Whether or not Drake Maye wins the MVP award doesn’t matter to the New England Patriots. They have been prepared as a quarterback for a long time. And they might even be good enough to reach a Super Bowl this season.
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Maye was phenomenal again on Sunday in a 42-10 win over the New York Jets. Maye completed 19 of 21 passes for 256 yards and five touchdowns for a nearly perfect passer rating of 157. Maye is the first quarterback since 1981 with five touchdowns and a completion percentage over 90% according to the CBS broadcast. Maye put up those numbers despite not playing the final 20:31 of the game because it was a blowout. If Mike Vrabel had wanted to run up the score, Maye could have challenged the record of seven touchdowns in a single game. Not that the Jets were going to stop him.
The Jets are barely a pro team this season, but it was still impressive to see Maye break them down like he did. Last week he threw for a career-high 380 yards in a comeback win over the Ravens. In Week 17, he set a career-high for touchdown passes in a game. He had never shot more than three in a game before Sunday.
The MVP debate will be interesting. The only thing going for Maye is that the Patriots stayed in position to win the AFC East with Sunday’s victory. A quarterback from a wild-card team hasn’t won MVP since Peyton Manning in 2008. Stafford appears to have the edge, but the team’s success carries a lot of weight with some voters. The Patriots still have a shot at the top seed, which would help their case.
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But in theory, Maye will have a better chance of winning MVP. This is a massive second year breakout. The Patriots were in a quarterback hole after Tom Brady retired, but that only lasted a few years before they found their next star. Maye has had a great season and continues to get better as he goes along. That’s a great sign for the future, and maybe this postseason as well.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 17 of the NFL season:
WINNERS
Joe Burrow: All it takes is a few wins for the negative narratives to fade away.
Burrow was unhappy a couple of weeks ago and expressed it. Every comment he made was interpreted to mean he wanted to leave the Cincinnati Bengals, even when he said otherwise, which was unfair to Burrow, the franchise, and Bengals fans as well. Burrow’s mental state will come up again in the offseason, but for now it’s on the back burner.
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Burrow followed up a solid Week 16 game and win with another productive performance in the Bengals’ 37-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Burrow had two touchdown passes to Ja’Marr Chase in the first half and that was enough against a depleted Cardinals team that has one win since Week 2. Burrow had 305 yards and those two scores when he was pulled with less than 12 minutes left in the blowout victory.
We haven’t heard the last of Burrow’s discontent. But it’s a less hot topic when the Bengals win games.
Cam Ward and Tyler Shough: It’s hard to judge Ward’s rookie season. There have been great highlights. But there isn’t much sustainable success. The Titans’ offense has been miserable, but how much of that is a miserable situation around them, including an interim coaching staff for much of the year?
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The positive is that Ward is playing better at the end of the season. He had more notable shots even though the Titans lost 34-26 to the New Orleans Saints. Ward had 251 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the loss.
The Saints have their own rookie success story. Second-round pick Tyler Shough played very well in the second half of the season and had 333 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. He has earned the right to be the team’s starting quarterback to begin the 2026 season. He still has a chance to be named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Ward has also shown promise. The Titans’ record is still a terrible 3-13, but they have played much better in the second half of the season. Ward has been much better lately. There’s a lot of work to do in Tennessee, but the Titans should feel good about the way their rookie quarterback is finishing the season.
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LOSERS
NFC South: Nobody wants to win the NFC South. Certainly no one wants to see the champion of that division in the playoffs.
The NFC South is moving toward a sad but dramatic end. The division will come down to Week 18. On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered their seventh loss in eight games, this time a 20-17 loss to a Dolphins team whose quarterback is Quinn Ewers. That opened up the possibility of the Carolina Panthers clinching the division with a victory, but they lost it against the Seattle Seahawks, who came on the road and won 27-10 to maintain their lead in the NFC West and for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Carolina’s loss means the Panthers-Buccaneers game in Week 18 will likely be for the division championship. There’s a situation where the Falcons win their last two games (they play the Rams on Monday night), the Buccaneers win in Week 18 and the Panthers take the division title because they have the three-way tiebreaker with Tampa Bay, Carolina and Atlanta all finishing 7-9. The Buccaneers win a two-team playoff against the Panthers.
Either way, no NFC South team really deserves to make the playoffs. At least the Seahawks are a quality team and the Panthers losing to them is no shame. The Buccaneers are losing to everyone lately. There was a report from NFL Media that completely dismissed the idea of ​​Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles being on the bench, but that doesn’t make sense if you’ve watched Tampa Bay play lately. They are a horrible football team.
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The Panthers aren’t very good either, but someone has to win the division. They will be an 8-9 team if Tampa Bay wins next week. Can that team save us time and opt out of the postseason?
DK Metcalf: Metcalf’s angry outburst at a fan in Detroit could cost the Pittsburgh Steelers a playoff berth.
The Steelers needed to beat the Cleveland Browns on Sunday to clinch the AFC South, after the Baltimore Ravens won on Saturday to stay alive. But the Steelers’ offense floundered without Metcalf, their best receiver, who was suspended two games for going into the stands and punching a fan who was taunting him, and they lost 13-6 to a Browns team that did a good job as a spoiler. Pittsburgh’s Week 18 game against the Ravens will be for the division title. And Metcalf will miss him too.
The Steelers had a chance late when they got to the 7-yard line in the final seconds trailing by a touchdown. But Aaron Rodgers threw incomplete four times in a row and the Browns took the surprise victory. Metcalf could have been the difference in that goal-ahead situation. But he was at home watching, as he will be when the Steelers try to make the playoffs next week.
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Houston Texans: For a time Sunday, it looked like the Texans might be in control of their path to an AFC South title.
The Indianapolis Colts played hard and well against the Jacksonville Jaguars and led 17-14 at the end of the third quarter. The Texans, who won on Saturday, need the Jaguars to lose one of their final two games to win the division. But the Jaguars stayed calm and kicked three field goals down the stretch to beat the Colts 23-17. That could be the last start of Philip Rivers’ career; There were reports that Riley Leonard will start Week 18. The Colts were eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday with the Texans’ victory.
The Texans now need to hope that the Titans can upset the Jaguars in Week 18. Jacksonville will win the division with a win over Tennessee or a Texans loss to the Colts. They almost got the result they needed in Indianapolis on Sunday.