Drake Maye Found His Groove Again — Now the Patriots Have to Survive Their Own Training Room

It was, by any measure, the most complete afternoon the New England Patriots have produced all season. Drake Maye carved up the Las Vegas Raiders for 374 yards and four passing touchdowns on 26-of-34 passing, added a rushing score, and the defense turned Kirk Cousins' offense into a footnote in a 45-17 laugher at Gillette Stadium. The win moved New England to 3-2 and made it back-to-back victories for the first time in 2026.

Then came the part that threatens to undo all of it.

Maye looks like the MVP runner-up again

For three weeks, Maye was the story for the wrong reasons — seven turnovers, a passer rating stuck below the line, and a 199-yard dud in a 35-6 loss at Jacksonville. Over the last two games, that player has disappeared. Maye has thrown for 269 yards and three scores at Buffalo and then torched the Raiders, and his last-three-game passer rating (103.7) sits well clear of his season mark (89.0). The deep ball is back, the pocket presence is back, and an offense averaging 22.0 points and 382.0 yards per game suddenly looks like the unit that made a 14-3 run a year ago.

That is the good news. The bad news arrived on the same afternoon.

The injury wave won't stop

Left tackle Will Campbell left in the second quarter with what reports describe as a knee sprain, and the early word is that he's expected to miss time. It's a familiar and cruel script for the second-year lineman, who also dealt with a sprained MCL late last season. For a quarterback whose season has swung on protection and clean pockets, losing the blind-side anchor is the single most damaging injury this roster could absorb. Rookie Caleb Lomu — who has said he's ready — is next in line, and he'll be tested immediately.

Rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson also exited with an ankle injury and didn't return, thinning a backfield that leans on Rhamondre Stevenson (227 rushing yards, 2 TDs, 4.0 per carry) to keep Maye in manageable situations. Meanwhile, the secondary has been decimated for weeks: Christian Gonzalez (shoulder) and Carlton Davis (neck) headline a cornerback room that has been running short since the start of October. Surviving one week shorthanded is manageable. Surviving a month of it is how a promising season quietly slips away.

What it means for the season

Here's the tension the Patriots are living in: the quarterback is playing well enough to win the AFC East conversation, but the supporting structure around him is eroding in real time. Buffalo sits at 4-1 atop the division. New England is 3-2, with the Jets (2-3) coming to Foxborough on Sunday as a roughly touchdown underdog. On paper, that's a get-right spot. In practice, it's a test of whether a patched-up offensive line and a depleted secondary can hold up long enough for Maye to keep cooking.

The encouraging piece is that New England's roster depth was built with exactly this kind of attrition in mind — and the run game, at 127.2 yards per contest, gives the offense a way to function without asking Maye to do everything. But the margin between "Maye is back" and "Maye is running for his life" is now one more injury to that front five.

For now, the Patriots get the version of Maye they've been waiting for. Whether they get to keep him upright is the question that will define their season.