FOXBORO — The M-V-P chants are getting louder by the week at Gillette Stadium, and Drake Maye is back in the driver’s seat as the betting favorite for the postseason award.
Maye turned in an MVP-caliber performance on primetime in front of a national audience on “Monday Night Football” in the Patriots’ 33-15 win over the Giants.
Maye went 24-of-31 for 282 yards with two touchdowns in the Week 13 victory. Head coach Mike Vrabel said he’s “appreciative” that Maye is his quarterback.
“I think he’s realizing what he can be and the impact that he makes on this offense,” Vrabel said after Monday night’s win.
So, what is that?
“Shoot, just trying to be the conductor,” Maye said. “He calls it the conductor of the offense. Just trying to be the face of the offense. Trying to – you know, want the pressure. You want the ball in my hands. I tried to show that all year and throughout my career. That’s what I kind of feel like.
“I know they feed off of me and feed off of my energy and feed off of what I say to those guys. And what I say means something to them. So when adversity hits, I’ve got to respond. And from there I’ve got to be the same guy, same guy every day. Don’t try to change, and just be myself. That’s what the guys like the most.”
Vrabel was most impressed by the little things that Maye did in Monday night’s win: keeping his composure, keeping his eyes downfield, extending plays, scrambling for first downs and staying in bounds late in the game to keep the clock moving.
“Not throwing an incompletion there at the end of the game and scramble unselfishly – he probably could have said, ‘hey, I’m going to try to throw a touchdown’ – and go and slide and use the clock,” Vrabel said. “Those are the things that probably don’t show up on the stat sheet.”
It’s the highlight throws that will impress MVP voters, like his perfectly-placed touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte on an end zone fade, or when he hit wide receiver Kyle Williams in stride for a long touchdown.
“He put a ball in a great spot for Kyle to make a huge play or Kayshon down in the red zone, Vrabel said. “A lot of third-down conversions.”
Maye’s accuracy was back this week, as well, after more of a spotty performance last week against the Bengals, when he had a rare negative completion percentage over expected (CPOE). This week, his completion percentage was 15.8% higher than expected, per RBSDM.com.
And he was completely unrattled with two starting offensive linemen, left tackle Will Campbell and left guard Jared Wilson, out and replaced by left tackle Vederian Lowe and left guard Ben Brown.
“Shoot, I wish it was all me. There’s a lot of people in this locker room, this organization, that play a big role in us winning games,” Maye said. “And shoot, just like you, showing up every day and making fun of you all for being in the locker room on a Friday asking us questions after practice, these guys are the same thing. They show up every day and they want to get better. And just proud of the guys and this team we have and love being around them.”
Maye has now led the Patriots to an 11-2 record – tops in the NFL – and an 10-game winning streak just one year after the team turned in its second straight 4-13 season.
Maye’s right. He’s not doing it alone, but he is the conductor, and it didn’t anyone else long to figure out what kind of impact he’s had on the Patriots in a season in which they’re still overachieving.