Drake Maye's 3 TD passes help Patriots stave off late push by Jets in 26-19 win

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗
Cite

Hightower, K. (2026, October 18). Drake Maye's 3 TD passes help Patriots stave off late push by Jets in 26-19 win. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/football/drake-maye-s-3-td-passes-help-patriots-stave-off-late-push-by-jets-in-26-19-win/article_8017dd31-dd4b-5e73-8693-d8f09df775e0.html

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Toronto Star · collected 2026-10-18 · by Kyle Hightower

Quick Summary

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Story summary

On October 18, 2026, the New England Patriots defeated the New York Jets with a score of 26-19 in an AFC East rivalry game at Gillette Stadium. The victory extended the Patriots' winning streak over the Jets to three games and made it 19 wins in their last 21 meetings. Drake Maye, despite losing three offensive linemen to injury, threw for three touchdowns, completing 18 of 32 passes for 235 yards. The Jets' quarterback, Geno Smith, recorded his first interception of the season late in the game by Charles Woods. Although the Jets had chances to tie or take the lead, they were unable to capitalize and finished with a record of 2-4.

Written for “Jets Vs Patriots Matchup” on 2026-10-18, grounded in this article and the 5 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Jets Vs Patriots Matchup
Sports · 6 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 32 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the same football game between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots on October 16, 2026, with the Patriots winning 26-19.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 9% hedged 1 of 11 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the same NFL game between Jets and Patriots on October 18, 2026.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 23 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the same NFL game between the Patriots and Jets on October 18, 2026, with Drake Maye's performance as a key focus.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
24
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 24 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
63/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
6
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 8088 article(s) · 22 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 22 correction(s)
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Kyle Hightower
19 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes, New England overcame losing three offensive linemen and Charles Woods came up with Geno Smith’s first interception of the season in the fourth quarter to help the Patriots hold on for a 26-19 win over the New York Jets on Sunday.
🔮 Drake Maye rediscovered his confidence and production in the Patriots’ dominant 45-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
🔮 That victory not only saw quarterback Drake Maye break out of an early season funk with three touchdowns, but a defense playing without star cornerback Christian Gonzalez (shoulder) was able to slow quarterback Josh Allen enough to best their division rival.
🔮 “I would push back on the notion that somehow the role of the scout or the importance of the scout has been diminished in this organization.
🔮 Following a week of questions about quarterback Drake Maye’s struggles, poor offensive execution and a mounting number of injuries, their performance for the moment has brought a sense of confidence back to the defending AFC champions.
🔮 The Patriots will be without two of their top defensive players Sunday when they visit the Buffalo Bills.
🔮 The closeness of the Tatum and Brown’s off-court relationship — or lack thereof — was a topic of conversation throughout their time together as teammates, especially as it became clearer that having two $300 million contracts on the books would be unsustainable for the team’s salary cap health going forward.
🔮 Drake Maye wasn’t one of the things the Patriots anticipated having to worry about entering this season.
🔮 Boston will play its Wild Card Series for the second year in a row at the New York Yankees, who won last season’s best-of-three matchup 2-1.
🔮 A two-time World Series champion, Bregman will be playing in his 10th straight postseason since missing out as a rookie with Houston in 2016.
Also by Kyle Hightower
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 19 articles by Kyle Hightower →

Topics

FOXBOROUGH Jets New England New York Patriots

Subjects

Jets ORG · 9× Patriots ORG · 9× Smith PERSON · 6× New England ORG · 3× New York GPE · 3× Doubs PERSON · 2× Douglas PERSON · 2× Maye PERSON · 2× Woods PERSON · 2× FOXBOROUGH GPE · 1×

Narrative

Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes, New England overcame losing three offensive linemen and Charles Woods came up with Geno Smith’s first interception of the season in the fourth quarter to help the Patriots hold on for a 26-19 win over the New York Jets on Sunday.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-18
🔮 Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes, New England overcame losing three offensive linemen and Charles Woods came up with Geno Smith’s first interception of the season in the fourth quarter to help the Patriots hold on for a 26-19 win over the New York Jets on Sunday.

