Drake Maye’s Rise Is Becoming Buffalo’s New Problem

Last year, we saw him leave the pocket early, with Maye not necessarily being overly careful with himself physically.  Twice last season he ended up in concussion protocol, which also took him off the field after Week 1 starter Jacoby Brissett had to come in and finish things out for one of New England’s few wins in 2024.

But the biggest knock on Maye was the turnovers.  He fumbled the ball nine times during his rookie season, losing the football on six of them, as well as throwing 10 interceptions.  That was clearly a point of emphasis over the offeseason and something Maye has really taken to heart.

Despite an ugly performance against Pittsburgh in Week 3, Maye’s been much more careful with the football.  He’s also talked a lot about trying to take what he’s given while picking up yards with his feet when the defense has left open field in front of him.

One clear difference that’s contributed to his success this season has been the revamped offensive line in front of him.  Rookie left tackle Will Campbell has been outstanding. Left guard Jared Wilson, who had some rough moments early on, has also settled in.  Center Garrett Bradbury has been steady to this point, with Bradbury currently the lone New England Patriots offensive player who has played 100% of the snaps for the club this season.  Morgan Moses has provided the anchor at right tackle alongside Mike Onwenu that was also missing last year.

The result has seen Maye will more room to operate, and the chance to make more of the plays we saw at various points in 2024.  Still, the biggest thing for Maye has been making sure that, unlike last year, he wanted to become a player who no longer made any plays that cost his team.

“I didn’t hurt the team,” said Maye during the team’s win in Buffalo last month.  “Protected the football, made some plays, protected the football, and gave us a chance to win. And used my teammates around me. That’s the biggest thing.”

A Drastic Turnaround From 2024

Overall, when it comes to fumbles this season, Maye’s had six fumbles but lost the ball just twice.  He’s also thrown only 5 interceptions while having already eclipsed last season’s touchdown total (15) with 20.

The comparisons to Josh Allen have certainly been something people have discussed, with Allen also having spent the first couple of seasons as a player who was turnover-prone.  That narrative reached a point in Buffalo where there were doubts about Allen’s future as their starter before he finally took a turn and began elevating his team into becoming a contender in the AFC.

The feeling with Allen was that he played a little too much heroball, often trying to make a play rather than live to fight another down.  Maye also fell victim to that during his rookie year, trying to elevate a team that didn’t have much talent around him.

Still, while Maye seems to have begun putting that behind him, Allen hasn’t.  Despite being in his 8th NFL Season, Allen continues to find himself in situations where he tries to do too much and oftentimes ends up making mistakes in critical moments that hurt his team.

That’s part of what cost the Bills Thursday night in their 23-19 loss in Houston.  Allen threw a critical interception deep in his own territory after he tried to force a pass to receiver Elijah Moore on a first-down play late in the first half.  Despite having two other players open for short gains, Allen threw into triple coverage, and the ball was picked off and would have been a pick-six had the Texans not been called for an illegal blindside block.

Houston ended up with a field goal, and that sequence came back to haunt them down the stretch before Allen ultimately threw a game-ending interception on the Bills’ final drive.

With Maye, there haven’t been many moments like that this season.  Head-scratching decisions are almost non-existent, nor has he been careless with the football.

When it comes to pocket awareness, very rarely do you see him lose track of guys around him the way that Allen has continued to.  He’s also been better with his decision-making, both with his throws and with his legs.  He’s definitely more content with picking up short yards, as well as improving at getting down a little quicker than he did during his rookie season.

For a player in just his second year, it’s a significant step forward, and it’s also been the reason why the “MVP” chants have become louder for him as this season has gone on.

“I would say his performance in general has been what we expect,” said Vrabel following their win over the Jets. “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.”

“We just have to continue to focus on the little things, operation, unforced errors throughout the offense,” he added.  “The only thing that really stops us is us offensively.”

There hasn’t been much of that this season, with the Patriots becoming a team that, as Vrabel talked about after arriving, has become a club able to take advantage of ‘bad football’ by other teams.

In their meeting last month against Allen, Maye was the better player down the stretch.  He was 13-of-14 (92.9%) for 184 yards over the final two quarters, finishing yet another game in terrific fashion.  That stretch included a critical third quarter interception by Allen where Maye led the offense back 90 yards the other way on 11 plays, before Rhamondre Stevenson finished it off with a 7-yard touchdown run.

That proved to be the difference since it put New England up 20-10 at the time, putting the pressure on the Bills in a game where the Patriots ultimately walked away with a 23-20 win in Orchard Park, New York.

That victory also snapped the Bills’ 4-0 start, and Buffalo’s gone 3-3 since that loss, including having lost two of their last three.

For Maye, he’s obviously seen things take a different turn.  That win in Buffalo was the second in what’s since turned into an eight-game winning streak.  New England has a shot to improve to 10-2 on Sunday in Cincinnati, further grabbing control of the Division and potentially hosting a game in January at Gillette Stadium.

Can Maye Win in January?

The key question will then become how Maye will play when it comes to the postseason.  Allen has already proven himself to be a gamer, having gone toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.  Still, the end result has remained that the Bills haven’t been able to win one of those match-ups when it’s mattered most.

Any success Maye has will likely alter the narrative, especially when it comes to how he’s viewed around the league.  He’s been virtually flawless this season, yet he’s mostly flown under the radar during New England’s current winning streak.

A significant postseason win would change that.  Allen got one with his win over Baltimore in the Divisional Round last January, knocking out a Ravens team who many believed had Super Bowl aspirations. Buffalo did ultimately fall to Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, spoiling what most Bills fans thought might end in storybook fashion.

Now, for Bills fans, that feels further away and they’re seeing the Patriots sitting with another player who might be a thorn in their side in the coming years.

Maye making a deep postseason run would definitely add to that frustration.  To add a little more salt to the wound, at the rate things are going, the Patriots are also still very much in the mix for the top seed in the AFC with both Denver and Indianapolis.

However, one other thing worth noting is the fact Maye has already experienced more growth in one season than people saw from Allen, and his accuracy is also significantly better.  Allen finished with a 58.8% completion percentage along with 20 touchdowns and 9 interceptions in his second year in 2019, which followed a rookie year where Allen completed 52.8% of his throws with 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Maye finished his rookie campaign having completed 66.6% of his passes, with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.  This year, he’s currently at a 71.9% completion percentage and has already matched Allen’s 20 touchdown second year total, with more than a month of football still left to be played.

As a result, the question of who is the better player is already starting to play itself out, and Maye’s play certainly speaks for itself.  The only unknown is who he’ll be in big moments, which like any other player in the NFL, will ultimately cement his legacy.

For now, he already seems on pace to overtake Allen and he’s winning the battle with the eight year veteran at this point of the 2025 regular season.  But as nice as taking back the Division might be, winning in January will be where the 23-year-old can set himself apart.

If that happens, Bills fans likely won’t be happy.

Given what we’ve already seen this season, they’ll probably even be a little more unhappy should Maye join Allen in the upper echelon of quarterbacks in the NFL, and possibly even push him down the list.

With one more matchup at Gillette Stadium still ahead next month against Allen and the Bills and a trip to Baltimore against the Ravens a week later, we’ll likely learn a lot about this Patriots team, and Maye, when it gets to that point.  As nice as all of this talk might be in November, how a team is playing over the final stretch of the season will be the difference.

As we know, to become the best you have to beat the best, and one can only hope that there is even better play still to come from Maye as we head into this final stretch.