Copyright The Boston Globe
Maye, who has made the second-year leap in a manner so spectacular that even the most optimistic Patriots fan could not have imagined it, has thrown for 2,026 yards and 15 touchdowns against just three interceptions, leads the NFL in completion percentage (a staggering 75.2) and passer rating (118.7), while also running for 250 yards and two touchdowns. Maye has had seven straight games with a passer rating over 100, and he should achieve his eighth against a Falcons pass defense that somehow ranks first in the NFL, yet gave up four touchdown passes to the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa last Sunday in the Falcons’ 34-10 loss. Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who went eighth overall in the 2024 draft, five picks after Maye, missed the Dolphins loss with a bone bruise in his knee. The Falcons are hopeful that he’ll be ready to go Sunday, but if not, immobile veteran Kirk Cousins, who went 21 of 31 for 173 yards against the Dolphins, would get his second straight start. Kick it off, Andy Borregales, and let’s get this thing started . . . THREE PLAYERS WORTH WATCHING OTHER THAN THE QUARTERBACKS Christian Gonzalez: All of that shameless sports-radio conjecture and blather about his hamstring injury and prolonged absence is now where opposing receivers never manage to be: behind him. Eight games into the season and five games after he made his return, he has fully returned to form as one of the NFL’s premier cornerbacks. Gonzalez was a second-team All-Pro a year ago, and he is playing right now like he’s on a mission to make the first team this time around. Through five games this season, Gonzalez has allowed just seven receptions on 19 targets (a 38.6 completion percentage) and 93 yards. He has broken up three passes, and even has 22 tackles while showing a willingness to get involved in stopping the run. Last Sunday against the Browns, he took receiver Jerry Jeudy, who had 90 catches for 1,229 yards last season, out of the game. Jeudy entered the matchup with 22 receptions for 257 yards this season. He ended it with … 22 receptions for 257 yards. Gonzalez held him without a catch on two targets. Per Pro Football Focus, Gonzalez was targeted seven times against the Browns, allowing a total of 3 yards. Gonzalez’s lockdown performance was no surprise, especially since Jeudy is a No. 1 receiver more by default than performance. But it was amusing to see the normally mild-mannered corner talking trash to Jeudy in the fourth quarter after Gonzalez locked down Jeudy on a fourth-down incompletion in the fourth quarter. He certainly has earned the right to talk. It’s hard to imagine the Falcons having any success throwing in his direction, though Penix has a far better arm than Cousins. The Falcons, who have the league’s 13th-rated passing offense (219.4 yards per game), were without top receiver Drake London (hip) in the loss to the Dolphins. Should London, who has 38 catches for 469 yards and a pair of touchdowns, be a full-go against the Patriots, he’ll surely be Gonzalez’s assignment. In his absence last week, enigmatic tight end Kyle Pitts was the Falcons’ top receiver, catching all nine of his targets, but for just 59 yards. Bijan Robinson: Save for a half-dozen or so mind-boggling Maye numbers, the most impressive statistic of all for the Patriots might be the defense’s season-long streak of not allowing an opposing running back to gain 50 yards on the ground. Common sense suggests that might come to an end against the Falcons and their spectacular running back. Robinson, who ran for 1,456 yards and 14 touchdowns in his second season last year, is seventh in the league in rushing, with 549 yards and a stellar 5.2 yards per carry. That includes the longest run in the league this season, an 81-yard breakaway in the Falcons’ 24-14 upset of the Bills in Week 6, when he finished with 170 yards on just 19 attempts. Then again, Robinson appeared to be in line for a huge performance last week against the Dolphins and their 32d-ranked run defense entering the game. He finished with just 25 of the Falcons’ 45 rushing yards in the game, and lost a fumble deep inside Dolphins territory. The Patriots run defense, anchored by a defensive tackle group that includes Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, and pleasant surprise Khyiris Tonga, ranks second in the NFL, allowing just 76 yards per game and 3.5 yards per carry. They’ll be geared up to stop Robinson, but actually doing so is their toughest challenge of the season so far. Jaylinn Hawkins: Hawkins’s importance to the Patriots’ defense has flown under the radar a bit, but he’s now the closest thing they have to an established veteran safety. Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers, who combined to start 19 games last season, are now employed by the Steelers. Rookie Craig Woodson has started seven of the Patriots’ eight games this season, and while he looks like a keeper and worthwhile fourth-round pick, he does make mistakes (he appeared to have a play on David Njoku’s late touchdown last week, but took a terrible angle). Hawkins, a six-year veteran and second-year Patriot who spent 2020 through the first six games of ’23 with the Falcons, has a lot of responsibility, more than anyone save for perhaps the Patriots coaches could have envisioned for him entering the season. He seems capable of handling it. After missing the Saints and Titans games with a hamstring injury, he returned against the Browns and made a spectacular one-handed interception of a Dillon Gabriel pass late in the third quarter. But as steady as Hawkins has been, the Patriots, who have former Falcon Richie Grant on the practice squad and added rookie John Saunders Jr. from the Dolphins this past week, would be wise to add some depth in the defensive backfield before Tuesday’s trading deadline. GRIEVANCE OF THE WEEK The Patriots traded a couple of notable defensive players this past week, neither of which would constitute a surprise. Dugger, who had slowed down in his sixth season and was a square peg of a fit in Mike Vrabel’s defensive scheme, was sent to the Steelers, where he can reunite with fellow Patriots exile Peppers. (Peppers, by the way, has eight tackles this season — six in the Steelers’ Week 3 win over the Patriots.) While Dugger, from Division II Lenoir-Rhyne, was somewhat of a reach in the second round of the 2020 draft — he went No. 37 overall, four picks before the Colts took Jonathan Taylor, and 16 before the Eagles landed Jalen Hurts — he had a decent run as a hard-hitting safety and conscientious teammate. Belichick certainly did much worse with his second-round picks. Which brings us to Keion White. The Patriots’ No. 2 pick (46th overall) out of Georgia Tech in the 2023 draft has all the measurables (he’s 6-feet-5-inches, 285 pounds, and as quick as a small forward) to be a game-altering pass rusher. For a brief stretch with the Patriots, he was just that. He had 2½ sacks in the Patriots’ stunning victory over the Bengals in the 2024 opener, and added another 1½ the following week in a close loss to the Seahawks. He looked like he was turning into a star. He hasn’t done a thing since. Actually, he did one thing. White had a single sack in his last 20 games as a Patriot, when he collected one the Patriots’ nine takedowns of Caleb Williams in their Week 10 win over the Bears last season. That’s it. One. He has as many sacks this season as Andre Tippett. Nothing in White’s career suggests that he’s coachable, which is probably why the return from the 49ers — a 2026 sixth-round draft pick in exchange for him and a ’26 seventh-rounder — was so small. The Patriots obviously just wanted him gone. THE FLASHBACK This will be the 17th meeting between the Patriots and Falcons, with the former winning 10 matchups, including a Super Bowl of some note. This time around, let’s look at the first meeting between the two teams, at Schaefer Stadium on Nov. 24, 1972. The Patriots trailed entering the fourth quarter, 20-7, but a 37-yard touchdown pass from Jim Plunkett to his Stanford pal Randy Vataha cut it to 20-14, and Carl Garrett’s 12-yard touchdown run (and ensuing extra point by Mike Walker) gave the Patriots the 21-20 victory. PREDICTION, WHILE STILL MARVELING AT JULIAN EDELMAN’S CATCH (RIGHT, THAT ONE) It took a while to get going, but Maye and the Patriots stacked up 32 points and 422 total yards against the Browns’ No. 2-ranked defense last Sunday. The Falcons, somewhat surprisingly, enter this one with the No. 2 overall defense (275.6 yards per game). Impressive numbers to be sure, but the Patriots should be able to run the ball, with TreVeyon Henderson coming off his best game as a pro and in line for a greater opportunity with Rhamondre Stevenson dealing with a toe injury. More important, the way Maye is playing, an opponent’s previous defensive accomplishments don’t matter much. Some defense will cool off Maye one of these Sundays, but it’s not going to be this one. Patriots 33, Falcons 16.
