Drake Maye and the New England Patriots will travel to Buffalo to face the Bills in the Week 5 Sunday Night Football matchup. The Patriots are off to a 2-2 start to the season and have had some early ups and downs. They will look to hand the Bills their first loss of the season in this AFC East matchup.
Looking at the odds on DraftKings Sportsbook, the Bills enter as 8.5-point favorites and hold -440 odds on the moneyline. The Patriots hold +340 odds of getting the outright victory, with the game total set at O/U 49.5 points.
There are plenty of ways to get involved in the action outside of backing a side or total. This article will look at my top Drake Mayed prop bets ahead of tonight’s Week 5 Sunday Night Football matchup.
Best Drake Maye Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Drake Maye Over 31.5 Rushing Yards (-110)
There have been some growing pains at the start of Drake Maye’s second season as a starter. One area where he has shown some growth is in his willingness to use his legs. After recording 54 total rush attempts last year, Maye is up to 24 rush attempts already through the first four weeks.
The Buffalo Bills have struggled against the run in a major way this year. They are allowing 164.3 rushing yards per game, which is the second-worst rate in the NFL. Opposing quarterbacks have especially had great success against them. Lamar Jackson rushed for 70 yards against the Bills, Justin Fields tallied 49 rushing yards, and Spencer Rattler also added 49 yards with his legs. Even Tua Tagovailoa added 10 yards on the ground in their matchup. This is a trend dating back to last year, with six of the past seven quarterbacks that Buffalo has faced having rushed for 39 or more yards, including the season. This should especially come into play when considering the Bills’ ranking first in passing yards allowed and yards per pass attempt.
Maye will not be confused with Lamar Jackson, but he is more than capable of scrambling for some yardage. Buffalo has allowed a league-worst 199 yards on the ground to opposing quarterbacks, while Maye is averaging 6.0 rush attempts per game. He has tallied 31+ rushing yards twice this season, with 45 rushing yards being his current season high. Expect Maye to have some struggles with a strong Buffalo pass defense and take off with his legs as a way to combat this. Count on him breaking free for over 31.5 rushing yards and for Maye to be the fourth quarterback to have this level of success in this matchup.
Drake Maye to Record Over 22+ Completions (+100)
Buffalo has an impressive pass defense that will cause some problems for Maye. They rank 17th in points allowed and ninth in yards given up overall, but have allowed the fewest passing yards through the air in the NFL. In fairness, some of this is due to the quarterback matchups they have faced. Across the past three weeks, the Bills have faced Spencer Rattler, Tua Tagovailoa, and Justin Fields/Tyrod Taylor at the quarterback position.
Through his first four weeks, Drake Maye is leading the NFL with a 74.0% completion percentage. He has thrown for 988 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions. The North Carolina product has produced 14, 28, 19, and 30 completions in the four games this season. He also completed 22+ passes in six of the ten games he started and finished last year. In the pair of games that he has gone under the 22 completion mark this year, Maye attempted just 17 and 23 pass attempts. Buffalo is an 8.5-point favorite and has looked capable of beating any opponent to this point. Don’t expect New England to be able to run out the clock and for Maye to need to put the ball in the air frequently tonight.
While the passing yards and touchdown props scare me away a bit, I am backing Maye to complete 22+ passes. New England has done a nice job creating easy pass opportunities for their young quarterback, and the former third overall pick has capitalized on these chances. Expect it to be a priority in the early portions of this game to get Maye in a rhythm and create easy passing opportunities. Look for him to complete 22+ passes for the third time this season and for the game script to require a heavy volume of passes through the air.
