Drake Maye’s tantalizing talent was on full display during the New England Patriots’ up-and-down month of September, but something changed during the team’s Week 5 night game at Buffalo.
Under the bright lights, in a hostile environment, opposite reigning league MVP Josh Allen, Maye morphed into superhuman mode like the flip of a switch. With a series of elite, jaw-dropping, Allen-esque plays in the second half, Maye led the Patriots to a 23-20 win.
He’s been a different quarterback ever since. Maye’s been the most efficient QB in football since October, and the Patriots are set to host a home Divisional Round playoff game against the Houston Texans on Sunday because of it.
It’s impossible to deny Maye's standing among the NFL’s elite this season, but that’s not going to stop some — mostly Cam Newton and fans of the Los Angeles Rams — from trying their darndest.
You know who’s definitely not denying Maye’s greatness? Those who have tried to stop him and the Patriots’ offense this season.
8-time Pro Bowler Cameron Jordan saw Drake Maye’s arrival up close
The New Orleans Saints had the unfortunate task of hosting the Patriots in Week 6, the Sunday after Maye’s breakout game in Buffalo. And while it ended up being a much closer ball game than expected, longtime Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan saw a young QB who had officially come of age.
Maye carved up the Saints that day for 261 passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 140.1 passer rating. He was also the Patriots’ leading rusher, and in an appearance on Thursday morning’s episode of Get Up on ESPN to help preview this weekend’s playoff games, Jordan spoke about Maye in a way that could be easily mistaken for Josh Allen.
“We know what he brings to the table. He’s turned into — lights out. And he has to stay that way if he’s going to have a chance against the Houston Texans defense. In my mind, it’s going to be defense vs. defense, not so much offense vs. offense.
The way we saw the Houston Texans defense take over last game (against the Steelers), you’re going to have to be Superman — that’s who’s gonna have to be Superman.”
"He's turned into lights out, and he has to stay that way if he's going to have a chance against the Houston Texans' defense."@camjordan94 shares his thoughts on Drake Maye ahead of his crucial game against the Houston Texans ✍️ pic.twitter.com/hdBfxrXRLm
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) January 15, 2026
It’s a tad ironic that the NFL player most famously known as “Superman” was Newton, who has a weird obsession with going on TV and knocking Maye for being a “game manager,” lumping him in a class closer to Sam Darnold than Allen and Stafford.
Nowadays, that Superman label gets tossed around most with Allen, who’s often had to throw on the proverbial cape and will the Bills to victory in January; Patriots fans saw it firsthand in Week 15, when Allen led Buffalo back from a 21-0 deficit in Foxboro behind a run of five consecutive scoring drives, outplaying Maye in a 35-31 win.
It’s hard to argue with Jordan’s overall point. The Patriots are going to need Week 5 Drake Maye, the QB who went jab-for-jab with Allen in the second half and carried the team to a gritty victory; facing Houston’s No. 1 ranked defense, New England could be in serious trouble if Maye struggles for stretches of Sunday’s game like he did in last week's 16-3 win over the Chargers.
Patriots fans should take solace in this, though: We’ve seen Maye play lights out, as he did against Jordan’s Saints, way more often than not this season. For as good a defense as the Patriots are facing against Houston, the Texans will be dealing with an elite QB and offensive attack on their end, too.
Maye’s first career playoff game didn’t feature a Superman moment, but if the Patriots need him to go full Clark Kent this weekend, they already know he has it in him.