It’s long been a hot debate in NFL discourse: should a big playoff game be billed as quarterback vs quarterback?
When it’s two big names at football’s most important position, it’s common for those players to pop up in the advertisements and graphics, often side-by-side like a heavyweight boxing match. But it’s never been that simple in this game. Once the ball is kicked off, the quarterbacks don’t see the field at the same time until the postgame handshake. When they do step between the white lines, they’re taking on the opposing defense. And that’s how Drake Maye is trying to approach Sunday’s AFC Wild Card Playoff matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“You play who you’re out there on the field against,” Maye said Wednesday. “I think the quarterback matchup is one of the things that’s natural for people to do, but I’m playing against 11 guys on defense. Unless he rolls out there on defense, I don’t expect him to do that. I’m focusing on the defense, and we’ve got a tough job.”
Maye just capped an MVP-caliber season with an efficient, disciplined effort in a 38-10 win over the Dolphins. That followed up one of the greatest single-game individual performances in league history, when Maye threw for five touchdowns and posted a 157.0 passer rating against the Jets. It’s a time of celebration in New England even before the playoffs begin, because Maye has arrived as the team’s next franchise quarterback and one of the very best the NFL has to offer.
But it’s going to be these January games that ultimately define Maye’s career. His MVP candidacy belies a Patriots team that likely has work still to do if it wants to win a Lombardi Trophy, so he’d be hard-pressed to pull it off as a sophomore. But he can still prove he belongs in the conversation with the top-tier quarterbacks in the league if he plays at the level Pats fans have gotten used to seeing.
What Maye does not want to do is get to his sixth year in the league, and look back at merely two playoff games, an 0-2 record, and a 60.7 passer rating in those contests. If you’re curious about the oddly specific numbers, they happen to belong to the quarterback on the other side of the handshake on Sunday night, the Chargers’ Justin Herbert. A career 52-43 quarterback in the regular season, Herbert has yet to live up to the promise of his high-end talent or his elite draft stock. He can barely even claim to have the advantage in playoff experience.
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Denico Autry #96 of the Houston Texans sacks Justin Herbert #10 of the Los Angeles Chargers during the AFC Wild Card Playoffs at NRG Stadium on January 11, 2025 in Houston, Texas.
Herbert has never reached the heights of Maye’s superb second season, having topped 100 in passer rating just once in his career (101.7 in 2024). Maye led the league at 113.5, breaking Tom Brady’s franchise single-season record with 13 games posting a passer rating in triple digits. But the playoffs are uncharted territory for him, and he’s across the field from a QB with something to prove this time of year.
But to that end, Maye and Herbert are still going up against their opponent’s respective defenses. Both units are impressive and match up well. The Patriots’ front-seven could be primed for one of its best pass-rushing days of the season against the Chargers’ severely banged-up offensive line, which allowed the third-highest pressure rate (32.2%) over the final five weeks of the regular season (the Pats were 23rd in that same span with 20.6%). L.A. is no slouch getting after the QB, either. They had the league’s fifth-highest average “pass-rush get-off” at 0.9 seconds, which speaks to explosive talents like Khalil Mack up front.
Herbert faced pressure on the most dropbacks in the league in the regular season (263), and did pretty well with it. He posted a 74.4 passer rating under pressure, which doesn’t sound good, but it ranks 11th among all QBs with at least 100 dropbacks under pressure (via Pro Football Focus). Maye? His 90.4 passer rating under pressure ranked third, behind only (believe it or not) Daniel Jones (100.4) and Justin Fields (95.3). Up the minimum dropbacks to 200, and Maye and Herbert rank first and sixth out of 15.
As for the quarterback “matchup,” Herbert is echoing Maye by downplaying it himself. But like the rest of the league, he’s taken notice of Maye’s emergence.
“He’s a very talented player,” Herbert said Wednesday. “I’ve been watching more defense this week, so I haven’t seen a ton of his film this week. But every time you check on the scores, he has a big game, so I’ve got a lot of respect for him as a quarterback.”
It’s likely that both Maye and Herbert face serious pressure at some point on Sunday. How they handle it could be what ultimately decides this wild card clash. And for them, it would represent a promising sign for their futures at this time of year.