Callahan: Patriots’ path to the No. 1 seed, Drake Maye’s historic accuracy and more Week 11 thoughts

FOXBORO Welcome to the Friday Five Each week during the NFL regular season I will drop five Patriots-related thoughts on Friday which in the current era mostly highlight the unit s win over the Jets Ready set football Lighting the path Do you remember two months ago The Patriots had a fumbling concern A big one They were - And only by the grace of De Von Achane s left foot partly landing out of bounds in the final minutes of their win at Miami did they avoid an - start Now fast-forward two months As it stands the Patriots should be kicking their feet up in mid-January while the rest of the AFC s playoff contenders fight to survive in the Wild Card round Because after Thursday s easy-peasy win over the Jets the Pats not only own the NFL s best record at - but they re one step closer to clinching the No seed in the AFC As consistently this season hope springs from the schedule The Pats have won eight straight by treating the league s bottom-feeders as stepping stones Odds are they will make it to straight before they break from their early December bye week to play the Bills Here are their remaining games at Cincinnati vs N Y Giants vs Buffalo at Baltimore at N Y Jets vs Miami Meanwhile the Colts and Broncos both - face rockier roads ahead The Colts excursion to Kansas City next week after their ongoing bye then host the Texans tour to Jacksonville and Seattle in consecutive weeks play the ers Jaguars and Texans again to close the year All of those opponents are either presently in the playoff picture or contending for a Wild Card spot Save for trips to Washington and Las Vegas the same holds for Denver The Broncos host the Chiefs on Sunday visit the Commanders and Raiders then host Green Bay and Jacksonville before closing at Kansas City and versus the Chargers Oof The Chargers - and Bills - are the only other teams that should push for the No seed outside of Indy and Denver barring a late surge by - Chiefs All of which is to say if the Patriots beat the teams they should they can clear their calendar for the first round of the playoffs just like old times Maye making history Foxboro MA - Nov - New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye looks for the pass as New York Jets linebacker Quincy Williams moves in during the second half at Gillette Stadium Photo By Matt Stone Boston Herald We are at a point now where bad incompletions an inevitability of playing quarterback are a surprise with Drake Maye Maye is not just accurate He s historically pinpoint Maye has completed of his passes despite throwing to a deeper target on average than the greater part every other starting quarterback in the league The stat to know combines those two facts and highlights how exceptional Maye s passing has been Entering Thursday Maye owned the highest Completion Percentage Over Expected CPOE ever measured by Next Gen Stats which began tracking the metric in CPOE accounts for factors like throw distance and defenders locations to determine true accuracy by first establishing how likely it is each pass is completed Unlike traditional completion percentage CPOE separates the conservative quarterbacks who fatten their traditional numbers with checkdowns from the truly great passers who complete more challenging and impactful throws at a higher rate On Thursday Maye went -of- against the Jets including two drops a stat line that no doubt bolstered his CPOE for the season But even if Maye remained at a CPOE after the win he would still be the NFL s the greater part accurate quarterback of the last seven-plus seasons with six games to go Think about who s on that list There s Tom Brady Patrick Mahomes Aaron Rodgers Joe Burrow Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen among others Maye s CPOE is the highest since Ryan Tannehill s in when his Titans made a surprise run under Mike Vrabel to the AFC Championship Encounter Tennessee s offense that year accentuated Tannehill s superb deep accuracy a trait he shares with Maye But it s not just his deep ball Or Maye s ability to make tight-window throws or take the checkdown or post a sky-high traditional completion percentage It s all of it This is a special quarterback amid a special possibly historic season McDaniels wrinkles No Kayshon Boutte no Rhamondre Stevenson no Austin Hooper no problems Granted yes He only had to game-plan for the Jets But despite limited time to work around key absences at all three skill positions Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels exposed creative solutions Thursday that just might stick long-term New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels right talks with head coach Mike Vrabel before an NFL football contest Sunday Sept in Foxborough Mass AP Photo Charles Krupa Here s a fun one backup center guard Ben Brown as a jumbo tight end The Patriots ran directly behind and away from Brown s side on different plays then later executed a play-action rollout away from Brown to keep New York guessing Brown even took the field with defensive tackle fullback Khyiris Tonga for a couple snaps after Tonga began debuting as a fullback a couple weeks ago McDaniels also deployed more personnel four wideouts one running back and zero tight ends than he had called in any contest this season Stefon Diggs Mack Hollins DeMario Douglas and rookie Kyle Williams all shared the field on a inadequate occasions Might Boutte replace Douglas or Williams when he returns I say McDaniels ought to lean into this personnel group more especially against porous pass defenses like say the Bengals a group that just happens to be next on the Patriots schedule Ready set recover Before the Patriots flew back from their win in Tampa Bay last weekend players received IVs to rehydrate Others made plans to jump into the hot tub and sauna back in Foxboro Or receie massages and extra remedy But not the day after they landed Try an hour or two That was part of the Patriots preparations for their third competition in days this week a rugged stretch every squad faces every year since Thursday Night Football became a weekly staple in the league Pats coach Mike Vrabel explained the training staff went to great lengths to schedule time for players during the week Everybody all hands on deck here and also having a schedule Vrabel mentioned Our assistant trainer went around and scheduled everybody so there could be a flow chart and guys didn t walk in at and say Well I can t get a massage because Morgan Moses is already on a table So it was let s make sure that this is planned out and there s particular thought to it and give our players the best opportunity to recover Related Articles Patriots teammates crowd back Drake Maye s MVP situation in win over Jets Stefon Diggs motivational tactics are harsh but effective with Patriots teammates Patriots HC Mike Vrabel provides injury update on Milton Williams Best and worst What we learned from Patriots - win over Jets Patriots star defender ruled out of Jets match with ankle injury Despite the fact players are now off until Monday Pats captain Robert Spillane noted he expects majority of of them to return and take a similar approach to their next championship at Cincinnati even if that kickoff is days away instead of three I am expecting to see a bunch of guys in the facility throughout the weekend he explained I would be very surprised if we don t have guys here over the weekend looking to get recovered extra lifts in because we know the real season is ahead of us Decisively Would you believe Christian Barmore notched his first sack of the season Thursday Yep One of the highest-paid players in franchise history at last broke through on a play the defensive tackle has been chasing all year Barmore s season to date while far far from dominant highlights the importance of considering a athlete s total pressures not just his sack total While Barmore had zero sacks entering Thursday s competition he d tallied pressures good for almost three per contest an excellent number Barmore s pass rush could now become even more pivotal for the Patriots pending Milton Williams recovery from an ankle injury that surfaced and sidelined him for good in Thursday s win