Drake Maye completed 25 of his 34 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown in a win over the New York Jets on Thursday night to push his team’s winning streak to eight games and maintain the New England Patriots‘ hold on the No. 1 seed in the AFC at 9-2. It was yet another impressive performance for the second-year quarterback, who continues to blossom under this new regime and did nothing on Thursday to derail his potential MVP campaign.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky was one of many who were impressed by his night, and he had plenty of positive things to say about it on Friday morning. During Friday’s appearance on NFL Live, Orlovsky heaped praise upon the 23-year-old QB. Orlovsky was particularly impressed with his pocket awareness.
“He is so impressive moving in the pocket. It’s very Andrew Luck-like right now.”
"He is so impressive moving in the pocket. … It's very Andrew Luck-like right now."@danorlovsky7 praises Drake Maye for his movement in the pocket ? pic.twitter.com/AGYIyP2hNB
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) November 14, 2025
Maye has a stellar 71.9-percent completion percentage and 20 touchdowns to just five interceptions so far as he has demonstrated the ability to stand strong in the pocket and give his receivers time to get open down the field. He has still taken a few more sacks than most would like (36 in 11 games), but that has been the cost of doing business as he has been able to put up an impressive 8.9 yards per completion, which is second-best in the NFL.
Any comparison to Andrew Luck is high praise, and hopefully Maye can continue working on avoiding sacks so he can have a longer and less painful career than Luck had. The consistency from Maye has been remarkable, and he has been the main reason why this offense looks completely different compared to last year.
New England has a few extra days off before hitting the road to take on the Cincinnati Bengals next week. It’s another winnable matchup that presents a wonderful opportunity to run this winning streak up to nine games.
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