Drake Maye Week 3 QB Grade: Patriots vs. Steelers

The Steelers traveled to Foxboro last Sunday, giving Maye the hardest test of his young 2025 season. And the numbers show, Maye had 3 TOW plays according to PFF (2 to me) as well as 5 Poor plays, resulting in a 13.5% poor play rate on the afternoon. The Patriots as a whole had issues with ball security turning the ball over 5 times total, 2 of which directly from Maye. He continues to complete the ball at a high level, charting a 75.7% completion rate this week, but how did everything else look? Let's take a look at the breakdown.

Basics (Season Average in Italics)

C/A: 24.5/34.5 (71.0%) | 28/37 (75.7%)

Yards: 258.5 | 268

aDOT: 7.5 | 6.2

Touchdowns: 2 | 1

Turnovers: 0.5 | 2

QB at Fault Sacks: 2 | 1

Passer Rating: 100.9 | 102.1

True Passer Rating: 119.1 | 128.9

Time to Throw: 2.67s | 2.63s

Time to Pressure: 2.49s | 2.47s

Pressure Rate: 29.55% | 30.61%

On-Target Rate: N/A | 65.0%

PPR / BPR: 6.5%PPR / 5.4%BPR | 13.5%PPR / 1.9%BPR

Breakdown

• One of the things that stood out early for me this week was Maye's decision making and accuracy. His on-target rate through the first half was at just 56.0%, well below his 65.0% sitting rate, and he passed up a few open throws 1 of which resulted in a sack. it was a very curious blip in the tape, as he has mostly been consistent there through the first 3 games otherwise.

• One of the most glaring misses was a throw behind the line of scrimmage to DeMario Douglas, a play in which Douglas was WIDE open and alone on the right side of the field. If Maye doesn't throw the ball into the dirt here it may be a potential touchdown. Instead it's a Poor graded play and missed opportunity.

• It wasn't all bad, on the half's last drive, he made a nice touch throw to Hunter Henry on a TE Wheel route, dropping the ball over the defenders head allowing Henry to pick up 18. Maye showed fantastic touch, anticipation and ball placement on the throw.

• Unfortunately, on the same drive Maye would commit his first of two turnovers. On 3rd and goal from the 2, Maye would try to fire a pass intended for Kayshon Boutte, but for some reason he does a small double clutch on the throw, giving Brandin Echols enough time to read his intentions and undercut what would have been a wide open Boutte in the endzone. An unfortunate split-second second guess that leads to a turnover.

• The entire goal line series was actually pretty awful. 2 plays before the pick he had Hunter Henry open for a touchdown on an out before for some reason doesn't pull the trigger, instead creating his own pressure and having to lob a throw away to avoid a sack.

• The next play he has Henry for a possible throw to the Post but Maye wildly overthrows it, giving Henry no chance.

• He did eventually find Henry on a 16 yard touchdown, a nice throw over the seam to the wide open TE.

• Worst play of the game came off a sack where Maye was just trying to do too much with it. (Bears fans, you're familiar with the term "Hero Ball" by now). After avoiding initial pressure, Maye has a chance to throw deep, or at least throw in the direction of a WR deep to avoid a sack her, but he tucks the ball and gets blindsided, fumbling and turning the ball over. Maye had 3.77s of picket time before pressure, and 5.38s before he was hit. Both the sack and fumble are squarely on him.

• 29 of Maye's 37 attempts all came before the sticks, not a single deep ball was attempted on the afternoon.

• Week 3 marks Maye's worst start on the season. Maye scored a -2.85/0.65/-2.20 charting both his worst half on the season and worst game on the season, with the -2.85 in the 1st half (Poor) and a -2.20 (Bad) game score. No question did the Steelers make it tough for Drake, who also took more than a few hard hits from that defense. Maye will look to rebound by hosting a Carolina Panthers team fresh off shutting out the Falcons 30-0 in week 3.