With Drake Maye As Their Frontman, Patriots Are Ready For The Big Stage

With Drake Maye as their frontman, Patriots are ready for the big stage originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

We have entered the “meteoric rise” portion of the program.

If the Patriots are a ’70s rock band, this is their moment. Breakthrough album rocketing up the charts. Heartthrob front man on the cover of magazines. Years riding in rickety tour buses and playing in front of anemic crowds seemingly behind them.

They’re in the sweet spot. These are the feel-good 15 minutes in the “VH1: Behind the Music” retrospective. Before the stadiums and arena tours. Before the critics expected excellence. Before the credit grabs and jealousy began.

The Patriots are fun and shiny and new and — at the moment — they have very little competition for HOT TEAM EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT!!!

They should luxuriate. Wreck a hotel room or two.

These moments can be fleeting. Remember when the Mac Jones-led 2021 Patriots were actually the No. 1 seed in the AFC in DECEMBER of that year? McCorkle was a rookie. Bill still had it. The Patriots were riding a seven-game winning streak and were WALLOPING teams by scores like 54-13, 24-6, 45-7, 25-0 and 36-13 before the Wind Game win in Buffalo.

That’s less than four years ago, bruv. I’m not saying that team is a cautionary tale. Their vibe was that of a veteran team. Greatest coach of all time plodding relentlessly along, returning to boring excellence. A quarterback they could win “with”, if not “because of.”

It wasn’t a new sound. Just an old band touring with new members to welcoming crowds. The poop hit the fan at speed and shot in every direction, then all the backstage turmoil was brought into the light.

The 2025 Patriots are in the right place at the right time to take off. They’re now 4-2 (oughta be 5-1, could be 6-0 given that their worst game was against a Raiders team that kinda stinks). And the schedule — as we’ve pointed out incessantly — stinks.

Next up, Tennessee. The Titans should be winless. They beat the Cardinals last week 22-21 with 16 fourth-quarter points, aided by a wild touchdown on what was initially a red-zone pick. They lost to the Raiders on Sunday, unable to carry momentum forward.

The Patriots? They did what they had to do Sunday against New Orleans with a quarterback that they plainly win “because of.”

This is sustainable. You can say that because THIS TEAM’S win in Buffalo — as opposed to the fluky wind win back in 2021 — was authentic. And this team has “THE GUY.”

Until the Bills game, Drake Maye was “THEIR guy.” Which is a step above “A guy” and two steps above “JUST a guy.” He hadn’t yet shown he could play cleanly against an elite team on the road and win. He hadn’t shown that the big-stage adrenaline wouldn’t result in addled decisions or air-mailed throws.

Maye’s performance in Buffalo and his brilliant follow-up in New Orleans with an almost-perfect first half are hard evidence the improvement isn’t fleeting. It’s actually jaw-dropping when you realize this is the same raw player who was having his throwing motion and drop-back fundamentals stripped down and reinvented from April through August last year.

There’s not a team in the league that wouldn’t sign up today for a decade of Drake Maye.

This is the album cover: