Drake Maye has fallen, and it’s starting to look like that he might not get up. “He looks like a quarterback whose confidence is shot,” says Patriots beat writer Chad Graff (of The Athletic).
Hard to believe this is the same guy who was the runner-up in the MVP voting last year, with 31 touchdowns versus only 8 interceptions. Maye averaged 262 passing yards that season.
But Maye hasn’t been the same of late. It’s a slump, it can be argued, that began in last season’s playoffs. Maye in his last seven games has averaged 202 passing yards, with 7 TDs, 10 interceptions, 30 sacks and 9 fumbles. He’s finished with a passer rating under 80 in five straight games.
| DRAKE MAYE: LAST SEVEN GAMES | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Com | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Sk |
| LAC | W, 16-3 | 17 | 29 | 58.6 | 268 | 1 | 1 | 86.6 | 5 |
| Hou. | W, 28-16 | 16 | 27 | 59.3 | 179 | 3 | 1 | 100.7 | 5 |
| at Den. | W, 10-7 | 10 | 21 | 47.6 | 86 | 0 | 0 | 58.8 | 5 |
| v. Sea. | L, 13-29 | 27 | 43 | 62.8 | 295 | 2 | 2 | 79.1 | 6 |
| at Sea. | L, 10-13 | 23 | 33 | 69.7 | 178 | 1 | 3 | 54.9 | 3 |
| Pitt. | W, 20-3 | 14 | 22 | 63.6 | 208 | 0 | 1 | 75.6 | 3 |
| at Jac. | L, 6-35 | 14 | 25 | 56.0 | 199 | 0 | 2 | 48.6 | 3 |
Lots of good and great defenses on that list, of course. And the second half of last year’s AFC Championship game was played in a snowstorm. But he’s underperformed, particularly in the last two weeks. Steelers and Jaguars have credible defenses, but he should have been better in those games. He had a Dave Kreig soap football fumble at Jacksonville, eventually getting pulled for Tommy DeVito.
I am holding out hope that Maye will come around. I don’t think he’ll get back to being what he was last year, but perhaps top-10 numbers are around the corner. The Patriots are at Buffalo this week, but then the schedule gets a lot more favorable, with the Raiders, Jets, Bears, Dolphins, Packers, Lions and Chargers.
But with the kind of mental beating Maye has taken over the last month, it’s hard to see him getting right and really slicing up defenses.
In the 32-team era, 24 times a quarterback has finished with top-10 numbers, then come back the next year and finished with bottom-10 numbers. That’s ignoring guys with major injuries – I’m looking only at guys who started at least half of each season, and I’m looking at per-game production (reducing the impact of injuries).
There’s been one of these guys in each of the last four years – Stafford, Burrow, Stroud, Darnold. Maye (who was No. 5 in per-game production last year) is looking like one of those guys.
| QUARTERBACKS FALLING FROM TOP 10 TO BOTTOM 10 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | St | Pass | TDP | Int | Run | TDR | Pts | Rk |
| 2002 | Drew Bledsoe, Buff. | 16 | 272 | 1.50 | .94 | 4.2 | .13 | 20.8 | 7 |
| 2003 | Drew Bledsoe, Buff. | 16 | 179 | .69 | .75 | 1.8 | .13 | 12.6 | 29 |
| 2003 | Jeff Garcia, S.F. | 13 | 208 | 1.38 | 1.00 | 24.5 | .54 | 21.8 | 2 |
| 2004 | Jeff Garcia, Cle. | 10 | 173 | 1.00 | .90 | 16.9 | .20 | 15.5 | 25 |
| 2003 | Steve McNair, Ten. | 14 | 230 | 1.71 | .50 | 9.9 | .29 | 21.3 | 3 |
| 2004 | Steve McNair, Ten. | 8 | 168 | 1.00 | 1.13 | 16.0 | .13 | 15.0 | 27 |
| 2006 | Marc Bulger, St.L. | 16 | 269 | 1.50 | .50 | 2.8 | .00 | 19.8 | 7 |
| 2007 | Marc Bulger, St.L. | 12 | 199 | .92 | 1.25 | 1.1 | .00 | 13.7 | 24 |
