The NFL is the world’s most overanalyzed sport for a reason. We only get 18 weeks of football each regular season, and there’s nowhere to hide from a putrid three-week stretch like the one Drake Maye and the New England Patriots just had.
Maye’s response in Josh Allen’s house against the Buffalo Bills was telling. And it had nothing to do with his 300-plus all-purpose yards, three touchdown passes, or impressive fourth-quarter comeback.
As CBS Sports analyst Pete Prisco — one of Maye’s many critics after his poor Week 3performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars — put it on Sunday night, the best part of Maye’s bounce-back effort against the Bills was how he responded mentally to the most trying stretch of his young career.
“He responded," Prisco said. "We beat him up, and I’m as guilty as anybody. I beat him up last week. I said they have a Drake Maye problem. Well he came out [Sunday], on the road, against the Bills and had a good game.
So that’s what you want to see from your franchise quarterback. Does he respond? Because let’s be real, he was attacked from all angles last week. And rightfully so. He was terrible. So I think this is a good showing for him to come and be able to win this game on the road.”
Drake Maye showed the mental toughness the Patriots needed to see from their franchise quarterback
Drake Maybe? Get out of here with that nonsense.
It’s not like Maye should be devoid of criticism entering his third NFL season. His decision-making wasn’t good enough in the first three games, and his overall performance deserved critical coverage.
But Maye made a lot of people look foolish on Sunday. It was 100 percent fair to say he stunk last week against the Jaguars, and pretty much every game since that brutal fourth quarter in Seattle.
Those questioning the validity of Maye’s breakout 2025 season based on one rough stretch of games embarrassed themselves. All of those hot takes just got exposed.
This could end up being a defining stretch for Maye. As head coach Mike Vrabel said last week, it won’t always be 10-game winning streaks and undefeated records in true road games.
The NFL will test your mettle. That’s especially true for young quarterbacks like Maye, who just turned 24 at the end of August and now has over 30 games as a starter on tape for defensive coordinators to scheme against. It’s hard to truly judge a player until he faces real adversity, goes through a rough patch, and digs his way out of it.
That’s what made Maye's performance against Buffalo so relieving for Patriots fans. Everyone already knew that he could make every throw and weaponize his legs when needed. The growing concern was whether he had the mental toughness to put bad football behind him and stop the bleeding.
More often than not, since last year’s playoff run, Maye’s mistakes have snowballed for him, and in a paralyzing way for the offense.
Drake Maye kept answering every mistake with his best football
Those concerns were answered on Sunday. After Maye failed to protect the football and fumbled in the first half, he came right back on the Patriots’ next drive with a go-ahead touchdown.
When a poor slant route to Romeo Doubs was bobbled and intercepted, Buffalo took a 17-14 halftime lead. Maye opened the second half with a 14-play drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Doubs.
In the fourth quarter, Maye matched Allen’s 34-yard touchdown pass to take a 26-21 lead with 4:27 remaining, then threw a highlight-reel 23-yard strike to Efton Chism III for the go-ahead score and a two-point conversion that won the game.
Maye was poised and fully in command in Allen’s house. He also showed the mental fortitude that national media and bloodthirsty NFL fans have questioned ahead of his 35th NFL start this week.
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