Drake Maye could tie Tom Brady in the NFL record book if he can pull off this feat against the Bills in Week 5
Maye is off to a strong start to his second NFL campaign
By
John Breech
•
2 min read
The New England Patriots have spent several years looking for Tom Brady's replacement, and based on how things are going so far, it appears they might have finally found their guy in Drake Maye.
Through four weeks, Maye has been one of the NFL's top quarterbacks:
- He has the fifth-highest passer rating in the league (109.4).
- He has the sixth-most passing yards (988).
- He ranks in the top 10 in touchdown passes (seven).
Maye also has 98 rushing yards on the season, which ranks in the top 10 for quarterbacks.
As impressive as those stats are, there's one part of his game where he actually ranks at the top of the NFL, and it's his accuracy. Maye has completed 74% of his passes this year, which is No. 1 in the league.
During the Patriots' 42-13 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 4, Maye completed 14 of 17 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns. This marked the third straight game where he completed at least 75% of his passes with at least two touchdowns, and now, he's on the verge of history. Only Tom Brady has hit those numbers in four straight games during a single season, so if Maye can do it one more time, he'll tie Brady in the NFL record book.
Brady accomplished the feat during a four-game stretch in 2007, which is the season where the Patriots went undefeated. Brady also was voted the NFL MVP that year. So yes, you could say that Maye is playing at an MVP level through four weeks. Maye and the Patriots will face a formidable opponent this week in the Buffalo Bills, so if he ends up tying Brady's record, he'll definitely have earned it.
In just his second season, Maye is already playing like a top 10 quarterback. The 23-year-old has come up especially big in the clutch, as he's been arguably the best quarterback in the NFL this year on third or fourth down.
Drake Maye on 3rd + 4th downs, per PFF
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) September 28, 2025
Comp Pct: 83.3% (Highest)
Pass Yards: 289 (Most)
Yards/Att: 9.6 (Most)
Pass TD: 3 (T-2nd-most; J. Goff, 4)
Passer Rating: 126.3 (2nd-highest; L. Jackson, 131.1)
> Min. 15 such dropbacks for rate stats pic.twitter.com/bkEoymemCV
The most impressive part is that Maye has put up these numbers while running a new offense. Maye worked with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt as a rookie, but Josh McDaniels replaced him before this year. McDaniels was Brady's OC for more than 10 years in New England, so maybe we shouldn't be shocked that he has Maye playing like the six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback who now has a statue at Gillette Stadium.
After the win over the Panthers on Sunday, Maye was asked if he's feeling more comfortable in McDaniels' offense compared to Week 1, and he gave a Brady-like answer: He didn't want to talk about comfort; he wanted to point out that you have to learn things from both wins and losses.
"I think there's still stuff on the tape that Coach (Mike Vrabel) will get on me about, and I think that's the best thing to do is, with a loss, you kind of learn from it and take it to heart. Also, when you win, look at the tape and learn from it," Maye said. "There's things that are going to show up in this game that matter down the road. Yeah, getting more and more comfortable. I think those guys around me are helping me out."
It feels like Maye has finally arrived, and he'll have a chance to prove that to a national audience Sunday night when the Patriots travel to Buffalo to face Josh Allen and the Bills. If Maye can lead his team to an upset, that would make New England a dark horse to steal the AFC East, a division Buffalo has won five straight years.
