Drake Maye, Patriots have returned to form -- just in time to face the Jets

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Oct 13, 2026

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — Seven months removed from their improbable appearance in February’s Super Bowl, the New England Patriots looked anything but super.

In the first three weeks of this season, quarterback Drake Maye was a turnover machine.

Injuries sidelined star wide receiver A.J. Brown and ravaged the offensive line.

A humbling 35-6 rout by the Jacksonville Jaguars dropped the Patriots to 1-2 and set off alarm bells throughout New England.

It emboldened the critics who questioned whether last year’s 14-3 record, AFC East title and surge to the Super Bowl were merely products of the Patriots playing one of the easiest schedules in NFL history.

Two weeks later, the conversation has flipped dramatically.

With back-to-back emphatic victories, Maye and the Patriots (3-2) have returned to form — just in time to face the Jets (2-3) in Foxborough, Mass., this Sunday afternoon in Week 6.

“I’m gonna be confident going into every game,” Maye said after Sunday’s 45-17 demolition of the Las Vegas Raiders.

“I’m confident in the guys around me, confident in myself, and I think it’s just really just an example of practice execution showing up in the game. I think that’s the biggest thing that I can maybe hint at.”

Maye got off to a dreadful start to the season, throwing six interceptions with just one touchdown pass in the Patriots’ first three games.

Those games were against three of the NFL’s top defenses, including the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks, who similarly stifled Maye and the Patriots in Super Bowl LX. But the struggles were jarring for a third-year player who finished second in NFL MVP voting last season.

Brown, a three-time Pro Bowler whom the Patriots acquired in an offseason trade with the Philadelphia Eagles to be Maye’s top target, hasn’t played since suffering a Week 1 ankle sprain.

Losing guards Mike Onwenu (broken ankle) and Greg Van Roten (thigh) to injured reserve within the first three weeks certainly didn’t help, either.

But Maye has looked like his 2025 version over the last two weeks, and so, too, have the Patriots.

Maye threw three touchdowns passes with an interception in a 29-26 upset win over the AFC East-leading Bills (4-1) on the road in Week 4.

He followed that up with 374 passing yards and five total touchdowns — four through the air, one rushing — in last weekend’s home win over a better-than-expected Raiders team (3-2).

And while the overall numbers for Maye (eight passing touchdowns, seven interceptions) and the Patriots offense (22.0 points per game) remain pedestrian, that’s not the version the Jets will be facing.

They’ll be facing a Patriots offense that totaled 536 yards and averaged 8.1 yards per play on Sunday.

“We’re all in the judgment business, and we understand what this is,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “It’s week-to-week. It’s day-to-day. It’s focusing on what we can do to improve, play our position, play our role. Whatever we have, or our responsibility, is for this football team. Do it well, do it with confidence, be decisive and keep going.”

Vrabel said there’s “a chance” Brown could return Sunday to face the Jets. Brown has eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards and caught at least seven touchdowns in six of his seven full NFL seasons, including each of the past four.

Left tackle Will Campbell’s status for Sunday is uncertain after he left Sunday’s win with a knee injury, while speedy running back TreVeyon Henderson is expected to miss multiple weeks after suffering a high ankle sprain against the Raiders, according to ESPN.

But whomever is out there for the Patriots, they will be ready for the Jets, whom they’ve beaten three times in a row and in 18 out of the last 20 meetings.

“We talk about identity with Coach Vrabe,” Maye said. “I mean, that’s a Coach Vrabel football team of stepping up, being ready to take advantage of your opportunity, and he always says when somebody gets their opportunity, he’s excited to watch them play. I think guys are living that.”