An A-Maye-zing Second Year

After being considered the Super Bowl favourites for at least the majority of the second half of this NFL season, the Los Angeles Rams were upset last night by the loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football, and their MVP candidate quarterback, Matthew Stafford, was not great for a majority of that game. Sure, Stafford threw for 270 yards, but he had three costly interceptions, which cost the Rams the win and potentially playoff seeding. Stafford did have a great game the week before against Seattle, throwing for 457 yards and 3 touchdowns, but he and the Rams collapsed down the stretch against the Seahawks, which also did no favours to them in terms of the cleanest possible road to getting to the Super Bowl.

Therefore, in December, in the span of ten days, the Rams lost control of the number one seed. They might finish as low as third in the NFC West now and end up as the number six seed. And while he was the MVP favourite for most of the season, these past two losses have likely lost Stafford the award.

Why? Well, it's not just the losses in LA, but it's also what is happening on the other side of the country in the Boston area.

Drake Maye of the New England Patriots is now the frontrunner for League MVP, and I think that is well deserved because this has been an amazing second year for Maye in the NFL. I believe I was one of Maye’s biggest supporters going into this season. I thought the Patriots were going to be a playoff team.

I thought they would surprise some people. I thought Maye would develop and would get better after a solid rookie season in a more stable situation on a team that finished 4-13.

And yet, he has been way better than even I expected.

He has become arguably the best deep ball thrower in the NFL. He has not played a poor game all year long. Sure, there have been moments where he looked rough and looked like a young quarterback, but on a game-to-game basis he has been fairly steady throughout the year at the very worst.

After winning only four games last season, the Patriots are now 13-3 despite not many roster changes, especially on the offensive side of the ball; the offensive line is still shaky. The receivers are not some elite group like what Matthew Stafford has with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

He does not have an elite offensive head coach. Mike Vrabel is a way better coach than Jerod Mayo was last year, but I do not think people are putting him up there with a guy like Sean McVay when it comes to the offensive side of the ball.

Maye has passed every test this year. In his second year, he has had to overcome a lack of talent, a weak offensive line, and being relied upon as the guy and the orchestrator of this offence, and he has. By far, in my opinion, he has actually been the league’s most valuable player on one of the better teams this year.

Going into the final weekend of the season, Maye has thrown for 30 touchdowns and 4203 yards and has a nearly 72% completion rate, which leads the NFL.

He has the Patriots as one of the Super Bowl favourites going into the playoffs, and as long as the Patriots win on Sunday, Maye will likely secure his first league MVP award with a 14-3 record and the Patriots sitting as probably the one or two seed in the AFC.

Unbelievable.

I knew Maye was good. I did not think he was going to be this good this quickly.

Maye would join pretty elite company should he win the award in just his second year, joining a group of legends featuring Dan Marino (1984), Kurt Warner (1999), Patrick Mahomes (2018), and Lamar Jackson (2019).

Not too shabby.

Maye is likely going to be this year's league MVP, and in my opinion, it's well deserved.