BALTIMORE — It had to be this way.
Down 11. Down bad.
Teammates strewn across the field, almost a dozen lost to injury. A bad pick and lost fumble behind him. But everything he wanted, all of it, still ahead.
So long as Tom Brady’s statue casts a shadow at 1 Patriot Place, quarterbacks who play in that shadow will be measured by how they perform in moments like that. Moments like Sunday’s fourth quarter, where embers of an old rivalry threatened to burn the Patriots’ first playoff berth in a new era.
Drake Maye had never faced such stakes, such pressure, when he took the field with 12:44 left in Baltimore. Not even the 11-point deficit, the Pats’ largest of the season, felt familiar. This was all new — provided you don’t count last week’s debacle versus the Bills.
That loss, players later admitted, was top of mind Sunday night. The Patriots hated losing what they’d lost — a shot at the division — and how they’d lost it, letting a three-touchdown lead slip at home. Maye faltered more than most that day, squandering two chances at a game-winning drive while Josh Allen powered Buffalo to the type of win Maye had never led before; the same type that defined Brady’s career: the fourth-quarter comeback.
“We had to sit on that all week,” Pats captain Hunter Henry said, “and so for that (scenario) to literally come up again the next game on the road in a big-time environment — pretty cool.”
What Maye did next was better than cool. It was clutch.
Down 24-13, he asserted control through five straight completions, each covering less than 10 yards. Then, Maye struck with a sideline bomb that covered 37 yards, soared over All-Pro corner Marlon Humphrey and landed in the hands of rookie receiver Kyle Williams.
Touchdown.
After a Ravens punt, Maye opened with another deep strike, this time ripping a 20-yard pass to Mack Hollins that led to a short screen. Then came a dart delivered over the middle to Stefon Diggs, while he got clocked on a blitz courtesy of another All-Pro, linebacker Roquan Smith.
No matter. First down.
Next, the offense hit a snag that would’ve moored some quarterbacks and some teams mentally: a deep incompletion intended for Kayshon Boutte ruined by blatant, yet uncalled, pass interference. Maye pivoted quickly, finding backup tight end Austin Hooper for eight yards, then surviving a pass breakup and returning to Diggs on fourth-and-2 with the game at stake. Diggs beat man-to-man coverage on that play, a 21-yard pickup, just as he had on his prior catch earlier in the same drive.
Two plays later, Maye handed off to Stevenson and watched him rumble off right tackle for a long touchdown. That view was Maye’s reward for all the work he’d poured into that comeback; work best summed up by his sparkling fourth-quarter stat line — 12-of-14 for 139 yards and a touchdown, plus 14 rushing yards — and teammates’ flowery post-game praise.
“It was amazing, man. It was amazing,” left tackle Vederian Lowe said. “All we have to do is do our job and give Drake the time that he needs to make the play, and he’s gonna execute. He’s proven it to us time and time again this season. We’re gonna ride with 10 no matter what.”
As they should.
In leading two touchdown drives, Maye climbed over the same obstacles that blocked his path against Buffalo — a late deficit, tight coverage and pressure — and chased down a win. He grew.
“Just gritty. (Maye) got hit, they pressured, he just kept getting up and battling. He didn’t flinch,” Vrabel said. “I think it was important for all of us to have that game — the entire team.”
If there was any doubt left, the Patriots are back. The Pats are back because of who their quarterback has become, and who Mike Vrabel is as a head coach; a man capable of steeling a brittle roster into a dogged competitor.
Remember, Derrick Henry barreled right through Vrabel’s defense for a touchdown on the Ravens’ first drive. He did it again for another score in the second half. Between those plays, the Patriots actually ran out of defensive tackles, but bought themselves enough time because they persisted in exploiting the one hole in Henry’s armor and softest spot for Baltimore’s offense: ball security.
The Pats popped a fumble from Henry late in the first quarter, then punched another free from star receiver Zay Flowers to seal the game. Maye killed the remaining time on the clock, and celebrations soon ensued. The Patriots had led for all of one minute and 48 seconds and won.
“At his age, (Vrabel) always says ‘I wish I could suit up again. And you just can’t buy that.’ He said you can buy anything else in life, but we can’t buy this time we’re in right now,” Maye said. “And what a time it is.”
Next Sunday, the Patriots could clinch their first division title since Brady left. And if not Sunday, then the weekend after that.
What a time.
What a time, indeed.