| 2006 | Vince Young, Ten. | 13 | 159 | .85 | .92 | 40.6 | .54 | 18.8 | 9 |
| 2007 | Vince Young, Ten. | 15 | 170 | .60 | 1.13 | 26.3 | .20 | 14.7 | 22 |
| 2007 | Derek Anderson, Clev. | 15 | 240 | 1.87 | 1.20 | 4.7 | .20 | 21.3 | 7 |
| 2008 | Derek Anderson, Clev. | 9 | 174 | 1.00 | .78 | 6.1 | .00 | 13.7 | 29 |
| 2008 | Matt Cassel, N.E. | 15 | 236 | 1.33 | .73 | 17.1 | .13 | 19.9 | 10 |
| 2009 | Matt Cassel, K.C. | 15 | 195 | 1.07 | 1.07 | 12.6 | .00 | 15.4 | 25 |
| 2009 | Brett Favre, Min. | 16 | 263 | 2.06 | .44 | .4 | .00 | 21.4 | 8 |
| 2010 | Brett Favre, Min. | 13 | 193 | .85 | 1.46 | .6 | .00 | 13.1 | 30 |
| 2010 | Kyle Orton, Den. | 13 | 281 | 1.54 | .69 | 7.5 | .00 | 21.0 | 8 |
| 2011 | Kyle Orton, Den. | 8 | 220 | 1.13 | 1.13 | 1.6 | .00 | 15.7 | 27 |
| 2013 | Andy Dalton, Cin. | 16 | 268 | 2.06 | 1.25 | 11.4 | .13 | 23.6 | 4 |
| 2014 | Andy Dalton, Cin. | 16 | 212 | 1.19 | 1.06 | 10.6 | .25 | 18.4 | 23 |
| 2014 | Jay Cutler, Chi. | 15 | 254 | 1.87 | 1.20 | 12.7 | .13 | 22.8 | 7 |
| 2015 | Jay Cutler, Chi. | 15 | 244 | 1.40 | .73 | 13.4 | .07 | 19.7 | 25 |
| 2014 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 16 | 293 | 1.75 | .88 | 9.1 | .00 | 22.7 | 8 |
| 2015 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 16 | 287 | 1.31 | 1.00 | 3.9 | .00 | 20.1 | 23 |
| 2014 | Peyton Manning, Den. | 16 | 295 | 2.44 | .94 | -1.5 | .00 | 24.6 | 3 |
| 2015 | Peyton Manning, Den. | 9 | 250 | 1.00 | 1.89 | -.7 | .00 | 16.4 | 29 |
| 2015 | Eli Manning, NYG | 16 | 277 | 2.19 | .88 | 3.8 | .00 | 23.0 | 8 |
| 2016 | Eli Manning, NYG | 16 | 252 | 1.63 | 1.00 | -.6 | .00 | 19.0 | 23 |
| 2016 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 15 | 262 | 1.87 | .40 | 4.7 | .00 | 21.7 | 10 |
| 2017 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 15 | 233 | 1.47 | .87 | 4.4 | .00 | 18.2 | 20 |
| 2017 | Alex Smith, K.C. | 15 | 269 | 1.73 | .33 | 23.7 | .07 | 23.2 | 3 |
| 2018 | Alex Smith, Was. | 10 | 218 | 1.00 | .50 | 16.8 | .10 | 17.2 | 29 |
| 2017 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 16 | 278 | 1.81 | .63 | 6.1 | .00 | 22.0 | 8 |
| 2018 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 16 | 236 | 1.31 | .69 | 4.4 | .00 | 17.5 | 28 |
| 2018 | Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 14 | 230 | 1.71 | .86 | 30.1 | .21 | 23.2 | 10 |
| 2019 | Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 15 | 209 | 1.13 | .67 | 12.9 | .13 | 17.2 | 29 |
| 2019 | Daniel Jones, NYG | 12 | 251 | 2.00 | 1.00 | 22.8 | .17 | 24.2 | 8 |
| 2020 | Daniel Jones, NYG | 14 | 210 | .79 | .71 | 30.2 | .07 | 17.2 | 30 |
| 2019 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 8 | 312 | 2.38 | .63 | 8.3 | .00 | 25.9 | 4 |
| 2020 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 16 | 255 | 1.63 | .63 | 7.0 | .00 | 20.2 | 23 |
| 2021 | Matthew Stafford, LAR | 17 | 287 | 2.41 | 1.00 | 2.5 | .00 | 24.3 | 9 |
| 2022 | Matthew Stafford, LAR | 9 | 232 | 1.11 | .89 | 1.0 | .11 | 16.8 | 26 |
| 2022 | Joe Burrow, Cin. | 16 | 280 | 2.19 | .75 | 16.1 | .31 | 26.6 | 4 |
| 2023 | Joe Burrow, Cin. | 10 | 231 | 1.50 | .60 | 8.8 | .00 | 18.4 | 20 |
| 2023 | C.J. Stroud, Hou. | 15 | 274 | 1.53 | .33 | 11.1 | .20 | 22.3 | 7 |
| 2024 | C.J. Stroud, Hou. | 17 | 219 | 1.18 | .71 | 13.7 | .00 | 17.0 | 27 |
| 2024 | Sam Darnold, Min. | 17 | 254 | 2.06 | .71 | 12.5 | .06 | 22.5 | 8 |
| 2025 | Sam Darnold, Sea. | 17 | 238 | 1.47 | .82 | 5.6 | .00 | 18.6 | 21 |
—Ian Allan

