Bedard: Is the time now for Drake Maye against overrated Broncos defense?

DENVER — Let's be honest, if the Patriots' defense — with the aid of porous opposing offensive lines — wasn't suffocating against the run and pass, New England could have gone home early against either the Chargers or Texans.

And Drake Maye's play would have been among the reasons.

He certainly made some plays against both teams to help put the Patriots over the top and into today's AFC Championship Game, but he didn't win those games. Not like this stat, which I've heard repeated a lot.

Maye didn't win those games, the team did — mostly because of a defense that made Justin Herbert and CJ Stroud look like bumbling rookies. Maye fumbled six times, threw an interception inside his own 10, didn't complete 60% of his passes in either game (only other time he did that was against Tampa), and had a negative completion percentage over expected in back-to-back games for the first time all season. Through his first two playoff games, Maye has been playing at a C level, maybe C+. Sure, he went against two very good defenses, but that's the postseason. Patriots aren't playing the 32nd-ranked offensive schedule anymore.

Not sure that's going to be good enough on the road against the Broncos with a Super Bowl berth on the line, even against Jarrett Stidham.

It's time for Maye to level up.

Can he do it? There are more reasons for, than there are against.

• Once was a fluke, twice was a pattern.

We've marveled all season about Maye's ability to immediately address a deficiency in his game, and I'm guessing more than a few were shocked that, against the Texans, it was a case of, "He's still putting the ball on the ground?"

After being an error repeater for the first time all season — and hanging out his buddy, Will Campbell, out a little bit to dry — there's no way that's going to happen again. I'm sure Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels, who have played and coached a lot of games in the viper's den that is Empower Field, have been all over Maye this week to quicken his decision-making. If you thought it was bad at home, it could be worse at Mile High with all the noise and, oh, by the way, it's very cold here (and dry) and that will be the case during the game. If Maye plays with the same clock and borderline recklessness with his pump fakes and reloading in the middle of the pocket, even Stidham could beat the Patriots. Really, the ideal path for a Broncos victory is Maye turning the ball over for a touchdown, or very close to it.

As Julian Edelman once recounted on his podcast, "I remember Bill Belichick used to say, ‘When you are carrying the football, you’re not only carrying the football for the team and everyone in the building, but you’re carrying it for everyone in the region. The fate is in your hands.'"

There's no excuses when it comes to ball security. Yes, one was on Campbell and TreVeyon Henderson last week, but the other were on Maye. That has to stop. The higher the ladder you climb in the postseason, the more maturity you need out of your young players, especially when it's a quarterback. If Maye just gets back to managing the game, making his 3-4 elite plays in the normal course of the game, the Patriots are going to San Fran. If he doesn't, they are not.

• The Broncos' pass defense is overrated - if you can block them.

If you think the Patriots feasted off an easy schedule this season, so did the