Patriots Backups Carry Drake Maye Past the Raiders

Drake Maye threw four touchdown passes and ran for another as the New England Patriots beat the Las Vegas Raiders 45-17 on Sunday at Gillette Stadium. He finished 26 of 34 for 374 yards with no turnovers, his first clean game of the season.

Mack Hollins was on injured reserve. A.J. Brown was already there. Both starting cornerbacks sat. The people who played still piled up a season-high 536 yards for the defending AFC champions, now 3-2 after a second straight win.

Four Active Receivers Covered 536 Yards

New England dressed four wideouts: Romeo Doubs, DeMario Douglas, Efton Chism III, and Kyle Williams. Hollins went on injured reserve Saturday with a calf injury and will miss at least four games. Brown remains on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Coach Mike Vrabel said the group was ready anyway.

“They’re all ready to go,” Vrabel said. “They all play different positions. That’s not easy, you know, to learn three different positions and being able to step in there and block and make plays. The ball found each and every one of them.”

Williams, a former Washington State receiver, caught all three of his targets for a career-high 91 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown and a 49-yard post. Douglas, nicknamed Pop, caught four passes for 65 yards and scored twice, both times wide open. Chism and rookie tight end Eli Raridon each caught five passes for 57 yards, the team high, and neither found the end zone. Hunter Henry added three catches for 44 yards and a score. Rhamondre Stevenson caught three balls too, which means six Patriots had at least three receptions.

WHO CAUGHT THE BALL

Doubs played 62 snaps, most among the receivers, and his one catch went for 16 yards on the opening drive. His larger work was drawing two defensive pass-interference flags that moved the chains. Chism played a career-high 57 snaps, converted a third-and-11 with a lateral to TreVeyon Henderson, and later described a room that did not care whose number got called.

“It’s just how much respect we have for everyone’s work ethic on a day-to-day basis,” Chism said. “We all love each other. We’re a tight group, and so I love seeing Kyle score, Rome score, Pop. It’s just awesome. And with Mack and A.J. out, everyone is just so close and tight.”

Williams called it a confidence booster after a slow start. “Something I really needed to just bring the joy back for me. And it’s back now.” Douglas kept the week’s word simpler: opportunity.

Short Scoring Drives Left Las Vegas Chasing

After the Raiders went three-and-out, New England needed five plays and 2:33 to go 79 yards. Maye hit Doubs for 16, then found Douglas alone for 35 and a 7-0 lead with 11:23 left in the first quarter. Kirk Cousins answered in 3:04, hitting Brock Bowers from 13 yards after a pass-interference call on Kevin Byard, tying it 7-7. Stevenson’s 5-yard run, his 30th career rushing score, put the Patriots back up 14-7 after an 11-play, 84-yard march.

Las Vegas got a look before halftime when Corey Kiner fumbled at the New England 37. Matt Gay’s 49-yard try hit the left upright. Maye then went 61 yards in 1:28 and threw an 11-yard score to Henry with 24 seconds left, a 21-7 half. The building had already marked the 25th anniversary of the Super Bowl XXXVI team; Adam Vinatieri received his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring at halftime.

HOW THE POINTS LANDED

1. 11:23, first quarter: Douglas 35-yard pass from Maye (5 plays, 79 yards, 2:33). Patriots 7-0.
2. 8:19, first quarter: Bowers 13-yard pass from Cousins (6 plays, 80 yards, 3:04). Tied 7-7.
3. 1:30, first quarter: Stevenson 5-yard run (11 plays, 84 yards, 6:49). Patriots 14-7.
4. 0:24, second quarter: Henry 11-yard pass from Maye (5 plays, 61 yards, 1:28). Patriots 21-7.
5. 12:58, third quarter: Williams 34-yard pass from Maye (4 plays, 68 yards, 2:02). Patriots 28-7.
6. 8:30, third quarter: Gay 46-yard field goal. Patriots 28-10.
7. 3:10, third quarter: Maye 3-yard run. Patriots 35-10.
8. Fourth quarter: Andres Borregales 28-yard field goal; Dylan Laube 2-yard run; Douglas 8-yard pass from Maye. Final 45-17.

Four of New England’s seven scoring drives lasted less than three minutes. The Patriots scored touchdowns on four of five trips inside the 20. They led 35-10 after three quarters, which is the answer to anyone calling the box a fourth-quarter pad job. The last scoring throw, an 8-yarder to Douglas, was garnish.

Drake Maye to Kyle Williams 😍

📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/5o265S4HvW

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 11, 2026

Maye’s First Clean Pocket of the Season

Through four games Maye had 854 passing yards, four touchdown passes, and seven interceptions, plus a 1-2 start that included losses at Seattle (13-10) and at Jacksonville (35-6). A 29-26 win at Buffalo on Oct. 4, with three scoring throws, stopped the slide. Sunday was the first time all season he finished without a turnover, and it was only the second 300-yard game of his career. The first was 380 yards at Baltimore on Dec. 21, 2025.

MAYE’S LINE

• Passing: 26 of 34, 374 yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 150.9 rating, long of 49.
• Rushing: 7 carries, 25 yards, 1 touchdown on a 3-yard run.
• Pressure: Sacked once for 3 yards.
• Season: 1,228 passing yards, 8 touchdown passes, 7 interceptions in five games.

