They won’t win 8 games.
They won’t compete for the division.
They won’t make it out the first round.
They won’t beat the number one defense.
They won’t go into Denver and win.
They’re heading to Super Bowl LX
Every Patriots fan will tell you Drake Maye needs to be better.
That said, he is 23, in his first full season, in a new system, and just went against 3 top 5 defenses on his way to a Super Bowl.
We’ll take that any time.
THE HARDEST SCHEDULE IN #NFL HISTORY:
The #Patriots are the first team in NFL history to beat three top-5 defenses in the same playoffs.
1) Houston Texans
2) Denver Broncos
3) Los Angeles Chargers
“THE SCHEDULE” WAS THE HARDEST IN LEAGUE HISTORY.
We may never see this again.
Casuals are going to look at Drake Maye’s raw numbers and call him a fraud, completely ignoring context — namely that he faced three top-5 defenses in back-to-back awful weather games.
Despite that, Maye still ranked #1 in the NFL in:
•Pass EPA
•Completion Percentage
•Yards per Attempt
•Completion Percentage Over Expected
All while dealing with:
•The 3rd-most pressures of any QB
•The 4th-most sacked QB in the league
He’s played a gauntlet of defenses in the post-season:
Points allowed per game:
•Texans: 1st fewest
•Broncos: 4th fewest
•Charges: 7th fewest
Passing yards allowed per game:
•Chargers: 5th fewest
•Texans: 6th fewest
•Broncos: 7th fewest
Average target separation allowed:
•Broncos: 3rd lowest
•Texans: 5th lowest
•Chargers: 20th lowest
Defensive line pressure:
•Broncos: 1st
•Texans: 18th
•Chargers: 19th
Passing TDs allowed:
•Chargers: 3rd fewest
•Broncos: 4th fewest
•Texans: 8th fewest
That’s before acknowledging that all three teams also rank top-5 against the run by most metrics — making them unequivocally three of the five best total defenses in the NFL.
Yet Maye still:
• Threw for more passing yards than any QB who faced the Chargers
• Tied for the most passing TDs allowed by Houston (3) — (The only other QB to do that was Jacoby Brissett — and those came in garbage time during a 40–20 blowout.)
All of this came behind a bottom-tier offensive line, with no elite playmakers, and an offense that consistently put him in bad situations and that’s before even mentioning that he’s played back-to-back games in miserable weather.
I’m not saying he’s played his best football. There is clearly more meat left on the bone — but he’s avoided at-fault interceptions and has routinely come through in the biggest moments in bad weather against elite defenses.
Oh, and he’s 23 years old. Yes, 23. The second youngest QB to ever play in a Super Bowl.