Patriots’ Vrabel Gets Blunt on Drake Maye-Josh Allen Comparison
Even at just 2-2 and without having faced the stiffest of competition to this point, the Patriots have gotten a remarkable four-game stretch from second-year quarterback Drake Maye, and likely got the best performance of his young career on Sunday against the Panthers in the team’s 42-13 blowout win.
Maye was 14-for-17 passing for 203 yards and two touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown. He had a quarterback rating of 155.6, the third straight week his rating has come in at over 100.0. Maye took only one sack and had no turnovers.
Pro Football Focus currently grades Maye at 73.9, which is 12th in the league, and increasingly, he is starting to justify one of the major comparisons that was made for him coming out of college: the comp to Josh Allen, the Bills star New England will face on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 5.
Patriots Getting Top Play From Quarterback
On Monday morning, coach Mike Vrabel was asked about the Allen-Maye comparison. He was not a fan of it.
“I am not big into comparisons,” Vrabel said when asked on the “Greg Hill Show” on WEEI in Boston on Monday. “You guys know that by now. But if not, we’ll keep reminding ya, not big on comparisons.”
Such is life when interviewing Vrabel, who was also asked if Maye is ahead of schedule through four weeks of the season. “We didn’t have a timetable, not really sure, just trying to throw to the guy that’s open as soon as he is in the progression,” he said. “And take care of the football, use his legs when it’s not there. He has done that at times and we’ll continue to work on it.”
Drake Maye Distributing Passes
One of the strong features of the performance Maye had in Week 4, and in this season thus far, was the distribution of his targets. Maye hit seven different receivers on Sunday, and only Stefon Diggs (with six catches) had more than one catch on the day.
Maye said he wants to keep that approach going.
“I sure hope so,” he said. “If it leads to wins, that’s what I’m trying to become and the quarterback I’m trying to become. I try to do it kind of just my whole career, kind of spread it around and give it to the guys that can make plays. I think everybody’s got some chance on our team, our skill guys to make the defense give them a problem.
“I think we’ve got guys on the team that are great with the football in their hands and do my best job to get to them quick and to hold it.”
Alex Cora’s emotional message to Red Sox fans amid playoff race
After winning five of their previous six outings, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora commended the fans for sticking with them through the ugly years that led them to this season. Towards the end of the 2025 season, with the playoffs in sight, the Red Sox are atop the AL East wild card standings despite left fielder Jarren Duran’s hitting slump.
Cora took a moment to thank Red Sox fans for their continuous support throughout their turnaround season, per Red Sox reporter Ian Browne.
“You know, the cool thing about it, I’ll be very honest about it, like we sucked for three years, but Fenway never sucked. It was a packed house every single day, and we appreciate that from our fans.”
For the first time since 2021, Boston will be in a pennant race in September. Cora genuinely thanked the fans for sticking with the Red Sox through their trying years. Boston trails the Toronto Blue Jays by four games in the AL East standings.
After back-to-back wins to start a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox improved to 73-60 on the season. They followed up a 4-3 win with a 5-0 shutout victory on Tuesday.
Alex Cora gets real on Red Sox hitter Jarren Duran’s slump
Before Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story hit his 200th career home run in a win against the Orioles, Red Sox manager Alex Cora addressed left fielder Jarren Duran’s hitting slump. While encouraging Duran, Cora made it clear that the hitter isn’t chasing pitches amidst his slump, which is a good sign for the Red Sox manager.
Amid the Red Sox’s pennant race with the Blue Jays, Cora expects Duran to turn things around soon, he said, per MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith.
“[He’s chasing pitches down in the zone. He did miss some good pitches yesterday (against the Yankees) when we put pressure on them,” Cora said. “I was just looking in our system, and he’s hitting the ball hard. The expected numbers are good. He’s not chasing as much. Just one of those that — he’ll be OK. Just gotta be patient and he needs to be patient, too.”
Duran was coming off a hot July, where he put up an incredible 1.094 OPS, but he has been very mediocre in the other months of the season, never recording an OPS above .759 (April) in a whole calendar month’s worth of games — his next chance to hit out of the slump will be against the Orioles on Wednesday.
