Something extraordinary appears to have happened late last Sunday night in Orchard Park, N.Y.
It wasn’t just that the underdog Patriots toppled the Super Bowl favorite Buffalo Bills and their MVP quarterback, Josh Allen. Nor was it only rookie kicker Andres Borregales drilling a perfect 52-yard field goal, or game-ball winner Stefon Diggs’ 10-catch, 146-yard eruption.
The real story was under center: New England’s Drake Maye, making just his fifth start of his second season, calmly threaded together a string of fourth-quarter plays that felt like the birth of something bigger—a franchise quarterback in the making.
There was one play in particular that seemed to bend reality. Late in the fourth, just before the two-minute warning, Maye was being swallowed up by Buffalo’s 320-pound DaQuan Jones. Falling, with his knee inches from the turf, he somehow flicked the ball to Diggs in the flat, who turned it into a crucial 12-yard gain.
Moments later, Maye zipped a 19-yard comebacker to Kayshon Boutte, setting up the game-winning field goal. These were plays that didn’t belong to a kid still learning the ropes—they belonged to the kind of quarterback teams spend years searching for.
Charlie Weis, watching from his family room in West Palm Beach, Fla. saw something familiar. The former Patriots offensive coordinator felt a surge of déjà vu, recalling the day more than two decades ago when he realized New England might actually have a generational talent under center.
That night was October 12, 2001, at Foxboro Stadium.
Tom Brady, in just his third career start, orchestrated a win over Doug Flutie’s team—thanks in part to a single, defining play.
“It was the first play of overtime, after our defense had stopped them in three plays,” Weis remembered. “We called a pass play, and they brought an exotic blitz we’d only put one audible in the game plan for. I thought, ‘He’s not going to see this.’ But Tommy saw it, stepped back, called the audible—a go-route to David Patten. Patten got tackled before the ball got there. We drew a 37-yard interference call, and a few plays later Vinatieri kicked the winner. That was all I needed to see. I went home and told my wife, ‘We got something special here.’ She’ll tell you the same thing. It was that play.”
Brady’s numbers that day—33 completions on 54 attempts, 364 yards, 2 touchdowns—were eye-popping, but for Weis, it was the presence, the command, and the “It” factor in overtime that stood out.
“The No. 1 thing for a quarterback is the ‘It’ factor. It’s more important than any physical trait,” Weis said. “Tommy had it. The most important physical thing is accuracy. But can they make the big play? The right read? Can they lead a team? That’s the ‘it’ factor. All the other stuff is secondary. Not even close.”
So when he watched Maye on Sunday night, Weis recognized some of those same markers, but he’s not ready to make declarations just yet.
Not only was he wowed by Maye’s second half—completing 13 of 14 passes for 184 yards— it was the clutch plays near the end that could resonate for a long time. And it’s not surprising that it begins happening after learning the ropes as a rookie.
“There’s a big jump for a quarterback from Year 1 to Year 2,” Weis said. “The game slows down. You’re not counting on someone else for your approach anymore. When you have ‘the guy,’ everything changes. Tommy didn’t play as a rookie but took a lot of mental notes. I don’t know Maye personally, but he’s athletic, he moves well, he’s making big plays, and that was a big win in Buffalo. He’s evolving into a better player, for sure.”
It helps, Weis noted, that Maye’s supporting cast is vastly improved from a year ago.
“The offensive line is much better, and adding a guy like Diggs—now you’ve got a front-line receiver. It’s a different ballgame. You can see Josh McDaniels’ fingerprints all over the offense, he and Drake are locked in, attacking coverage weaknesses, evolving fast.”
Weis knows coaching matters as much as talent. He pointed to Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and Seattle’s Sam Darnold as reminders: sometimes, it’s just the wrong place or the wrong time.
“Sometimes the coaching staff or the system doesn’t fit a guy,” Weis said. “I always thought Baker was a potential franchise guy when he came out. Same with Sam. It took time and the right system for them. In this league, you just can’t win consistently without the quarterback who has ‘it.’ You can’t. Maybe, just maybe, the Patriots got that guy. He looked pretty darn good in Buffalo.”