Bedard's Breakdown: Drake Maye continues to get better, and he still has room to grow

Given the news that's been going on the past two days, and how the Jets are basically a JV team at this point, I can't take too much out of the Patriots' 42-10 blowout of New York on Sunday. It was interesting to see some new players — or players we haven't seen in a while — get some playing time, so let's just get right into the ratings.

Here are the positional ratings against the Jets:

OFFENSE

Quarterback (4.5 out of 5)

He's getting closer to being flawless. This was my highest-graded game of Drake Maye's career, besting two other games from earlier this season.

And it was the highest-graded game by a Patriots quarterback since three Mac Jones games in 2021 (I wonder who the offensive coordinator was?). ... He had three elite plays in this one: the throw to Efton Chism against an all-out blitz with an unaccounted-for rusher right in his face; the third-down throw to Kyle Williams with pressure closing in, and the pass was a freaking laser (Jack Westover was left uncovered on the other side of the field, but the read didn't take him there); and the touchdown pass to Chism, which was absolutely perfectly placed. ... Also like his run "block" on the reverse, and an 11-yard scramble on 4th and 3. ... Maye's stats were almost perfect but, amazingly, he did leave plays on the field. The throw to Hunter Henry on the opening drive at 11:32 was actually the wrong read (Williams was wide-open for a touchdown), and the ball should have been toward the sideline. I didn't mark him down on this one, but at 1:13 1Q, the play after the pump to DeMario Douglas was to go to Henry for a touchdown. But it wasn't quite clear-cut and Maye went back to Douglas for 10 yards. At 7:13 2Q, Maye had Stefon Diggs wide open when he scrambled for 9 and took an unnecessary hit. At 1:25 2Q, Williams was open when Maye checked it down to Stevenson for 7 (didn't mark him down), and Maye took a sack at 9:43 3Q when Austin Hooper and TreVeyon Henderson (checkdown) were very viable targets. ... This also was not a great Maye playfake game. He's very inconsistent with that, and it would make things easier in the postseason if that improves to open things up against the better defenses. Speak of that ...

It doesn't get any better as a coach when you can say to a player, "You played really well on Sunday, but here's the five or six things that could be any better." And Maye seems to eat that stuff up.

Running backs (3 out of 5)

Good news for the Patriots: Rhamondre Stevenson continues to get his groove back. When he's not fumbling, he's just an outstanding all-around back, and showed it all off in this one, with two broken tackles on a 24-yard run, outstanding vision and cutback ability on an 11-yarder, and a terrific route on his 22-yard touchdown pass. ... And then there's TreVeyon Henderson, who continues to leave yards on the field. Did like the runs of 16 and 17 yards. Tough needle for McDaniels to thread, trying to get Henderson enough touches to keep the home run threat alive. I don't know how many people out there still think Henderson deserves more playing time than Stevenson, but these last two weeks should have ended that. It's tough for a rookie back. James Cook only had 507 yards as a rookie, and he became a 1,000-yard back the next season. ... Jack Westover had two good blocks, including pummeling a smaller reserve linebacker who got caught in between on Stevenson's TD plunge. 

Receivers (4 out of 5)

Very little to nitpick here against the horrendous Jets secondary, made up mostly of guys who will not be on any 53-man rosters, which busted at least five coverages (two on Stefon Diggs). Only the Williams drop when he heard footsteps, and one run block each from Austin Hooper, Henry and CJ Dippre. ... Diggs, Hooper and Henry each had one elite play. ... Liked how Williams worked back to the ball to convert 3rd and 4. ... Williams also had an inadvertent pick on Henry's wide-open TD. ... Efton Chism did well in this one but, again, it's hard to tell exactly what he can be because this was like another third preseason game. Liked what he did, and he knows how to get open, but those weren't NFL defenders. Liked him reading the all-out blitz with Maye and converting. Not afraid to block, which will help him get on the field. He's fundamentally sound. I would have liked to see more of the harder interior blocks in this game, like rooting out a safety or linebacker. But it didn't happen much.

Offensive line (3 out of 5)

This concludes the best four-game stretch of pass blocking, as McDaniels took a more cautious approach with Will Campbell and Jared Wilson out. ... I'm surprised Ben Brown struggled as much as he did, and all of it occurred through Maye's stint. He's usually more sound than that. ... Mike Onwenu, who has been playing very well and mostly consistently, and Garrett Bradbury had clean sheets in pass protection. Morgan Moses was close. ... Thayer Munford, great a week ago, looked unfocused and sloppy in this one. That's been the book on him. ... Vederian Lowe struggled at times in this one, but he had two plus blocks on the 24-yard TD run and a nice cutblock to enable the Diggs screen. 

DEFENSE

Defensive line (2.5 out of 5)

Some good stuff from Cory Durden, Anfernee Jennings, Elijah Ponder and Leonard Taylor, but there's still not enough pressure (one from Christian Barmore, none for K'Lavon Chaisson) and still way too leaky in the run game. This team is in trouble against the run if Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga don't come back effectively. ... Durden and Brenden Schooler were responsible for Breece Hall's 59-yard touchdown.

Linebackers (3 out of 5)

Good, solid effort here without much work to do, with Jack Gibbens and Marte Mapu the standouts. ... Surprised Christian Elliss didn't register any impact for me, but that's the way it came out.

Secondary (2.5 out of 5)

Hard to judge much here because a) Brady Cook was awful, and b) the Patriots blitzed the crap out of him in the second half. NE called four blitzes in the first half (one max). And nine (four max) in the second, as Mike Vrabel was obviously pissed about the cheap shot on Maye at the end of the first half. ... I split the interception between Jaylinn Hawkins (who had a big whiffed tackle for 21 yards) and Christian Gonzalez, but holy hell that was a bad throw. 

SIX UP

QB Drake Maye: Made it look easy, and there's room to grow.

TE Hunter Henry: Diggs had the stats, but some of them were empty due to blown coverages. Henry did it all.

RB Rhamondre Stevenson: He's got it going on now.

RG Mike Onwenu: Still prone to a poorly-timed whiff, but he's had six elite games in the past seven.

DT Leonard Taylor: I don't know where he came from, but he made an impact in this one. 

DE Anfernee Jennings: This was a throwback Jennings game. 

THREE DOWN

S Brenden Schooler: The fake punt and then a terrible angle on the big TD run. Tough couple of plays.

OT Thayer Munford: The complete opposite of last week.

LG/RG Ben Brown: For some reason, he got off to a rough start in this one.