he broke his route off when Maye thought he was going long, spoiling a chance for Maye potentially hitting the 300 yard mark, as well keeping Williams from putting together back-to-back productive games.
This has been an issue in the past under Josh McDaniels, where receivers have to think on the fly, and it’s clear Williams is still learning.
With 10 days now before they face the Bengals, hopefully having a few days off, along with a nice break, will help all of these guys tighten things up the next time they line up in Cincinnati a week from Sunday on November 23rd, at 1:00pm ET.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
