Drake Maye takes down Broncos with his legs as Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl

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Drake Maye takes down Broncos with his legs as Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl

Karen Guregian · MassLive

Sun, Jan 25, 2026 ·

2 min read

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DENVER - Like the previous two playoff games, Drake Maye was slow to get going. It took a while for him to settle in.

Maye, who had a completion percentage below 60 in each of his two playoff starts, couldn’t muster much early. And that carried through most of the game with the conditions worsening in the second half with snow.

By the end of the third quarter, the grass field was blanketed in white.

Maye, however, has more ways to beat a team than just throwing the football. He did most of the damage with his legs, scoring from six yards out in the second quarter on a quarterback draw to tie the game at 7-7.

And later used his legs to set up the game-winning field goal, as the Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl with their 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos .

He also prevented the Broncos from getting the ball back late in the game with a 7-yard scamper with 1:51 to go.

It certainly wasn’t easy. Neither team could produce much offense given their respective defenses, and ultimately, the weather.

Maye & Co. could only muster 72 yards of offense in the first half with the touchdown coming off a turnover deep in Broncos territory.

His counterpart, Jarrett Stidham , couldn’t do much better.

The Patriots quarterback, however, just kept ripping off yards on keepers.

His legs paved the way for a score at the start of the third quarter, setting up a go-ahead field goal with a 28-yard run.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Maye was the leading rusher on both sides with 64 yards on five carries.

At the outset, Maye had a chance to make history. The LA Chargers (5th) and Houston Texans (1st) had top-5 defenses. The Broncos marked the third (2nd).

No quarterback had defeated three top-5 defenses in a single postseason to advance to the Super Bowl.

Until now. It wasn’t pretty, but Maye accomplished the feat.

Maye didn’t look comfortable in the first half, completing just 7 of 14 passes for 41 yards. The Broncos pass rush was a factor, bringing him down three times.

Maye was hesitant, unable to find open receivers.

He hit Stefon Diggs 4 times, but for little gain (12 yards).

That didn’t change much in the second half. Maye hit Mack Hollins with a 31-yard pass, but that drive stalled, and Andy Borregales missed a 46-yarder wide right.

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