FOXBOROUGH – It took Tom Brady a few years and a few Super Bowls rings to get to where Drake Maye, basically his franchise quarterback replacement, is after 13 weeks in Year 2.
The leader of New England Patriots.
In the early 2000s Brady was on a team loaded with talent, some left over from the previous Parcells’ Super Bowl crew. He also had a big-time alpha male, Bill Belichick leading the way.
Some time between 2005 and 2006, he was the guy. Everything went through Brady first.
But on a chilly Monday night against a team annually chasing the first few picks of the draft, everyone came to the realization, even those doubters, Maye is a franchise quarterback.
What is a franchise quarterback? People throw that term around like they’re pitching pennies, but this kind of quarterback is more like tossing a manhole cover.
The national TV audience saw up close and personal what most of us have been watching with a microscope the last six or so weeks.
Maye is legit.
The sophomore slump, a perquisite for most promising rookies, never happened.
In fact, the opposite.
Maye has become the leader of the franchise, at least inside the white lines, but honestly, it’s everywhere he goes.
It’s a subject Maye, amid several weeks of “MVP!” chants and constant questions, has avoided like “the plague.”
Until last night.
After the precision-like win over the pesky N.Y. Giants, which really had no “pesky” in them on Monday night, Maye addressed the elephant in the room – his leadership with this franchise.
He bit.
“Shoot, just trying to be the face; trying to be the conductor,” said Maye after another stellar performance completing not only 77 percent of his passes, but connecting on the big, long ones, too.
“(Coach Mike Vrabel) calls it the conductor of the offense. Just trying to be the face of the offense; trying to, you know, want the pressure.”
He didn’t stop talking about the acceptance of his new, elevated role.
“(I) want the ball in my hands,” said Maye. “I tried to show that all year and throughout my career. That’s what I kind of feel like. I know (the team) feeds off of me and feeds off of my energy and feeds off of what I say to those guys.”
He kept talking about “it.”
“And what I say means something to them,” said Maye. “So when adversity hits, I’ve got to respond. And from there I’ve got to be the same guy, same guy every day. Don’t try to change, and just be myself. That’s what the guys like the most.”
Vrabel couldn’t have said it any better. Neither could I.
This was going to happen, a lot of us figured, by next year.
I believe Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels deserves big kudos here. He has spent a lot of one-on-one time breaking down film; some of it opposing defenses, some of it looking at how Brady did it.
Maye understands, at age 23, that this isn’t fun and games in the NFL, especially this time of year. Exhibit A, see Christian Elliss’ hit on Jaxson Dart in the first quarter.
A lot of people are depending on Maye. And I’m not talking the 65-plus players or the 60 other people in football operations department.
We’re talking millions.
Maye still has a lot to prove. I’m assuming others felt the same way about Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen early in their budding careers.
But I believe Maye is better than all of them.
He has officially ascended to the throne of leading the New England Patriots.
That’s a big deal, bigger than any MVP trophy, which annually goes to someone who has elite talent.
This is about winning, sometimes doing more with less, and on Sundays – and sometimes Mondays – elevating those around you to do things they didn’t know they could do.
Burrow, Jackson and Allen are in trouble. They had their early run with little to show for it some Super Bowl Sunday. There is a new sheriff in town and he’s not shying away from his new gig.
Monday night was a big night in Patriots history, I believe. They got their franchise quarterback, and in this game today there might be only one or two of them.