Patriots Week 7 review: Are we good again?

The lens through which this New England Patriots team is being viewed is changing.

This season was supposed to be about demonstrating progress and seeing if Drake Maye is the New England Patriots’ quarterback of the future.

After seven weeks, the Patriots have surpassed their wins total from each of the previous two seasons at 5-2.

We are also becoming increasingly certain that, not only is Maye the future of the franchise, but he may be a top-five quarterback already.

Beating bad teams without playing well

This is what I mean by the shifting lens. The New England Patriots have been in the doldrums of the NFL, and getting out of that was the aim this season.

Beating bad teams was not a given, because we were one of the worst teams in the league.

Going into this season, being the best bad team in the NFL would be a positive outcome. The Patriots had plenty of chance to prove it, as they faced the second-easiest schedule in the league.

So, when people point out that the Pats’ soft schedule may be an indicator of their paper tiger status at 5-2, it is understandable.

However, I would disagree with this opinion because of the way the Pats are winning these games. They are not scraping out with narrow wins in close fought affairs against these teams, they are winning convincingly on the scoreboard, stat sheet, and to the eye.

The Patriots are making it evident that they are likely no longer a bottom of the pile team, but likely a playoff contender, and we should view them as such.

The Drake-Down

At this point, it is getting to be too much! My wife is sick of me bombarding her with new Maye stats to lust over each week.

Honestly, I cannot help it – this is getting out of hand!

He is currently maxing out the PFF grading system with a 99.9 grade on passes of 20+ yards. He is 14 of 18 for 414 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions on the season.

He was perfect on deep balls on Sunday against the Titans, completing both passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. One of the most dangerous and efficient plays in the NFL, right now, is Drake Maye throwing the deep ball.

Maye also set a franchise record for completion percentage in a game (91.3%). This is not just any franchise in the NFL either. This is the New England Patriots, the team Tom Brady started for for 19 seasons. The bar is high.

Honestly, I am not sure what to keep writing in these ‘Drake-downs’ now. He is really freaking good!

I am going to leave this hole shot to Mack Hollins here, because I have been watching it all week.