FOXBOROUGH - As he closes in on his first-ever playoff game, Drake Maye is drawing even more attention than usual. His Wednesday press conference grew in size, with a lot of unfamiliar faces in the audience, all hoping to squeeze off a question to the Patriots’ most important player.
Maye handled it like he has all season, a mix of ‘aw shucks’ combined with an unwavering confidence that tells you he’s actually where he wants to be and, if I’m reading this correctly, not overwhelmed by the moments that lie ahead.
“Yeah, there's obviously a little bit of mixed emotions,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is I’m excited, excited to get an opportunity to play home playoff games. That's what we started at the beginning of the season, things we want to do here and goals we want to accomplish, and we’ve got our chance and opportunity right here.”
That checks with everything Maye has told us in previous weeks. He’s admitted there’s always some nerves, some butterflies, as he works through the week to get to the fun part, the game itself. And we know what’s happened once there:
- 354/492 (71.9% - over 9% greater than expected)
- 4,394 passing yards
- 450 rushing yards
- 35 total TDs
- 8 INTs
- 113.48 passer rating
- EPA per dropback 0.287 (1st in NFL) and overall EPA (172.67, also first)
But Sunday night could be a different animal, in part because of the opposition.
“This is as good of a unit as we’ve played,” Josh McDaniels told us Thursday afternoon. “There’s