It was hard to explain early this season why New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was struggling so badly. After Week 5, though, it’s clear no further explanation is needed.
That’s because Maye is back to being one of the top signal-callers in the league. Based on the way he’s playing, the Patriots now look as dangerous as they were a year ago when they won the AFC.
CBS Sports’s John Breech sees them every bit the contender that they were during the 2025 campaign. In his Week 5 grades on Sunday, Breech rewarded Maye and the Patriots an A-plus for their 45-17 drubbing of the Las Vegas Raiders.
“If you watched Drake Maye play at all during the first three weeks of the season, you can go ahead and forget what you saw. That was bad Drake Maye, and he doesn’t exist anymore,” wrote Breech. “Instead, 2025 Drake Maye showed up and torched the Raiders’ defense for 374 yards and four touchdowns. This game is what the Patriots offense looks like when it’s at its best: Maye spread the ball around to nine different receivers, and the Pats added 137 rushing yards.
Maye was so good that he overshadowed a dominant performance from a Patriots defense that sacked Kirk Cousins three times. If the Patriots look like this going forward, they might be able to get back to the Super Bowl.”
Maye completed 26 of 34 attempts while averaging 11 yards per pass against the Raiders in Week 5. Maye threw for 374 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Drake Maye Shines in Patriots Victory Against Raiders
Maye looked flat-out terrible to begin this season. He led the NFL in interceptions and fumbles after Week 4. The Patriots quarterback was also only averaging 7.3 yards per pass.
While that wasn’t necessarily a terrible average, Maye led the league with an 8.9 yards per attempt average in 2025.
Everything started clicking for Maye versus the Raiders. He didn’t make any costly mistakes, spread the ball around to numerous pass-catchers and made big plays.
CBS Sports’s Carter Bahns named Maye one of his Week 5 winners.
“He did not just limit mistakes, though,” wrote Bahns. “The former first-round pick was the catalyst of the high-scoring effort with his 26-for-34 passing effort, 403 scrimmage yards and five total touchdowns. It was an outing that more closely resembled those of his MVP runner-up campaign than the head-scratching first month of the 2026 season.”
Behind Maye, the Patriots have defeated two teams with winning records in back-to-back weeks. They also defeated the 3-2 Pittsburgh Steelers during Week 2.
Pundits have made the Patriots schedule this year and last season a major storyline at the beginning of this campaign. But with three very respectable wins now, New England is building a pretty strong resume as a contender. As long as Maye plays as he has the past two weeks, the Patriots can beat anybody.
The NFL received a reminder of that fact Sunday.
Drake Maye, Patriots Put NFL on Notice With Huge Game vs. Raiders