Drake Maye had his first career matchup against the quarterback he’s gained comparisons to throughout his rookie season in Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen. The New England Patriots quarterback showed similar qualities and stepped up in the coldest weather he’s played in.
Maye’s efficient first half allowed the Patriots to jump out with momentum against the AFC East Champions on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately for New England, the team did not finish with that momentum in a 24-21 loss at Highmark Stadium.
Maye went 22-for-36 through the air for 260 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Here’s the full report card for Maye’s Week 16 performance with the Patriots.
POSITIVES
Shot play conversion
Maye got the Patriots rolling on the opening drive when he hit wideout Kayson Boutte for a 28-yard touchdown.
The throw was on a rope down the right sideline on a perfect ball that Maye dropped right over Buffalo defender Kaiir Elam. The throw looked eerily similar to Maye’s first career touchdown pass, which coincidentally went to Boutte against the Houston Texans in Week 6 at Gillette Stadium.
First-half efficiency
The Patriots particularly made a major impact on third down to heavily keep possession in the first half. A week after not tallying a single third-down conversion in a disastrous loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Maye brought the Patriots offense to 5-for-8 in the first half. New England even converted a fourth-down try with a fake punt with Dell Pettus on the run.
Clock management
The Patriots knew that keeping the ball out of Allen’s hands would be an early key to victory and an overall competitive effort on Sunday. Maye kept the offense on schedule by holding the ball for most of the afternoon.
New England tallied 17 first downs in the first half with 20 minutes of possession.
Blitz management
Buffalo dialed up the pressure in multiple series hoping to shake Maye off his game. Instead. The rookie remained as cool as the game time air in Western New York. He beat a five-man rush for the Boutte touchdown and found the second-year wideout again for a 32-yard gain on a crucial third-quarter drive.
The Bills did blitz heavily in the fourth quarter, which forced a few throwaways from Maye while the Patriots chased a double-digit deficit.
NEGATIVES
Turnovers
For the seventh consecutive game, the rookie passer threw in an interception in a frustrating trend. There’s really only a few consistent areas to critique Maye, but this is surely the most prominent one.
After the aforementioned big gain for Boutte, Maye left a ball shallow in the end zone intended for Austin Hooper through some traffic. Buffalo defensive back Cam Lewis came off the route for a sliding interception to take the ball away with the Bills leading by a field goal late in the third quarter.
Drake’s seven-game run with an interception is the longest active streak in the NFL, per the CBS broadcast.
Maye also had a backward pass to Rhamondre Stevenson roll into the end zone that Buffalo recovered for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
GRADE: B+
Maye had a strong first half that fell into a game plan worth of beating the Bills. Unfortunately, the Patriots made several mistakes with turnovers in the second half while the defense failed to stop the running game of James Cook.
Maye was involved in two of those turnovers, adding to his rare leading issue, which still needs plenty of work.
