Anakin was being an idiot. The TPM novel states that Qui-Gon is nearly as pwoerful as Maul, there's no contradiction to that since we don't know how strong Windu is in TPM except Shadow Hunter puts Anoon Bondara above Mace in saber combat, and Maul beat her, and Mace didn't seem that imperssive in Jedi Council: Acts of War, which took place just a year before TPM.