Patriots fall to Rams despite Maye’s career performance
By Jordan Pagkalinawan
One week after their win over the struggling Chicago Bears, the New England Patriots failed to replicate that success against the Los Angeles Rams, losing 28-22 Sunday in a rematch of Super Bowl LIII.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye threw a career-high 282 yards, completing 30 of 40 passing attempts and throwing two touchdown passes. His performance was the catalyst behind one of New England’s best offensive performances of the season. The Pats tallied 125 rushing yards, led by running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who had 73 yards on 20 carries, while Maye picked up 27 yards on three carries.
New England’s defense, however, was a different story. After sacking Bears QB Caleb Williams nine times, they failed to contain the Rams’ offensive firepower, allowing 402 yards. LA play caller Matthew Stafford also threw for 295 yards on 18 of 27 completions. After trailing 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Rams threw four touchdown passes on their next five drives, ultimately cruising to their fifth win of the season. The Pats had no answers for the Rams’ star receiving duo of Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, who tallied 123 and 106 yards, respectively. Kupp also led the Rams in touchdowns (2), while Nacua and tight end Colby Parkinson each found the end zone once.
Even after the win, Rams head coach Sean McVay had high praise for Maye, calling him a “stud.”
“I didn’t do too much work on him coming out,” he said. “I do know a lot of people that studied him really hard — that I truly respect their opinions — loved what he was all about. You can see just the impact that he has on his teammates, the way people talk about him here.”
“He looks like he’s going to be a special player for a long time, and he gave us fits today,” McVay added.
Maye also received support from former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, who wrote on X: “The game that #DrakeMaye played today was the 3rd best rookie QB performance I have seen all year (the other 2 were by #JaydenDaniels)!!! Saw the field, made the throws, anticipated, threw it away when needed to & made some off schedule plays when nothing was there!! #Impressive”
In evaluating his team’s performance, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo made puzzling postgame remarks, saying, “I never really felt like they had control of the game. I felt like we had control of the game.”
“If you look at the time of possession — if you look at the movement we had offensively in the run game and in the pass game — that’s part of the formula,” he added. “We’ve just got to continue to build on it.”
The 3-8 Patriots will look to build on that formula and get back in the win column when they face the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 1 p.m. on CBS.