EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Drake Maye needed just two and a half quarters to throw five touchdown passes and dismantle the New York Jets defense. By the time Mike Vrabel pulled his quarterback with the game already decided, the Patriots had scored touchdowns on six consecutive drives and turned MetLife Stadium into a road celebration.
The final score read 42-10, but the numbers barely capture how thoroughly New England dominated Sunday’s regular-season finale. The Patriots finished 8-0 on the road and hours later learned they’d won the AFC East when Buffalo fell to Philadelphia, giving them their first division crown since 2019.
Maye completed 19 of 21 passes for 256 yards without an interception, posting a 157.0 passer rating. Those numbers made him the first quarterback in NFL history to combine a 90% completion rate with 250-plus yards and five touchdowns in a single game.
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Historic Road Perfection
Only three franchises have gone undefeated on the road in a season since 1970. The 49ers did it three times in the 1980s and 1990s. Now the Patriots join that group for the third time in franchise history, capping a 13-3 campaign that represents a 10-game improvement from last year’s 4-13 disaster.
“Coming in here and going 8-0 on the road, that’s a big thing for us as a young team,” cornerback Christian Gonzalez said.
The attendance figure of 70,918 included what seemed like half of New England, with red and blue drowning out the home green throughout the afternoon.
Maye’s Final Line
| Category | Stats |
|---|---|
| Completions-Attempts | 19-21 (90.5%) |
| Passing Yards | 256 |
| Touchdowns | 5 |
| Interceptions | 0 |
| Passer Rating | 157.0 |
| Yards Per Attempt | 12.2 |
Breaking Down the Quarterback Performance
Maye spread five touchdown passes across five different receivers. Austin Hooper caught the first on the opening drive from two yards out. Rhamondre Stevenson hauled in a 22-yarder on the third possession. Stefon Diggs grabbed a screen pass on fourth down and turned it into a 3-yard score. Hunter Henry found himself wide open for a 13-yard touchdown. Efton Chism III made a diving grab for 10 yards to open the second half.
Then Vrabel pulled him.
“They don’t give me a vote,” Vrabel said about MVP consideration for his quarterback, “but there is nobody else we want as our quarterback.”
The performance pushed Maye’s season totals to 4,394 yards, making him just the third Patriots quarterback to reach 4,000 in a year alongside Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe. His season-long numbers led the NFL in completion percentage (72%), QBR (77.1), and yards per attempt (8.9).
Patriots Receiving Leaders
| Player | Receptions | Yards | Touchdowns | Targets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stefon Diggs | 6 | 101 | 1 | 6 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | 5 | 55 | 1 | 5 |
| Hunter Henry | 3 | 49 | 1 | 3 |
| Efton Chism III | 2 | 40 | 1 | 2 |
| Austin Hooper | 2 | 11 | 1 | 2 |
How New England Built the Lead
The Patriots converted their first six possessions into touchdowns. After Hooper’s score on the opening drive, Stevenson punched in a 1-yard run following a pass interference call in the end zone. The defense forced a three-and-out, then Jaylinn Hawkins intercepted Brady Cook to set up Maye’s 22-yard strike to Stevenson.
The pattern continued. Fourth-down conversion to Diggs. Roughing the passer penalty extending a drive that ended with Henry’s touchdown. By halftime, the rout was complete at 35-3.
New England rushed for 155 yards on 36 carries, averaging 4.3 per attempt. TreVeyon Henderson led with 82 yards on 19 carries. The offense controlled possession for nearly 32 minutes while piling up 440 total yards and 28 first downs.
Jets Free-Fall Continues
Brady Cook threw for 152 yards on 19-of-33 passing with one interception and took a sack that lost 12 yards. The undrafted rookie made his third consecutive start but faced constant pressure and rarely found open receivers.
New York managed just 307 total yards and converted only 5 of 16 third downs. The Jets failed on both red zone attempts and turned the ball over once while committing five penalties for 53 yards.
Team Statistics Comparison
| Category | Patriots | Jets |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 440 | 307 |
| First Downs | 28 | 14 |
| Third Down Conversions | 4-9 | 5-16 |
| Fourth Down Conversions | 2-2 | 2-6 |
| Red Zone Efficiency | 5-5 | 0-2 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 1 |
| Possession Time | 31:55 | 28:05 |
Breece Hall rushed for 111 yards on 14 carries, including a 59-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that gave him his first 1,000-yard season. That score accounted for New York’s only trip to the end zone.
“Highly, highly disappointed in the way that we came out,” Jets coach Aaron Glenn said. “Today was probably the one time I feel like our effort wasn’t as good as I want it to be.”
The loss dropped New York to 3-13 and marked its fourth consecutive defeat by 23 or more points. The Jets became just the fifth team in NFL history to lose four straight by such margins in one season, and the first since the 1972 Patriots.
Passing Stats Breakdown
| Quarterback | Team | Comp-Att | Yards | TD-INT | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drake Maye | NE | 19-21 | 256 | 5-0 | 157.0 |
| Joshua Dobbs | NE | 3-4 | 30 | 0-0 | 95.8 |
| Brady Cook | NYJ | 19-33 | 152 | 0-1 | 56.6 |
Vrabel’s Turnaround Season
The Patriots coach engineered one of the biggest single-season improvements in NFL history. His team tied the league record with a 10-game jump from 4-13 to 13-3, earning the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs.
New England will host Miami in the wild-card round next weekend. The Jets travel to Buffalo to close out a forgettable campaign that saw them lose Aaron Rodgers to a season-ending injury in Week 1 and spiral from playoff contenders to bottom-feeders.
“It comes down to unfinished business,” Maye said after the win. “You want to go 8-0 on the road. That would be something we thought would be pretty cool. In this league, it’s hard to win on the road and we accomplished that today.”
Rushing Statistics
| Player | Team | Carries | Yards | Average | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breece Hall | NYJ | 14 | 111 | 7.9 | 1 | 59 |
| TreVeyon Henderson | NE | 19 | 82 | 4.3 | 0 | 17 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | NE | 8 | 47 | 5.9 | 1 | 24 |
The Patriots-Jets matchup delivered exactly what the standings predicted: a playoff-bound contender against a team already planning for the offseason. New England scored early, often, and with ease while improving to 14-3 overall once Buffalo’s loss made the division title official.
For anyone tracking the New York Jets vs New England Patriots match player stats, the box score tells the story of a team peaking at the right time against one that never found its footing all season.
