Call it the yips, a slump, or just being downright bad, whatever had been plaguing Drake Maye through the early part of the season appears to be a thing of the past. The Patriots quarterback emphatically announced the return of his swagger with a dominant five-touchdown performance in New England's 45-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5. Maye looked like the MVP runner-up he was a year ago in this contest, completing 26 of 34 passes for 374 yards and four touchdowns.
He added 25 yards and another score on the ground to his day as well. That helped Maye become the first quarterback in team history to have at least 300 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, and one rushing touchdown in a game. Of course, the most important element of Maye's day was the zero he posted in the turnover column.
Outside of keeping it clean in the turnover margin, Maye's eruption against the Raiders was particularly notable when it comes to his deep ball. Last year, Maye was regarded as the most efficient deep ball passer in the NFL, but that was noticeably absent in his game during the early struggles this season. On Sunday, Maye completed 72.7% of his passes (8 of 11) that went for 10-plus air yards for 206 yards and three touchdowns, giving him a 154.4 passer rating.
Those passing yards and passing touchdowns were season highs for the former first-round pick. THIS IS A DIME.@DrakeMaye2 | @EliRaridon 📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/SJByiCW5zY Really, Maye's resurgence began to sprout last week in New England's win over Buffalo. Over these last two games, Maye has completed 19 of 29 passes of 10-plus air yards for 390 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.
When making the same throws over his first three games, Maye was 13 of 31 for 340 yards and four interceptions. What has helped Maye not only stabilize his season but also return to elite form has been his ability to better handle pressure. Over the past two games, Maye's been pressured on 30 dropbacks.
In that span, he has completed 12 of 26 throws for 136 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, while being sacked just twice. Conversely, on the 42 dropbacks he was pressured over the first three weeks, Maye was 12-of-28 for 183 yards and three interceptions, while being sacked eight times. A night and day difference, particularly in the turnover department.
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