New England Patriots
“(Maye) did it with much less.”
Forward of Sunday’s Tremendous Bowl rematch between the Patriots and Seahawks, many NFL followers and media personalities aren’t solely discussing the massive sport.
They’re additionally debating whether or not or not New England quarterback Drake Maye ought to have received NFL MVP over Matthew Stafford.
Stafford, 38, was given the respect Thursday night time after beating out Maye by just six points.
Considered one of many non-voters to weigh in on the result contains former Colts Professional Bowl heart (and briefly interim head coach in 2022) and present ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday. Saturday mentioned he would have voted for Maye over Stafford, insinuating that Stafford didn’t need to win the award based mostly on his play in his 2025-26 marketing campaign.
“Hear, I perceive the lifetime achievement award to Matt Stafford. He’s unbelievable, performed an important season, all these issues had been nice,” Saturday mentioned on “Get Up” Friday. “And also you’re gonna discuss to me about touchdowns and what he did towards the Seahawks — he performed [them] thrice — you realize the division very effectively. All that’s good.”
Stafford, the Rams’ QB, performs within the NFC West, which can be house to the Seahawks. Due to this fact, Stafford confronted Seattle thrice: twice within the common season and as soon as within the NFC Championship Recreation. Nonetheless, the Seahawks bested the Rams in two out of three contests, together with when it mattered most.
The Patriots and the Rams had six frequent opponents this season within the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers, Ravens, Saints, and Titans. ESPN collected stats from each Maye and Stafford of their video games towards these groups in a graphic that Saturday used to defend his stance.
“Maye [went] 6-0, Stafford 4-2. Maye [had] 84 first downs, Stafford 74. QBR — is {that a} 20-plus-point distinction in QBR? Sure, it’s, sir. Sure it’s,” Saturday mentioned. Maye’s whole QBR in these six video games was 81.4 whereas Stafford’s was 57.8. “… (Maye) has extra yards in whole than Matt Stafford as a result of he additionally makes use of his legs.”
Saturday argued that Maye, 23, was extra deserving of successful MVP as a result of he’s a dual-threat QB, making him all of the harder to defend. In the meantime, Stafford, one of many league’s oldest energetic signal-callers, isn’t able to utilizing his legs. Maye completed the common season with 4,394 passing yards, fourth-most within the league. Stafford completed with 4,707 yards, a NFL-best.
Moreover, Maye completed the common season with 31 passing touchdowns and 4 dashing scores; Stafford threw 46 TD passes and didn’t break the aircraft himself.
“Is it harder to attempt to cease someone who can run and move, or simply move? Simply reply actually. Drake Maye has executed that,” Saturday mentioned.
On high of that, Saturday got here to Maye’s protection by saying that the sophomore QB didn’t have the elite weapons round him that Stafford did. The Rams possessed an elite offensive receiving and dashing corps that was anticipated to thrive. Then again, lots of the Patriots’ weapons entered the season with one thing to show and arguably succeeded as a result of Maye introduced out one of the best in them.
“And, by the best way, put all this in slightly bow: (Maye) did it with much less. He ain’t received Puka [Nacua] and he ain’t received Davante Adams, and he dang certain ain’t received 12-plus one-yard touchdowns,” Saturday mentioned.
Fellow ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes — who did solid a MVP poll — defended her vote for Maye over Stafford Thursday.
“From a dominance perspective, Drake Maye was higher than Matthew Stafford in nearly each significant statistic,” she said on “First Take.” “QBR, EPA per dropback, success price. He had the best completion proportion within the NFL. He was first in all of these, regardless of having a excessive common depth of goal. On high of that, he was the extra environment friendly quarterback. He additionally introduced a component of dashing you simply don’t get from Matthew Stafford.”
Kimes defended her vote for Maye over colleague and former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky, who made his Stafford MVP vote identified publicly effectively earlier than the common season was even over. Orlovsky and Stafford had been teammates on the Lions for 3 seasons within the 2010s.
“I voted for Stafford. That is my largest pushback to you and that is the place you lose it,” Orlovsky mentioned in response to Kimes. “You may’t, on one hand, discuss in regards to the numerical benefit or the statistical benefit that Drake Maye had on among the issues that you simply referenced, after which not discuss in regards to the schedule. … The highest-ranked protection New England performed towards was Buffalo at 12.”
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