MORSE: Clearing the Notebook From Patriots' Win Over the Jets

The New England Patriots are AFC East Division Champions. The 1^st day of practice on April 7th, Head Coach Mike Vrabel addressed the team and said his goal is to win the Division.

Check.

Host a home playoff game.

Check.

And compete for a Championship.

TBD.

In the locker room after the game, he said ‘We aren’t done yet,” but they got the 1^st one taken care of. I love the AFC East Division Championship T-shirts. ‘Been there, WON that!’ Winning the division is just the first step, and they are not satisfied.

This from Nick Cattles – Patriots are not just a product of their historical easy schedule. He re-posted this from X by NFL-Researcher (Tony Holzman-Escareno. Senior Researcher @NFL)

Drake Maye passer rating by situation (QB ranks)…

Overall – 112.9 (1st)
Deep (20+ Air Yds) – 129.2 (1st)*
Under Pressure – 102.6 (1st)*
On the Road – 120.2 (1st)
When Trailing – 110.4 (1st)*
Inside the Pocket – 114.9 (1st)*
Outside the Numbers – 123.0 (2nd)*
Past the Sticks – 126.0 (1st)*
vs Zone Coverage – 110.2 (1st)*
vs Blitz – 129.3 (1st)*
vs Sub-packages – 110.6 (1st)*
On Straight Dropbacks – 109.5 (1st)*
In Tight Windows – 75.1 (2nd)*
On 1st Down – 134.4 (1st)
Outdoors – 111.3 (1st)
vs 2-High Safeties – 102.5 (4th)*
On 3rd/4th Down – 103.1 (4th)

*Per Next Gen Stats

Next Gen Stats – Maye had the 2^nd best game by Dropback Success Rate (83.3%) in the last 10 years. Ben Solak stated, “He also had the 2^nd best EPA per Dropback (1.28) in the last 10 years.”

Here is more on Maye and his brilliance in the game. Dante Koplowitz-Fleming of Good Morning Football had this to say about Maye. “Maye currently leads all qualified quarterbacks in completion percentage (71.7 percent), average yards per pass attempt (8.9), and passer rating (112.9). His MVP case has been made.

But in Week 17, albeit against a Jets defense that is still without an interception, Maye was (nearly) perfect. He completed over 90 percent of his passes, threw for 256 yards and five touchdowns and led the Patriots to a 42-10 win. In doing so, Maye became the first player in the history of the NFL to complete over 90 percent of his passes while throwing for at least 250 yards and five touchdowns in a game. One of one. Lowering those statistical thresholds, it was Maye’s seventh game of 2025 in which he completed at least 75 percent of his passes while throwing for at least 200 yards and two touchdowns. The only QB in NFL history with more such games in a season? Tom Brady in the Patriots’ perfect 2007 regular season. Brady became the first player in Patriots history to be named NFL MVP that season.

Maye, (23 years old) currently has 30 passing touchdowns against just eight interceptions on the season, putting him on pace to become just the second player with 30-plus TD passes and fewer than 10 picks in a season before age 25, joining Lamar Jackson (age 22) in his Lamarvelous 2019 MVP campaign.”

Seth Walder of ESPN had this to add about Maye. “99.8 QBR (ESPN) is the highest in the metric’s history.”

The Patriots played like a hot knife through butter, scoring a TD on their 1^st six drives. On their 1^st two drives, they never had a 3^rd down play. They outgained the Jets 344 yards to 77 yards in the 1^st half.

I didn’t give Kyle Williams his props for outstanding blocking. He had a nice block springing Rhamondre Stevenson on his 22-yard run in the 1^st Quarter. Williams ‘ 75.7 Blocking Grade from PFF was the 2nd highest on the team. Talking of blocking, Efton Chism should be lauded for his blocking, running a lot of the routes and blocking assignments that Mack Hollins did. Chism executed a great rub route, where he jammed up the defender covering Rhamondre Stevenson on his key 3^rd down and 8, for a first down reception. Chism was 2^nd on the team for snaps in the game.

Adonai Mitchell is an awful receiver, and it’s no wonder the Colts included him in the Sauce Gardiner trade. I think the WRs the Patriots have on their Practice Squad are better than Mitchell.

Dell Pettus led the team in Tackles with 6, which tied Jahlani Tavai. Gibbens had 5 Tackles, as did Brenden Schooler. Former NY Jet UDFA in 2024, DT Leonard Taylor had 4 Tackles. One was a Tackle For Loss of Breece Hall. Newly signed Linebacker Chad Muma had 4 Tackles. K’Lavon Chaisson had a big knockdown (should have been an Interception) of a screen pass. Later, he had the run stuff with Cory Durden on the 2^nd fake punt for a turnover on downs. Cory Durden nearly broke up the first Fake Punt. He also contributed 4 QB pressures and a run stuff of Breece Hall. On the downside, Christian Barmore had zero tackles.

