The New England Patriots shocked the NFL by marching into Buffalo and beating the Bills away for the second straight year.
After the Jaguars shellacked the team 35-6 in Week 3, the Week 3 comeback was a tremendous reversal of fortune worthy of high praise and, as Mike Vrabel noted, put the team right back in the race for the AFC East title. The star of the day was quarterback Drake Maye.
Kudos go to Maye and Vrabel. Vrabel got his team well prepared to play in the hostile atmosphere of the Bills' brand-new stadium, and Maye had a terrific bounce-back game after a dreadful Week 3 against the Jaguars. Ironically, his performance earned him only Pro Football Focus's (PFF) 13th-place ranking among NFL quarterbacks.
Mystifyingly, that's the same position they gave him before the Buffalo game, for which he earned the NFL's AFC Offensive Player of the Week Award.
The press trashed Maye for his poor showing against the Jaguars, and rightfully so. He completed only 56 percent of his passes for 199 yards and no touchdowns, threw two interceptions, rushed for just 18 yards, and was sacked three times. He needed a great game against Buffalo, and he delivered it.
New England Patriots Drake Maye stepped up against the Buffalo Bills
Maye completed only 59.5 percent of his passes against the Bills, but he threw for 269 yards and torched Buffalo's defense for three touchdown passes, with one interception. Although he still lost a fumble, his overall performance won the game.
It ended with a terrific pass and catch in the end zone by the underused and underappreciated Efton Chism III, who made a late-game play to win it. He also ran for 54 yards and picked up three critical first downs.
Despite his heroics, PPF still ranked Maye 13th among NFL quarterbacks, as he had after Week 3.
"Like Love, Maye retained a relatively high spot on this list last week because of how good he was in 2025, — and like Love, he played his best game of the season in Week 4. His 84.4 PFF grade ranked fourth among quarterbacks this week, and for the first time this season, Maye accrued more big-time throws than turnover-worthy plays."
What PFF and many critics of Maye conveniently overlook is that Maye's offensive line remains subpar in both pass and run blocking. While Maye was sacked only once, he was constantly harried. He faced 21 pressures, the most in his three-year NFL career.
That's a statistical reality that cannot be minimized. In addition, the team's top two running backs, Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson, combined for just 89 yards, averaging 3.31 yards per carry.
Maye is constantly on the run, flushed out of the pocket, and forced to scramble and improvise his passes to avoid disaster. It's a continuation of last year's pattern, when he was sacked 47 times in the regular season and another 21 in the playoffs, including six in the Super Bowl, which helped seal the loss to the Seahawks.
Maye shares some of the blame for the Patriots poor showing against the Jaguars, just as he now deserves much of the credit for the huge win in Buffalo. But the fact remains: the Patriots' offensive line is still a work in progress and largely responsible for the team's offensive woes.
They returned four starters from last season: Will Campbell, Morgan Moses, Mike Onwenu (currently injured), and Jared Wilson, who moved from guard to center. The only addition was Alijah Vera-Tucker.
Maye will likely keep having tough times unless and until the team's personnel operation, which failed in the offseason to add better O-line players, makes a trade or two now to improve things. If not, Maye's quarterback rating will remain mediocre, and the reason is crystal clear: his offensive line just isn't good enough.
Add us as a preferred source on Google