New England Patriots vs New York Jets

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- — Drake Maye and the New England Patriots took care of things on their end to become AFC East champions. And they didn't even need four quarters. Maye threw a career-high five touchdown passes before getting the rest of the game off in the third quarter, New England scored a TD on its first six drives and the Patriots finished the regular season undefeated on the road by dominating the New York Jets 42-10 on Sunday. “It comes down to unfinished business,” Maye said. “You want to go 8-0 on the road. That would be something we thought would be pretty cool. In this league, it’s hard to win on the road and we accomplished that today.” A few hours later, the Patriots (13-3) won the AFC East title for the first time since 2019 when Buffalo, which took the last five division crowns, lost 13-12 to Philadelphia. Shortly after that game went final, the Patriots posted a photo on their social media pages of the players and coaches wearing AFC East champions hats and blue T-shirts that said: “2025 AFC East Champions. Been There, Won That.” “Winning the division, we’ve got to win out to win the division,” Maye said. “That was our mindset. If that means the No. 1 seed is at play, that’s what we’re trying to do.” Maye was 19 of 21 for 256 yards and a 157.0 quarterback rating with TD tosses to Rhamondre Stevenson — who also had a touchdown run — Austin Hooper, Stefon Diggs, Hunter Henry and Efton Chism III before being lifted by coach Mike Vrabel for Joshua Dobbs with 5:31 left in the third quarter. Maye joined Tom Brady (11 times) and Drew Bledsoe (twice) as the only New England quarterbacks to reach 4,000 yards passing in a season. “They don’t give me a vote,” Vrabel said of the league MVP buzz around Maye, “but there is nobody else we want as our quarterback.” Dobbs' first drive ended the Patriots' touchdown run, with New England settling for a field goal on its seventh possession — but Andy Borregales clanked the 41-yard attempt off the right upright. It didn't matter much by then, though, as the Patriots cruised to their eighth 13-win season in team history. In a road game that looked and sounded more like a Patriots home game with all the red, white and blue-clad fans who made the trek down to MetLife Stadium, New England finished with no regular-season road losses for the third time in franchise history. Only San Francisco (1984, 1989 and 1990) has also gone undefeated on the road in three seasons since 1970. “Coming in here and going 8-0 on the road, that’s a big thing for us as a young team,” cornerback Christian Gonzalez said. Meanwhile, it was another embarrassing showing in the home finale for the lowly Jets (3-13), who have lost four in a row and have two straight seasons with multiple losing streaks of at least four games. New York became the fifth team in NFL history to lose four straight by 23 or more points in one season, and the first since the 1972 Patriots. “Highly, highly disappointed in the way that we came out,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “Today was probably the one time I feel like our effort wasn’t as good as I want it to be.” Undrafted rookie quarterback Brady Cook made his third consecutive start and went 19 of 33 for 152 yards and an interception. Breece Hall had 111 yards rushing, including a 59-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter, to give him his first 1,000-yard season. Quick start Maye and the Patriots sliced through the Jets' porous defense on their opening drive, capping it with a 2-yard TD catch by Hooper. After a three-and-out by the Jets, New England again got into the end zone when Stevenson ran it in after a questionable pass interference call on Brandon Stephens in the end zone put the ball on the 1. The Patriots took advantage of an interception by Jaylinn Hawkins and scored on their third straight possession, this time on Maye's 22-yard TD pass to Stevenson to make it 21-0. New England made it 4 for 4 on TD drives on their next possession with Maye hitting Diggs on a screen on fourth down for a 3-yard touchdown. After a roughing-the-passer call on third down kept the Patriots' next drive alive, Maye found a wide-open Henry for a 13-yard score. New England stayed perfect on TD drives on the first possession of the second half with Maye finding a diving Chism for a 10-yard score that made it 42-3. Trickery The Jets tried to find a spark with two fake punts on the same drive to open the second half. On fourth-and-2 from the Jets 43, punter Austin McNamara took the snap and tossed a 3-yard pass to Malachi Moore for a first down. Four plays later on fourth-and-6 from the 50, McNamara again lined up to punt but Isaiah Davis took the direct snap and was immediately dropped for a 3-yard loss and a turnover on downs. Injuries Patriots: FB Jack Westover injured an ankle in the fourth quarter. Jets: Hall left in the fourth quarter with a knee injury, but said he was OK after the game. ... CB Qwan'tez Stiggers injured a knee in the second half. ... Davis was evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter. ... LG John Simpson hurt a knee in the fourth quarter. Up next Patriots: Host Miami next weekend. Jets: Finish the season on the road in Buffalo next weekend. — AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL