“It’s always a little extra juice playing primetime,” Maye said.
FOXBOROUGH — The last time we saw Drake Maye in prime time was his NFL debut on a Thursday night last September.
Jacoby Brissett had taken a beating (5 sacks) at the hands of the Jets, and the panicky Patriots sent Maye in for mop-up duty at the end of a 24-3 blowout. New England (139 yards of total offense, 1.8 yards per pass) got bullied in that game, marking the beginning of a long stretch of non-competitive football that culminated in a 4-13 record.
Fast forward to this Sunday night, and Maye has his first real opportunity to show how much things have changed for himself as an individual and the Patriots as a franchise when New England visits the undefeated Buffalo Bills.
“It’s always a little extra juice playing primetime,” Maye said. “Everybody is watching, playing a division opponent. What Coach [Mike] Vrabel says is that’s where we want to go, where we want to be at is where the Bills have been the past couple years: contenders, winning the division and playing well at home.”
The Patriots (2-2) have been competitive in every game this season, losing to Las Vegas and Pittsburgh by a touchdown apiece. They outdueled the Dolphins and enjoyed a get-right game against Maye’s hometown Panthers last week.
Four games in, Maye finds himself in the top-10 of a bunch of passing stats. He’s leading the league in completion percentage (74.2 percent), sixth in passing yards (988), tied for eighth in passing touchdowns (7), and fifth in quarterback rating (109.4).
“You’re starting to see him come out of his shell,” former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said during recent appearance on NBC’s Football Night in America. “Mike Vrabel wanted him to be more of a leader, and you’re starting to see it. He’s doing the Cam Newton [celebration], he’s smiling, he’s laughing, he’s directing traffic.
“He’s bumping heads like Tom [Brady] used to do with his guys,” Harrison continued. “I love the fact that he’s coming out of his shell … the players embrace that.”
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said he isn’t surprised the progress Maye is showing.
“I think I said back in the spring how excited I was to work with him,” McDaniels said. “Becuase of the type of character and human being that he had already presented himself to me to be.”
“It’s great to watch a young player work where they need to work and digest information, good or bad, and try to make progress from it,” he added. “I think every good player I’ve been around has followed that simple blueprint of taking each day for what it is, not making more or less of it than what it is.”
But, the Patriots will have their hands full with Buffalo. No one is giving up fewer passing yards per game than Buffalo (125.8). They’ve got an experienced front seven, featureing Joey Bosa, Greg Rousseau, and Ed Oliver, who returned to practice this week. The linebackers and safeties also present problems, coach Mike Vrabel said.
“Great vision and great players,” Vrabel said. “They’ve got some guys on the corner, on the edge that have some length. Backers are fast, instinctive. And the safeties do a great job of disguising and then once the match or the route declares, being able to match it and play it. They’ve done a really nice job. They stay multiple, proficient in a lot of different coverages and they mix it up on you.”
Maye has often been been compared to Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs, who posted four consecutive 1,100-yard seasons with Allen as his quarterback, said he has noticed similar traits between the two.
“I was with a young Josh. He wasn’t that young, and obviously I’m with a young Drake right now. I see the similarities,” Diggs said. “I try not to get into player comparisons at all. They’re two different young men, but I see why they say that they all play with that mindset — that dog mindset — and I see Drake coming along that same way.”
Keeping up with Allen will be a tall task. The Bills are scoring a league-best 33.3 points per game. Buffalo is the last undefeated team standing in the AFC.
It’s time to see where the Patriots stack up with the AFC East’s best and whether Maye can hang with the reigning league MVP.
“It’s a great gauge for us,” Maye said. “See how much — like I said, see what we’ve got. We’re competing on the road in a tough environment, and it’s one of the first times we’ll do that as a team.”
“Battling through, playing four quarters of football, that’s going to matter. Playing on the road, four quarters matters. You can’t just play a half, and you can’t just show up at the beginning and not at the end, but playing full four quarters, going into hostile environment and bringing our own energy.”