Karen Guregian: Drake Maye still thriving, still rising as Patriots win streak reaches 10

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Karen Guregian: Drake Maye still thriving, still rising as Patriots win streak reaches 10

Karen Guregian · MassLive

Tue, Dec 2, 2025 ·

5 min read

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FOXBOROUGH - The streak hit 10 straight wins for the Patriots .

It also rose to 10 straight games where the Patriots have had the best quarterback on the field.

Drake Maye has been in or around that elevated zone, for that long.

It makes you wonder: Has he ever been that good, for such an extended period of time, in any sport in the past be it football or anything else?

Hoops? Golf?

Or is this is his first go-round with sustained greatness?

"Golf, I like that. This summer, I was on a roll a little bit, but I think back in high school, we won 13 straight," he said, "but no really I think in college we may have won eight or nine straight, both in football. But this is a different beast. This is the NFL."

And Maye continues to thrive in that arena in his second year.

Pressed further on being so amazing for so long, he didn't want to make the question about him, or focus on what he's done. Maye preferred crediting the people around him, since he is a big football is a team sport kind of guy.

While that's true, he plays the most important position on the field. Having a great quarterback can cure whatever ails a team. He can mask the weak spots, and lift the entire group.

Right now, no one is doing that better than Maye, who led the Patriots to a 33-15 primetime victory over the New York Giants on Monday night.

His case for MVP j ust keeps getting stronger.

In the lead up to the game, it wasn't crazy to wonder what kind of impact it would have on Maye having to operate behind backups at left tackle and left guard, not to mention having a center who was playing despite an illness.

Credit certainly goes to Vederian Lowe and Ben Brown for holding the fort and protecting Maye's blindside and to Garrett Bradbury for gutting it out while under the weather.

But Maye is the straw who stirs the drink, and he was once again the ringleader of the Patriots successful band. He was his usual calm, cool and dazzling self in the pocket.

If there was pressure, he either got rid of the ball quickly, rolled out and found an open receiver or scrambled for a positive play.

He's done that all year. His pocket presence and ability to move, avoid the pass rush and throw it to the open guy has been extraordinary.

He threw two more touchdown passes to give him 23 on the season. One was a fade to Kayshon Boutte from in close. He had another on a perfectly thrown 33-yard over-the-shoulder toss to rookie Kyle Williams down the left sideline. A third to Hunter Henry was negated by matching penalties.

Maye just continues to be undaunted and unfazed by anything. Defenses may hold him for a few series, or give him pause with a few wrinkles, but he ultimately prevails.

Quarterbacks like that aren't a dime a dozen. Everyone around him knows they have something special.

"I think he's realizing what he can be and what the impact that he makes on this offense and being the conductor," Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said of Maye following the win. "He's hard on himself. I think that he challenges himself as well as his coaches. He means a great deal to this football team."

Vrabel pointed out how Maye never get rattled and escapes pressure.

Of course, that's en route to making play after play.

On 3rd-and-8, he saw Williams had a step on Giants defender and put the ball in the perfect spot for Williams to extend and score a touchdown.

No one in the league is throwing a better deep ball than Maye, who continues to hear "MVP!" chants at Gillette Stadium throughout the home games.

Along with the 'wow' throws, Maye is also making the less flashy plays.

He threaded the needle to Hunter Henry, zipping the ball to his tight end to move the sticks several times. He also found Rhamondre Stevenson for a 36-yard gain, flicking the ball to the back while he was on the dead run.

Maye, who finished 24 of 31 for 282 yards with the two scores, said he's just trying to be the "conductor" Vrabel wants him to be. He knows the responsibility his position holds, and he's embracing it.

"He calls it the conductor of the offense. Just trying to be the face of the offense," Maye said. "Trying to -- you know, want the pressure. You want the ball in my hands. I tried to show that all year and throughout my career. That's what I kind of feel like.

"I know (the players) feed off of me and feed off of my energy and feed off of what I say to those guys. And what I say means something to them. So when adversity hits, I've got to respond. And from there I've got to be the same guy, same guy every day. Don't try to change, and just be myself. That's what the guys like the most."

Whatever he's doing, it's working.

The players do feed off him. They do consider him the conductor of the offense.

He's also the conductor of their fate in the 2025 season and beyond.

"He's done a great job from Week 1, just his mentality, the way he operates, the way he conducts the offense," Bradbury said. "We'll ride with that guy any day.

"It's awesome to be a part of watching such a young player have so much success, and handle it with such maturity."

Each week, we see the arm talent, the athleticism, the competitiveness, and the wins.

The scary part is he still has room to grow, room to be even better than he is now.

And we're the lucky ones who get to watch.

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