The Patriots are suddenly looking like the team that can control the AFC East race, and Drake Maye is a huge reason why. After a rough opening to 2026, New England has ripped off back-to-back wins over Buffalo and Las Vegas, climbed to 3-2, and now gets a home date with the Jets in Week 6 with the division very much in play.
Maye’s last two games have changed the conversation fast. He has thrown seven touchdowns and only one interception over that stretch, including a five-touchdown outburst against the Raiders in Week 5 - four through the air and one on the ground. That turnaround has sent his MVP stock soaring from +4000 to +1600 in a week, and it’s easy to see why New England looks so different when he’s playing this way.
The Patriots’ offense, which looked stuck early on, has completely flipped. They’ve scored 74 points over the last two weeks and now rank No. 10 in the NFL in yards per play on offense.
That’s a sharp contrast with the Jets, who sit 23rd in the same category. New England also holds a better success rate through five weeks.
That doesn’t mean New York is walking in empty-handed. The Jets snapped a three-game losing streak in Week 5 with a comeback win over Cleveland, doing it without Breece Hall.
Their defense showed real bite, too, piling up eight sacks, with rookie David Bailey leading the way. New York is also 19th in EPA/Play and 14th in success rate offensively, which is solid enough to keep them in games.
Still, the matchup history in Foxborough looms large. The Jets are only 2-18 in their last 20 games against the Patriots there, and that’s hard to ignore when New England is laying seven points at home.
There are reasons to respect New York’s profile against the spread, but the path is still tough. The Jets’ two wins this season have come against Tennessee and Cleveland, both bottom-10 offenses, while the Patriots have beaten Buffalo and Las Vegas behind Maye’s surge.
Both teams have done well defending the run and limiting overall production, with each sitting in the top half of the league in yards per play allowed. New York is third in that category, but New England’s recent form on offense gives the Patriots the edge.
At home, with Maye rolling and the offense finally humming, New England looks set up to keep building on those two big wins. The concern for the Jets is simple: their offense may not have enough to match a Patriots team that looks to have found its rhythm after a slow start.
In Other News...
Josh McDaniels May Be Unlocking What Patriots Fans Wanted From Drake Maye
Drake Mayes best stretch as a pro arrived at just the right time for the Patriots, and it gave New England something it has been searching for since drafting him: a passing game that finally looks dangerous. In the Week 5 rout of the Raiders, Maye threw four touchdown passes in a 45-17 win, and the offense looked far more comfortable than it did earlier in the season.
The surge did not come out of nowhere. ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky pointed to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels for the adjustments helping Maye settle in, crediting the way the system has been reshaped around the quarterbacks strengths. For a Patriots team that has spent much of the start of the year trying to find its identity, the bigger question now is whether this version of the offense can hold up as defenses adjust back. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots May Have Found A New Weapon In Eli Raridon
Eli Raridon is starting to look like more than a rookie tight end trying to find his footing. In the Patriots win over the Raiders, he turned in the busiest receiving day of his young career, showing the kind of versatility New England hoped for when it brought him along as both a blocker and a pass-catching option. Even before that, Raridon had already flashed enough to matter, scoring a touchdown in his NFL debut and giving the offense a different look at a position that often has to do a little of everything.
Mike Vrabel has made it clear he sees the talent, and Raridons early progress has only added to the intrigue. He missed some time with a thigh injury, but he has still been on the field for a notable share of the offense and keeps finding ways to stay involved. For a Patriots team still sorting out where the next useful pieces come from, the question now is less whether Raridon can help and more how quickly that role can keep growing. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Made A Statement But Two Problems Still Stand Out
The Patriots 45-17 win over the Raiders offered plenty to like, starting with a confident showing from Drake Maye and an offense that kept rolling despite injuries to key players. New England looked far more in control than it has in stretches this season, and the result felt like the kind of statement win a team can build on as the schedule tightens.
Still, the film left a couple of familiar concerns in view. The defense had trouble handling Brock Bowers in space, and the penalty count kept undercutting some of the momentum the Patriots generated. It was a convincing victory, but the kind that also reminds a coaching staff there is still cleanup work ahead before this group can call itself fully complete. [Read more 🡒]