Over the Buffalo and Las Vegas games he has 643 passing yards, seven touchdown passes, and one interception. Patriots game notes list him as the first New England player with back-to-back games of at least three touchdown passes since Tom Brady did it against Miami and Indianapolis in 2018. His four scoring throws Sunday are his second-most in a game, behind five at the New York Jets on Dec. 28, 2025. The last Patriots quarterback with four passing touchdowns and a rushing score in the same game was Steve Grogan’s four-touchdown game in 1987, when Grogan went 11 of 18 for 180 yards and ran one in from 2 yards in a 42-20 win over the Jets.

Maye did not talk like a man who thought he had done it alone. He pointed at the line, at Josh McDaniels’ calls, and at the people who caught the ball.

I’m confident in myself and my abilities and the guys around me, and part of it in the first touchdown to Pop, I’m back there, credit the offensive line eating a ham sandwich, so I got all day back there.

Drake Maye, quarterback, postgame press conference

“It was beautiful to be a part of today,” he said. “There’s still some out there.” The Football Database charted 536 yards and 29 first downs on 66 plays, 8.1 yards per snap, 34:27 of possession, and 165 rushing yards on 31 carries. Stevenson led that with 13 carries for 64 yards. Kiner added 52 yards on six carries after the fumble. Henderson had 22 yards on four carries before he left.

Here you go!!!

📺 CBS https://t.co/ETjJyjw0Bq pic.twitter.com/ZYy7RjHrWx

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 11, 2026

How New England Slowed Kirk Cousins

Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis III, the starting corners, were inactive. Charles Woods then exited in the third quarter with a shoulder injury, which left a thin secondary against Bowers, who still caught eight passes for 110 yards and the early score. The rest of Las Vegas’s day was smaller. The Raiders finished with 306 yards, 16 first downs, and 38 rushing yards on 18 carries. Ashton Jeanty, their lead back, had 10 carries for 27 yards.

Cousins went 19 of 28 for 243 yards and the Bowers touchdown. He was sacked three times for 23 yards and spent the afternoon throwing on schedule he did not choose. “They did a nice job with their pressures, getting home quickly. Made it hard for us,” Cousins said. New England was the first team to hold Las Vegas under 25 points this season. The Raiders had been averaging 28.8 points.

Linebacker Elijah Ponder supplied two of those sacks, the first multi-sack game of his career, including a 9-yard takedown of Cousins on the last play of the second quarter. Patriots Communications noted he has recorded at least a half-sack in four straight games, the longest such Patriots streak since Josh Uche in 2022. Byard later punched the ball out of Bowers’ hands. Gay’s miss and a 0-for-2 day on fourth down left Las Vegas with no cheap points to hang around.

The defense was not a masterpiece of coverage. Marcus Jones had to live with a size mismatch on Bowers. New England also drew 12 penalties for 116 yards, the kind of free yardage a 45-17 score can hide. Vrabel’s standard for the day sat closer to the people who were actually available.

“That’s what it has to be,” Vrabel said. “They realize when you get an opportunity, you do something with it.”

The Injury List Grew in the Win

The Patriots entered short and left shorter. Henderson limped to the locker room in the second quarter with an ankle injury. Two plays later, left tackle Will Campbell was helped off with a right knee injury. Neither returned. Woods’ shoulder injury in the third quarter further thinned a corner group that was already missing Gonzalez and Davis III. Raiders defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway left in the first quarter with a neck injury and was ruled out; defensive end Patrick Johnson left in the second with a neck injury of his own.

WHO DID NOT FINISH

• TreVeyon Henderson: Ankle, second quarter, did not return (4 carries, 22 yards before the exit).
• Will Campbell: Right knee, second quarter, did not return.
• Charles Woods: Shoulder, third quarter.
• Already out: Hollins (calf, injured reserve, at least four games), Brown (ankle, injured reserve), Gonzalez, Davis III.

Attendance was 64,628. The next home date is Sunday, Oct. 18, against the Jets. Vrabel was already there in his head. “Last week doesn’t matter. Today is not going to matter here in about 10 minutes. We’re going to have to focus on the Jets in the division here at home,” he said.

Mendoza’s Snaps Leave Cousins as the Starter

Klint Kubiak’s Raiders fell to 3-2 and have lost two straight after opening 3-1. They host the Buffalo Bills next. Late in the fourth quarter, with the game gone, No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza replaced Cousins and went 6 of 8 for 48 yards. He also ran once for 3 yards. Kubiak said the appearance does not change the depth chart.

Just wanted to get (Mendoza) some exposure.

Klint Kubiak, Raiders head coach, postgame

“We’re not happy with what happened today, and we’ve got to go do something about it,” Kubiak said. Las Vegas still had Bowers. It did not have a run game, and it did not get Cousins a clean pocket long enough to make the rest of the route tree matter. The Patriots converted 6 of 12 third downs and 2 of 2 fourth downs. The Raiders went 5 of 13 and 0 of 2.

New England is 2-0 at Gillette Stadium and above.500 for the first time this season, and it snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. The people who did the scoring will not all start when Brown is healthy. That is the point of Sunday. Chism, Raridon, Williams, and Douglas caught 17 passes for 270 yards and three scores without the two names on the injury report, Maye had time to stand in the pocket, and Ponder still got home with the starting corners in street clothes.

Vrabel wants that habit in the whole building, not only in one receiver meeting. “They all care about each other,” he said. “They’re just as excited for the next guy if it was them, and I think that that’s truly what we want to build around here.” The Jets arrive Oct. 18. The roster that beat Las Vegas may not be the one that takes the first snap.