Drake Maye Torches the Raiders for Five Touchdowns as the Patriots Roll 45-17

FOXBOROUGH, MASS. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2026

Three weeks ago, Drake Maye looked like a young quarterback drowning — one touchdown pass against a stack of interceptions through three games, and a fan base starting to whisper the word nobody wants attached to a franchise quarterback. On Sunday at Gillette Stadium, he looked like the MVP runner-up from a season ago. Maye carved up the Las Vegas Raiders for 374 passing yards and four touchdowns, ran for a fifth score, and never turned the ball over in a 45-17 rout that was every bit as lopsided as the score suggests.

01 A Near-Perfect Afternoon

The line only tells part of it: 26 completions on 34 attempts, a 150.9 passer rating, 400 total yards, and his first turnover-free game of the season. The rest was in how he did it. Maye attacked downfield relentlessly — on throws of 20 yards or more he went 4-for-6 for 149 yards and two touchdowns, earning a deep-passing grade from Pro Football Focus that only Patrick Mahomes and Jordan Love have matched this season. His touchdown to tight end Hunter Henry came 24 seconds before halftime, delivered with two Raiders linemen bearing down on him — exactly the kind of pressure moment that produced mistakes in September.

He spread the ball around a depleted receiver room, too. With A.J. Brown and Mack Hollins both unavailable, Maye leaned on whoever dressed: DeMario Douglas caught two touchdown passes, including a 35-yarder in the first quarter and an 8-yarder late that answered the Raiders' final score; Kyle Williams turned three catches into a career-high 91 yards and a 34-yard touchdown; and Efton Chism III and Eli Raridon each led the team with five receptions. Rhamondre Stevenson added a 5-yard touchdown run, and Maye's own 3-yard rushing score in the third quarter pushed the lead to 35-10 and effectively ended the afternoon. Afterward, Maye kept it simple: “It was beautiful to be a part of today.”

02 The Turnaround Is Real

Context makes Sunday bigger than one box score. Maye's rough start bottomed out in a blowout loss at Jacksonville that dropped New England to 1-2. Then came last week's 29-26 win at Buffalo, where he threw three touchdown passes against the division favorites. Sunday made him the first Patriots player with back-to-back games of at least three touchdown passes since Tom Brady in 2018 — rare air in Foxborough, and a sign this is a trend rather than a hot afternoon. Head coach Mike Vrabel praised his quarterback's command afterward and credited the offensive line for keeping the pocket clean — no small feat after rookie Caleb Lomu stepped in at left tackle when Will Campbell left with a knee injury and allowed just one pressure in 49 snaps.

The defense matched the offense's energy despite missing both starting cornerbacks, Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis III. New England held Las Vegas to just 38 rushing yards, linebacker Elijah Ponder sacked Kirk Cousins twice on his way to a team-high 4.5 sacks for the season, and the Patriots became the first team all year to hold the Raiders under 25 points. When both sides of the ball play like that, 45-17 is what it looks like.

03 A Long Week Ahead for Las Vegas

For the Raiders, this was a reality check with a plane ride home attached. Las Vegas arrived at 3-1, having started 3-0, leading the NFL in takeaways and allowing just 21 points per game. It left at 3-2 after surrendering 536 yards — including 165 rushing yards on 31 carries — and watching its pass rush, its calling card, go quiet. Maxx Crosby finished with one tackle and two quarterback hits, the Raiders sacked Maye just once, and a team that had been among the league's least penalized was flagged eight times for 101 yards, including an unnecessary-roughness call on Crosby himself. The coverage breakdowns started early, with Douglas getting loose for that 35-yard score on the opening stretch, and continued when rookie coverage was beaten for Williams' 34-yard touchdown on second-and-18.

Cousins finished 19-of-28 for 243 yards and a touchdown in relief work split with Fernando Mendoza, and Dylan Laube's 2-yard touchdown run cut it to 38-17 in the fourth — but Maye answered six minutes from the end, and that was that. Crosby's postgame diagnosis, in paraphrase, was blunt: New England stayed ahead of the chains and hit big plays in big moments, and Las Vegas simply was not clean enough. The Raiders now have one week to repair all of it, with the Buffalo Bills up next. Whatever got exposed in Foxborough, Buffalo's coaching staff has the film.

Maye: 26-of-34, 374 yards, 4 passing TDs, 1 rushing TD, 0 turnovers, 150.9 rating — Patriots 45, Raiders 17. 536 yards of offense — New England's most since 551 against the Jets on Oct. 24, 2021; 45 points, its most since Jan. 2, 2022. 4-for-6 for 149 yards and 2 TDs on throws of 20+ yards (PFF deep-passing grade matched only by Mahomes and Love this season). 38 rushing yards allowed by New England's defense; Las Vegas: 1 sack, 8 penalties for 101 yards, falls to 3-2.