Maye throws 5 touchdowns as Patriots destroy Jets

It took less than three quarters of football for Drake Maye and the Patriots to put the Jets away.

New England obliterated New York by a 42-10 final on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, in a laugher marked by offensive domination by Maye and the Patriots offense. The game was so one-sided that it more resembled the end of a preseason game by the time the backups flooded the field during the third quarter. The Pats are now 13-3 on the season, one step closer to winning the AFC East and keeping their hopes alive for the No. 1 seed in the conference.

Maye enjoyed his most dominant performance in what's been a dominant season, finishing 19-for-21 passing for 256 yards, five touchdown passes, and a 157.0 passer rating. Maye completed his five TD passes to five different targets. His top receiver was who else but Stefon Diggs, who racked up six catches for 101 yards and a TD. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson, meanwhile, totaled 102 yards from scrimmage with two scores in the win.

The heavily favored Patriots literally hit the ground running in this one, handing it off four times for 34 yards while employing heavy personnel packages on the offensive line. They finished off their first drive with a play-action fake and a touchdown pass from Maye to Austin Hooper in the back of the end zone.

On defense, the Pats held the Jets to a three-and-out on their first drive, then turned to Maye and the passing game to power their second possession. Maye hit rookie receiver Efton Chism III for a short throw and a 30-yard catch-and-run as part of this drive, then later drew a pass interference flag when targeting fellow rookie Kyle Williams in the end zone. Stevenson capped it with a 1-yard touchdown run to put them up 14-0 less than 11 minutes into the game.

Chism's reception, the first of his NFL career, officially put Maye over 4,000 passing yards for the season.

The Jets' second possession went even worse than their first. Quarterback Brady Cook chucked up a classic "lollipop" on third down, giving safety Jaylinn Hawkins more than enough time to range across the field and catch the interception as if he were the intended target. The play marked Hawkins' first takeaway since Week 8, as he followed up a forced fumble last week against the Ravens with the pick in East Rutherford.

The Patriots promptly cashed in on the turnover, sparked by an impressive Randy Moss-esque 1-on-1 grab by Stefon Diggs.

Maye ultimately finished off the third Patriots drive with a 22-yard loft to Stevenson for the back's second score of the day, giving the Patriots a 21-0 lead just after the start of the second quarter.

The Jets finally moved the ball a bit on their third possession, mainly due to Breece Hall picking up 41 yards on four touches. But Hall's fourth touch on this drive resulted in a 3-yard loss on a screen pass, and the Jets settled for a field goal to chip away at 21-3.

Defensively, New York finally started to make plays as well, but ultimately to no avail. New England went for it twice on fourth down, first converting with a Maye scramble for 11 yards, then with a 3-yard screen to Diggs that he slipped into the end zone for the fourth touchdown of the day.

The Pats defense got back to stopping on the ensuing Jets drive, forcing another three-and-out to get it back to the offense with 1:48 left in the second quarter and all three timeouts in hand. All they did was drive 76 yards in 10 plays for yet another touchdown, this time with Maye tossing to a wide-open Hunter Henry for his third TD pass of the afternoon. They would take that 35-3 lead into halftime.

The Jets pulled out all the stops on their first drive of the third quarter, attempting not one but two fake punts. The first try was successful, as punter Austin McNamara pulled up and tossed it to cornerback Malachi Moore for a first down. The second punt attempt came up short, as defensive tackle Cory Durden sliced through the line and brought down Isaiah Davis for a 3-yard loss and a turnover on downs.

And the offensive bonanza continued for Maye and the offense from there. The Patriots then drove 47 yards in six plays, as Maye completed a tight-window dart to Chism for his fifth touchdown pass of the day, and the rookie's first TD catch of his career. That made it 42-3 less than halfway through the third quarter, and by the time the offense got back on the field, the Patriots pulled Maye for the game in favor of backup Joshua Dobbs.

Hall again proved to be the Jets' only true offensive spark with a 59-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. But the play came against largely backups on the Patriots, with the game of course well in hand by that point.

Up Next: The Patriots will finish off the 2025 regular season with a home matchup against the Miami Dolphins, with the No. 1 seed in the AFC still hanging in the balance. As of this writing, the Pats (13-3) were still waiting for the result of Sunday's Bills-Eagles game to determine whether they'd clinched the AFC East. If the Bills beat Philadelphia, they will have a chance to steal the division crown with a win and a Patriots loss to Miami. The Pats simply need to beat the Dolphins in the regular season finale to clinch the AFC East.