Taylor Kyles wrote this. “Only QB with 90% Completion % on 15+ passes and he has done it twice this season. Tom Brady did it once in 23 years in the league, Maye at age 23, has done it twice in 16 games this year, and 28 games started in his career. His 12.2 yards per attempt was the largest amount in the league this year.

Mike Sando added, “In 13,647 performances since 2000, that was the single best game performance by a QB. “

Greg Bedard also had this to say about Maye. ”1^st player in NFL history to have two games in a season with 200+ yards, 2+ TDs, 90% Completions %.

Patriots have the 2^nd best Offense based on EPA per play.

The Patriots ended the 5-year reign of the Buffalo Bills as AFC East Division Champs. The Bills are the only team in history to win their division 5 straight years and never make it to the Super Bowl.

Credit has to go to CLNS Media’s Taylor Kyles. When the schedule came out in the Spring, he immediately called it a 13-win season for the Patriots. He was ridiculed, made fun of, and labeled as a homer, but damn it, he was right. The season did not fall out the way that Kyle’s thought it would, but the team is on the precipice of a 14-win season. If you do not follow Taylor Kyles, I suggest that you do so. He is one of the best up-and-coming reporters covering the Patriots on a daily basis.

This is from Mike Reiss in his notebook column today. “How rare is the 8-0 road record under 1^st year Head Coach Mike Vrabel? Consider that the only other time a 1^st year Head Coach had gone unbeaten on the road in the Super Bowl era was Coach George Seifert with the San Francisco 49’ers in 1989. A notable difference between Seifert and Vrabel is that Seifert had taken over for Bill Walsh, whose 1988 team was 10-6 and finished in 1^st place in the NFC West. Vrabel took over a 4-13 team.”

Offensive Line Grades

	Season	Baltimore Ravens			Season Stats
	Overall	Offense	Pass Blck	Run Blck	Sacks	QB Hits	Hurries	Pressure
Lowe	61.5	68.1	64.9	67.8	1	2	10	13
Wilson	50.2 68	53.3	67.3	44.1	4	7	17	28
Bradbury	61.1 27	67.7	76.2	63.2	0	4	15	19
Onwenu	77.1 8	79.7	86.4*	72.7	2	1	18	21
Moses	71.7 29	67.8	39.3	63.3	1	5	21	27

	Season	New York Jets			Season Stats
	Overall	Offense	Pass Blck	Run Blck	Sacks	QB Hits	Hurries	Pressure
Lowe	61.5	65.1	68.6	60	1	2	12	15
Brown	68.5	71	50	73	0	2	7	9
Bradbury	61.1 26	56.8	78.4	51	0	4	15	19
Onwenu	77.1 8	75.4	77	70.9	2	1	18	21
Moses	71.7 29	85.1 *	77.9	86 *	1	5	21	27

*Offense Grade and Run Blocking Grade were the highest of the season for Morgan Moses. His 86 Run Blocking Grade was tops on the team this week. Considering that Moses left the Ravens game early, only to come back in and play hurt, he came back a week later and had the best game of the season.

I show the previous week to compare to the current week. Zero sacks credited to the O-line. Lowe had two Hurries and two Pressures while the center and right side had a clean sheet.

One of the knocks on Stefon Diggs is that he doesn’t show up in December games. This has been one of Greg Bedard’s points. Well, you can’t say that anymore as Diggs has balled out with back-to-back 100-yard receiving games. He had 9 catches on 10 targets for 138- yards against the Ravens and 6 for 6 for 101-yards and a TD versus the Jets

Look for the Buffalo Bills to throw the game on Sunday so they can get what they think is a more favorable matchup against the Patriots. Allen has a foot injury and may be “rested” . If the Bills lose the to the Jets, the league needs to investigate the Bills for purposely “throwing” games, like they did against the Patriots last year to lower the Patriots draft position.

Breaking News – Stefon Diggs was arraigned on felony strangulation or suffocation, and misdemeanor assault and battery charges. The team has released a message saying they support Diggs on these charges and Diggs denies any involvement. His lawyer has already indicated that they have reached out to the alleged victim for a financial arrangement. The victim was a personal chef that was allowed to live at his residence. It sounds like a he said / she said case and a “victim” extorting a professional player.

Comings and Goings

Well, more goings than coming this time. G/C Brenden Jaimes and DB Miles Battle were released by the Patriots on Monday. This is a good sign that both Milton Williams and Will Campbell will be activated from the Injured Reserve list. I expect one or both of the released players to make it back to the Practice Squad.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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