Drake Maye’s second season has been a stark contrast from his rookie year.
In 2024, the Patriots slogged to a 4-13 record under Jerod Mayo . Just one year later, they’re sitting 12-3 with Mike Vrabel at the helm. New England clinched a playoff berth with a thrilling comeback in Baltimore , erasing an 11-point fourth quarter deficit for a 28-24 win.
In 12 months, Maye has gone from quarterbacking a team competing for the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft to a group competing for the AFC’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
Asked what he believes has led to the rapid turnaround, Maye pointed to his coach.
“I think it’s top down,” Maye said. “It’s Coach Vrabel coming in here. It’s the coaching staff he hired. It’s the guys buying in and believing in what we do. That’s the biggest thing (in) a locker room. It’s believing in what the coach is saying. It’s believing in our identity. Carrying it. Traveling with it. He always says, ‘Pack our identity.’
“Just another big win on the road and it starts top down. The guys — we just love a lot of guys in that locker room, man. I’ll talk to a lot of those guys probably for a long time in my life.”
The quarterback delivered a career performance in Sunday night’s comeback, going 31-for-44 for 380 yards. He threw two touchdown passes and put the game on ice with a 16-yard scramble that drained the clock in the fourth quarter.
Maye relished the feeling of a winning locker room and shared a heartfelt message Vrabel relayed to the team before the game.
“You take it for granted, man,” Maye said. “You take it for granted. Just what a beautiful sport. The best sport out there. This game, it’s brutal. There’s times with injuries and losses that weigh on you, but this winning feeling, there’s nothing like it. Coach reminded us of that pregame. He said, ‘You can’t buy that back, winning in that locker room.’ At his age, he always says, ‘I wish I could suit up again.’ You just can’t buy that. He said, ‘You can buy anything else in life, but you can’t buy this time we’re in right now.’ And what a time it is.”
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