Patriots’ Drake Maye Edges Matthew Stafford In Key NFL MVP Category
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford have been the two NFL MVP frontrunners for much of the season, often flipping their odds based on which star QB had the better most recent performance.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, Maye pulled ahead after the best game of his career thus far. He threw five touchdown passes as the Patriots routed the New York Jets in Week 17, while Stafford was shaky during the Rams’ surprising upset loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football.
While their overall stats are similar, some believe Stafford’s are more impressive given his harder strength of schedule. The NFC West is a much tougher division than the AFC East and New England had the NFL’s easiest schedule in decades, so that’s a fair point.
However, it’s telling that Maye outperformed Stafford during their six games against common opponents this year.
Maye has a better record, more total yards, fewer interceptions and a higher EPA per play, giving him the edge over Stafford.
Those games are the difference why the Patriots have two more wins than Los Angeles and are still in the hunt for the AFC’s No. 1 seed, whereas Los Angeles slipped into a wild card spot. Stafford’s inability to beat the Carolina Panthers and Falcons, against whom he threw five interceptions, as a considerable road favorite may come back to haunt the Rams and cost him in the MVP race
With six picks and three losses over his last five games, Stafford has faded a bit down the stretch. Meanwhile, Maye is playing his best football of the year and finishing the season strong, putting him in position to potentially steal Stafford’s first career MVP award.