Patriots fans are seeing something familiar in Drake Maye’s rise

As New England Patriots great Tedy Bruschi once said, the Patriots "shocked the world" and the NFL by going into Orchard Park and beating the Buffalo Bills 23-20. This win wasn't a fluke. The Patriots have a great young quarterback on their hands in Drake Maye.

His fourth-quarter performance against the Bills should draw comparisons to his greatest ever predecessor's similar late-game heroics in Foxborough. That's Patriots' Hall of Famer and lock first ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer, Tom Brady.

The quiet, unassuming Maye is on his way to becoming the NFL's next best thing in Foxborough and the foundation of the next Patriots' dynasty. He's that good, and now the wider NFL world is just beginning to see what should have been obvious since last season: his talent is off the charts.

Maye's had a tepid first half, but as the inimitable Brady did throughout his brilliant career, he lit a fire under his teammates with his sizzling play, and when it mattered most in crunch time led them to victory. And a win in Buffalo, against a terrific Bills team with its MVP quarterback, Josh Allen, is very good, indeed.

Drake Maye is making believers out of everyone after his impressive win over the Bills

Drake Maye's 2024 performance as a rookie was underestimated by some. It shouldn't have been. He had foolishly been denied first-team reps the entire preseason and for about four games before he was finally inserted into the starting lineup. That gaffe stunted his development and consigned the Patriots to the bottom of the AFC East again.

Regardless, operating with the worst offensive line in the NFL and probably the worst receiving corps as well, he still managed to make the team competitive and notch a brilliant 66 percent completion percentage. If you read the tea leaves, you'd have realized his potential. The possibility was enhanced when a professional, Mike Vrabel, was brought in to run the football operation. Everything changed.

Maye has quietly been tearing up the NFL, completing an eye-popping 73.9 percent of his passes in the first five games despite being sacked a whopping 20 times. The offensive line has improved, but needs more additions.

Meanwhile, his receiving corps is also better, especially with Stefon Diggs regaining his Pro Bowl form, but it's still also a work-in-progress. When both are top-shelf, Maye will break the NFL single-season completion record of 74.4 percent set by Drew Brees in 2018. Regardless, against Buffalo in the second half, Maye took his statistical game to an even loftier level.

Expect the Patriots to challenge for and make the playoffs with Drake Maye at the helm

Those 13 of 14 completions represent another-worldly completion rate of nearly 94 percent in that quarter. He finished the game with a 73.3 percent completion percentage, which was actually an off-game for Maye, based on his recent form. Why? He completed 82.6 percent of his passes against Carolina, matching his single-game high set last season as a rookie.

Completing 73.6 percent of your passes after dropping almost 10 points from the previous week is the "stuff that dreams are made of" for an NFL team's fandom. Going off for 93.9 percent in a fourth quarter, in Buffalo against the formidable Bills and their MVP quarterback, Josh Allen, and taking home a win also seems the stuff of fantasy. Yet, it's not - when your quarterback is Drake Maye.

Comparisons to Tom Brady, even in a small sample, are premature, though the statistics are what they are - Brady-like. Maye is no Tom Brady; no one is. There will never be another like him. Maye is his own man, plays his own game his own way, and in so doing, he's setting a new standard for the 2025 NFL. He's a different style quarterback altogether. Therein lies the difference, and it's a wonderful one.

The style of quarterbacking employed by Drake Maye is perfectly suited to the 2025 NFL, just as Tom Brady's was to the league for the beginning two decades of the millennium. Maye will write his own story for his NFL career just as Brady did. He is also poised to be a best-seller.

If the Patriots let Drake Maye be Drake Maye, his potential is limitless. He's a Super Bowl-winning caliber quarterback, just waiting for the appropriately talented accompanying cast. The only surprise will be if he doesn't bring a Lombardi Trophy or three or 10 to Foxborough before he's finished his career's work. In that respect, he'll be most Tom Brady-like, indeed.