Q&A, Week 9: Can Drake Maye lead the Patriots … finally?

Each week in the NFL season brings many new questions… and answers some old ones. Let’s run through what we learned in Week 9 … and what we’ll be wondering in Week 10 and beyond.

ASKED: Can Drake Maye lead the Patriarchs … finally?

Look, say what you want about Tom Brady’s tenure in New England — six Super Bowl rings, all-time PUO, yadda yadda — the man can’t hunt like this:

It’s Drake Maye giving himself plenty of time to make and eat an entire sandwich in the backfield as his receivers look to break up Tennessee’s secondary. And it worked! The Patriots were able to force overtime by running down zeroes-on-the-clock. That’s an incredible and incredible performance from a rookie in his fifth NFL game.

Of course, he followed that up by throwing a deep ball into double coverage to kill the Patriots’ hopes in overtime, but hey… baby steps. Maye’s numbers on the day weren’t spectacular — 206 yards and two INTs including that catch — but the presence of mind he showed in that final game of regulation did. do or die should give Patriots fans at least hope. There isn’t much else out there. New England has lost seven games, a dubious mark they’ve only achieved once in the Brady/Belichick era, during Brady’s second year as the starter. But with a reliable quarterback, all things are possible … and Maye laid the foundation for a solid start on Sunday.

ANSWER: Cowboys are burned

Bashing Dallas for overdoing it at this point is like complaining that the Christmas season is starting too early…no matter what any of us (or all of us) say, that’s just not true. the inevitable always happens. It’s also inevitable: Dallas’ face plant, growing the Years Since A Super Bowl clock by another season. Sunday, in what could have been at least a competitive game against the Falcons, Dallas looked lost and overwhelmed. You don’t turn the ball over on downs four different times if you are well prepared, motivated and coached.

Things are not going well for Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys coaching staff right now. When you have the most expensive player in NFL history on your roster, you’ve got to be known for more than just taking up the prime broadcast windows. (There are still four more this year!) Dallas has games coming up against Philadelphia, Houston and Washington, meaning the 3-5 Cowboys could be eight losses during the playoffs. see Thanksgiving against the Giants. Talk about a matchup that will make you create your own turkey.

QUESTION: Well, what is happening in Bengal?

In consecutive weeks, Cincinnati has been attacked by Philadelphia and has completely overwhelmed Las Vegas. The talent spread between the Eagles and Raiders isn’t 37 points, so what’s the story with the Bengals? Is it a good team with occasional bad situations, or a bad team that rises to the occasion every time? I’d lean toward the latter, with Joe Burrow a reliable delivery method to a rotating lineup of visiting stars — this week, it was Chase Brown (120 yards rushing) and Mike Gesicki ( 100 yards receiving, two touchdowns).

Cincinnati has won three of its last four and appears to be a team that is figuring things out. However, the Bengals are as bad as anyone in the NFL in the following three games: Baltimore, at the Chargers, vs. Pittsburgh. At 4-5, their season is not over yet, but it could be before November.

ANSWERED: Jameis Winston is not the answer for Cleveland

When you are at the bottom of the hole, you will grab anything like a rope, even if it is dental floss. That’s where Cleveland is right now in the post-Deshaun Watson season. When you’re looking for Jameis Winston for safety, hey, buckle up…you’re in for a ride. Sometimes it’s exciting, like last week’s win over Baltimore, and sometimes it’s a nightmare in slow motion, like Sunday’s loss to the Chargers.

Winston has an incredible talent as a pass completionist, but unfortunately the vast majority of those completions go to the other team. He threw three interceptions Sunday against the Chargers, bringing his career total to triple figures. Fortunately for Cleveland, the Chargers gave up each of the three straight; Unfortunately for Cleveland, the Chargers still won 27-10. Oh, and there’s this: Winston still has a long way to go before catching Brett Favre’s career record of 336 interceptions. But with a little grit and a little frustration, Winston will get there.

QUESTION: Did the Washington Hail Mary break the Bears?

Bouncing back from a bad, possibly season-changing loss isn’t easy, but even so, you’d be happy to see a better effort than the Chicago Bears put forth on Sunday against Arizona. Again, the Bears allowed a brutal last-second touchdown, in this case from a 53-yard run from Emeri Demercado in the final ticks of the first half. That put Arizona up 21-9 at halftime, and Chicago would not score again.

Hail Mary goat (not Goat) Tyrique Stevenson sat out Sunday’s game, but Bears coaches were still very much there, and that’s enough to make many Chicago fans wonder if the team this is headed in anything close to the right direction. A gift awaits this week – the New England Patriots – before three important divisional games against Green Bay, Minnesota and Detroit. If Chicago wants to downplay the impact of Jayden Daniels, now would be the time.

ANSWERED: The Philadelphia Eagles got their act together

This time last year, Philadelphia was deep in the middle of a 10-1 run to start the season, looking like a team ready to make some noise in the playoffs. The Eagles finished the season on a 1-5 skid and quickly faded from the scene. This year’s model has shrugged off early injuries to set up a four-game winning streak that would have put the 6-2 Eagles atop the NFC East if it weren’t for the 7-2 Chiefs.

Now, they have a healthy roster capable of winning games, and a speed capable of doing…whatever the hell it was like:

He’s also a wide receiver who can do this crazy thing:

Granted, that four-game winning streak came against the Browns, Giants, Bengals and Jaguars, not exactly a playoff quartet. And Nick Sirianni continues to make questionable coaching decisions that will come back to bite Philly. But for now, the Eagles appear to have moved on from the ghosts of 2023.

QUESTIONABLE: Bryce Young or 2025 QB1?

We’re a long way from the 2025 NFL Draft, but not so far that we can’t start making predictions about who will be chasing the top seed. Currently, the New England Patriots have a “leader,” but it seems to be good at QB and Maye. Near the top of the pile: The Carolina Panthers, will have to think about whether to take a quarterback – say, Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward or Quinn Ewers – with their first pick, or stick with Bryce Young.

Just kidding! Of course the Panthers will take the quarterback. The youngest is the food that is sent back to the kitchen; you can try to hack it and send it back there, but you probably need to start over. The youngster can make a few more starts to see if he can make a resume elsewhere, but his window to be a Carolina man is closed and is still painting closed.

ANSWER: Well, Arizona isn’t bad

It’s amazing how the NFL schedule always seems to be set up so that no team should go long without facing a make-or-break game. In the crab pot of the NFC West, Arizona somehow managed to climb to the top thanks to a three-game winning streak and early losses to the Rams and injury-riddled San Francisco. Now, the Cardinals get Seattle in two of the next four weeks, and as such, the forgotten Cardinals may run the show in the division. The Bears’ Sunday round was a necessary data point; Chicago, for all its faults, is still a potentially dangerous team, and the Cardinals shut out the Bears, 29-9. We’re still not sold on the Kyler Murray-led offense, but the Cardinals are doing the best thing in a crowded NFC playoff field — win the dang division and you can skip any drama that comes with completeness.