The Patriots lost in excruciating fashion to a previously one-win Titans team in Week 9, and the franchise should actually be happy with it, because rookie quarterback Drake Maye was fantastic for most of the afternoon.
Sure, his two interceptions weren’t pretty, but he made a litany of other quality plays with his arm and legs all afternoon, and seeing those type of high-level flashes is what every club needs to see from a first-year quarterback to build confidence in him entering his second season. And, heck, with the loss, New England is the current holders of the No. 1 overall selection in next year’s draft.
In other young quarterback news, back-to-back bad performances from C.J. Stroud, and Bo Nix had major problems in the loss to the Ravens. Oh, and Bryce Young had another quality effort!
With Anthony Richardson benched and Derek Carr back starting for the Saints, there were only five quarterbacks selected in the past two NFL Draft classes who saw considerable playing time in Week 9. Let’s dive deep into the individual efforts of each quarterback and assign a grade on a per-snap basis, taking every individual aspect of their performance into account.
(At least 10 attempts were needed to qualify for this piece, which comes out weekly on Tuesdays.)
Week 9 stats
- 15 of 22 for 209 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- Daniels zinged a laser to Noah Brown for 31 yards in the second quarter through layers of coverage.
- The double-move touchdown to Terry McLaurin before the end of the half was perfectly thrown over Deonte Banks.
- He effortlessly made a free outside rusher miss in the backfield before scampering for 16 yards in the third quarter.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- In the third, he skipped a comeback toward McLaurin.
Summary: This was as workmanlike of a performance as you’ll see from a quarterback in the NFL, particularly a rookie. Daniels was hardly pressured, got the ball out quickly in most scenarios and wasn’t asked to do too much, although there were a few impressive plays scattered throughout this road victory.
Grade: A-
Season Grade: B+
Week 9 stats
- 19 of 33 for 223 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- In the first quarter, Nix threw with quality placement on a deep back-shoulder target for Courtland Sutton.
- Midway through the second, Nix crafted a nifty run for 15 yards up the middle, swerving away from multiple defenders.
- He demonstrated his arm strength on a 5-yard completion while floating back and well to his right behind the line.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- On a fourth down in the first half, Nix overthrew a wide-open Troy Franklin on a slot fade in the front left portion of the end zone.
- From the Ravens’ 2-yard line, Nix sailed a throw to an open receiver in the back of the end zone that fell incomplete.
- In the third, he underthrew a deep dig run by Sutton.
Summary: Rough outing for Nix in a difficult environment in Baltimore. While I wouldn’t say he was drastically confused by the Ravens coverages all afternoon, his accuracy was below average and he often tried to do too much improvisation.
Grade: C-
Season Grade: C
Week 9 stats
- 22 of 41 for 217 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- In the first quarter, near the sideline, Williams ripped a fastball to Rome Odunze for 17 yards.
- On the next play, Williams threw another strike to Odunze through layers of coverage for 15 yards.
- Late in the first, he placed a perfect ball to Odunze on a corner between multiple defenders, but was dropped.
- There was a vintage scramble drill run by Williams that ended with a throw across his body to Odunze in the third quarter.
- He connected with Keenan Allen on a fourth-and-4 in the second half near the sideline against tight coverage. Fastball.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- Late-ish in the first, Williams overthrew an open Keenan Allen on a corner route.
- D.J. Moore ran down the numbers and slammed on the breaks, and Williams overthrew the open receiver near the end of the third.
- While rolling right, he missed an open Allen near the numbers.
Summary: Williams was under duress at what felt like epic proportions in this game, and while he probably could’ve hit a few more checkdowns instead of always looking for the home run, but relative to the numbers, I didn’t think Williams played a brutal game.
Grade: C
Season Grade: C+
Week 9 stats
- 29 of 41 for 206 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 95 yards rushing
High-caliber throws/plays
- On his first dropback of the game, Maye scooted past a few defensive linemen before turning on the jets for 26 yards up the middle.
- Late in the first, he uncorked a perfectly placed pass outside of structure while on the run, but the ball was dropped against reasonably tight coverage.
- A few plays later, Maye stayed on his feet through contact on another quality run, this one up the middle, for 18 yards.
- As he was getting sacked in the second, Maye flipped an underhand toss to Rhamondre Stevenson that ultimately went for 12 yards. Great awareness.
- While a large hole materialized as he dropped back to pass, Maye again showcased his speed on a 22-yard scramble in the third.
- The one-handed snag was better than the throw, but still early in the third, Maye threw with anticipation and nice touch over two underneath defenders to Demario Douglas for 21 yards.
- While rolling right, Maye squeezed a pass into the hands of Boutte against air-tight coverage for 11 yards.
- His game-tying touchdown as time expired was a tremendous streetball play in which Maye reversed his field a handful of times and found Stevenson in the end zone as he was being tackled behind the line.
- There was an impressive cut on an 11-yard scramble in overtime.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- In the first quarter, he overthrew Kayshon Boutte downfield on a deep corner.
- Later in that quarter, Maye didn’t like his first read, and got antsy in the pocket before forcing a pass over the middle that was intercepted. He didn’t see the robber safety in the middle of the field.
- With under four to go in the fourth, Maye made an ill-advised throw to Kendrick Bourne down the sideline that was too far inside and should’ve been intercepted.
- A few plays later, while stepping into the pocket, he missed Douglas open deep down the field.
- His overtime interception was underthrown, which allowed Hooker to range to the football and make the play.
Summary: Maye did so much in this game. Most of it was good. The two interceptions were classic rookie mistakes. In general, he demonstrated his arm talent, improvisation skill and high-level athleticism in this narrow defeat on the road in overtime.
Grade: B+
Season Grade: B-
Week 9 stats
- 11 of 30 for 191 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- As he was falling out of bounds, Stroud found Robert Woods near the sideline for 32 yards against tight coverage.
- He hopped through two possible tackles on a scramble to gain 12 yards in the second quarter and pick up a first down.
- After eluding defenders to his left, Stroud stepped up in a crumbled pocket and fired a strike to Tank Dell for 14 yards on a third-and-12 in the red zone with two defensive backs closing in on the throw.
- Stroud made a tremendous downfield throw to Dell while rolling left in the fourth quarter for a 50-yard gain.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- In the first, Stroud threw a bit late and wide on a toss over the middle toward Dell that should’ve been intercepted.
- While the pocket was collapsing around him, Stroud still had room to throw and missed a wide-open John Metchie on a deep over.
- Before the end of the half, Stroud unnecessarily hurried a checkdown to a running back that skipped to its intended target.
- While on the run, he threw wide of an open Dell on a second-half third-and-1.
- From a clean pocket in the red zone, Stroud had Metchie wide open over the middle and simply overthrew him. Would’ve been a go-ahead touchdown.
- He missed Dell on a deep corner in crunch time.
Summary: No Nico Collins. No Stefon Diggs. On the road against the Jets on a short week. Those facts have to be considered here for Stroud, but I won’t factor those in too much because every quarterback has to deal with shortcomings throughout a season. And flat-out, this was a dismal performance for the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. The ball placement and antsy play in the pocket were uncharacteristically bad.
Grade: D+
Season Grade: B-
Week 9 stats
- 16 of 26 for 171 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- With a defender hitting him in the pocket, Young delivered an accurate, high-lofting throw to rookie Ja’Tavion Sanders for 15 yards down the left sideline.
- Although it was knocked away at the last second, Young drove the football perfectly into the hands of his receiver deep downfield on a deep over.
- He bounced off a would-be tackler and scampered near the end zone on a 9-yard gain.
- There was a tremendous over-the-shoulder toss — while on the run — to Legette that was bobbled by the rookie receiver and intercepted. Nothing on Young.
- Young’s final throw of the game, a 26-yard strike to Legette, was made with anticipation and was high enough to make it over an underneath linebacker.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- Young was way late on a throw over the middle that could’ve been intercepted on his opening drive.
- He slightly underthrew a sideline hole shot in the second quarter that tipped off the underneath cornerback’s hands and fell incomplete.
- Young hurried a receiver screen, and the ball was inaccurately thrown down the line of scrimmage.
Summary: Back-to-back positive performances from Young, when the start to his NFL career hardly featured any of those. He wasn’t sensational in the home victory against the lowly Saints, but he did make more decisive, accurate throws more frequently than ever before. The ill-advised tosses did pop up occasionally.
Grade: B-
Season Grade: C-
Who’s the betting favorite to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after nine weeks? It seems to be a two-man race between Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels. Check out the latest odds over at FanDuel.