Claims (24 extracted, 0 hedged)

Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes, New England overcame losing three offensive linemen and Charles Woods came up with Geno Smith’s first interception of the season in the fourth quarter to help the Patriots hold on for a 26-19 win over the New York Jets on Sunday. asserted
Patriots → throw → Sunday
Maye completed 18 of 32 passes for 235 yards in his third consecutive game with at least three TD passes. asserted
Maye → complete → passes
Romeo Doubs, DeMario Douglas and Hunter Henry had touchdown catches for the Patriots (4-2), who have won three in a row. asserted
who → have → row
Douglas had a team-high seven catches for 86 yards. asserted
Douglas → have → yards
A.J. Brown had three catches for 27 yards for the Patriots in his return from injured reserve, but his timing was off and had three drops on his 10 total targets. asserted
timing → have → targets
New England won its fourth straight against the Jets and 19th in its last 21 meetings despite right tackle Morgan Moses (ankle), left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (hamstring) and right guard Ben Brown (knee) leaving with injuries. asserted
Moses → win → injuries
The Jets (2-4) had a chance to tie it in the third quarter, but the Patriots held them to a field goal. asserted
Patriots → have → goal
New York squandered another opportunity to cut the deficit to a field goal in the fourth quarter when Smith was picked off by Woods. asserted
Smith → squander → Woods
It came on Smith’s 166th pass of the season, ending his longest opening stretch to a season without an interception. asserted
It → come → interception
Smith finished 20 of 30 for 252 yards a touchdown to rookie Omar Cooper Jr., who had six catches for 103 yards in his return from IR after missing four games with an ankle injury. asserted
who → finish → injury
New England’s defense, which got a boost from cornerback Christian Gonzalez returning from a two-game absence with a shoulder injury, held New York to 0 for 3 in the red zone. asserted
which → get → zone
The Jets were also 3 of 10 on third down and were stopped on fourth-down runs on consecutive possessions in the second quarter. asserted
Jets → stop → quarter
The Patriots led 17-3 at the half, courtesy of Doubs’ diving 42-yard touchdown catch and a 9-yard scoring grab by Douglas. asserted
Patriots → lead → Douglas
The Jets trimmed the gap to 17-10 in the third quarter after Cooper got behind Patriots safety Craig Woodson and caught a 42-yard TD from Smith. asserted
Cooper → trim → Smith
That remained the score when Jets edge rusher David Bailey stripped TreVeyon Henderson of the ball and Jamien Sherwood recoverer at the New England 36. asserted
Bailey → remain → 36
New York drove to 10, but Smith was sacked by Elijah Ponder, forcing the Jets to settle for a 36-yard field goal by Jason Sanders. asserted
Smith → drive → Sanders
The Patriots responded on their next series, capping a 12-play, 658=yard drive with a 7-yard TD strike from Maye to Henry, but Andy Borregales missed the extra point. asserted
Borregales → respond → point
Just four plays later and the Jets down 10, Smith overshot Kenyon Sadiq on a deep pass that was intercepted by Woods. asserted
that → overshoot → Woods
LB Kiko Mauigoa left with a thigh injury in the first quarter. asserted
Mauigoa → leave → quarter
Doubs (shoulder) exited in the first quarter following his touchdown catch and didn’t return. asserted
Doubs → exit → catch
Moses favored his left ankle when he left early in the second quarter. ... asserted
he → favor → quarter
Vera-Tucker left in the second with a hamstring injury and was ruled out. asserted
Tucker → leave → injury
Brown had trouble putting weight on his left leg as he was helped off in the fourth quarter with a knee injury. asserted
he → have → injury
Up next Jets: Host the Dolphins next Sunday. asserted
Jets → host → Dolphins
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