Mike Vrabel's 'arts and crafts' game ball perfect prize for Patriots star QB Drake Maye

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2025-12-31

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New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has vaulted into the lead in the race for the NFL MVP award.

Maye is coming off an MVP performance in Sunday’s 42-10 obliteration of the New York Jets as the Pats secured the AFC East title. Coupled with wild card-bound Rams QB Matthew Stafford stubbing his toe with a three-INT prime-time performance in a loss to the Falcons on Monday night, Maye leaped to the top of the charts.

Maye was flawless on Sunday, leading the Pats to TDs on their first six drives before getting off the rest of the afternoon with a quarter remaining. The QB went 19-of-21 passing for 256 yards with a career-high five touchdown passes for a 157.0 passer rating. He became the first QB in NFL history with a 90-plus percent completion rate, 250-plus passing yards and 5-plus TD passes in a single game, per NFL Research.

The victory not only helped the Pats secure the AFC East title and keep them in contention for a possible No. 1 seed, but it also earned New England a perfect 8-0 road record, the only team to do so in 2025.

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Coach Mike Vrabel said Monday he’d concocted a special game ball to commemorate the sterling road record. That ball went to Maye, the first one he’s received this season.

“It was just a pretty special performance,” Vrabel said of Maye’s play, via the team’s transcript. “It’s no secret how I feel about Drake. Again, that was a special game ball. That was one that I had constructed that had a lot of tape and paper, and I did arts and crafts on it. That was all our road wins on the ball that I had taped on there. So, he better bring it in here, and he better put it in the quarterback room because I put a lot of time and effort into that thing.”

Given that Maye is the principal reason the Pats sit at 13-3, it’s apropos that Vrabel’s craft project went to the QB.

“I’d said the night before, whoever was the player to gain, they got this special game ball,” Vrabel said. “So, it’s kind of fitting that Drake had the performance that he had. There were a lot of other really good performances and a lot of guys that helped us contribute, but certainly the day that he had and what he’s done so far for us. So, we’ll need a lot of those efforts from him to continue. You guys know that, and I anticipate that to happen.”

With 4,203 passing yards through 16 games, Maye became the third Pats QB with 4,000-plus passing yards (Tom Brady had 11 such seasons in New England; Drew Bledsoe, two). Maye leads the NFL in completion percentage (71.7), yards per attempt (8.9), and passer rating (112.9).