ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – The New England Patriots’ greatest win in years turned when they put their fate in the shaky hands of their 23-year-old quarterback at a time he looked less like himself than he had all season.

It was halftime. Drake Maye was 9 of 16.

In his first career primetime start, Maye played like the ghosts who famously spooked Sam Darnold on Monday Night Football had returned to scare him Sunday night. He darted around the pocket, searching for any opening, any excuse, just to run from them. Even when the pocket closed, he tried to break through, harried by a Bills defense that often showed blitz only to bail into coverage.

Punt, fumble, punt, the offense went.

Field goal, punt, field goal.

Head down, Maye walked into halftime buoyed by a 6-3 lead he owed entirely to his defense. The Patriots’ plan to pound Buffalo’s pillow-soft run defense with big-bodied personnel had led them nowhere. Their lead carried an expiration date, and Josh McDaniels knew it.

So the Pats’ offensive coordinator changed course, and turned to Maye.

Here are the keys, kid. Drive us to victory.

Maye took the field again in the third quarter, and by the time he left, he had directed his first game-winning drive in the NFL. He’d clinched his first major upset. And he had outdueled Josh Allen, the reigning league MVP, going 13 of 14 for 184 yards in the second half.

Then and there, Maye began as a frazzled young passer and became a new quarterback.

Now, some of his teammates would tell you differently. Maye is the same every day in Foxborough, Mass., they say. Confident, prepared, talented. That’s probably true.

But even Maye must sense what Sunday meant. He said it himself during the week.

“It’s a great gauge for us,” Maye said of playing Buffalo. “(To) see what we’ve got.”

What the Patriots have got is a franchise quarterback.

It’s time to believe in them again because Maye has given us no choice but to believe in him.

Beating Buffalo wasn’t another flash of potential or a hint of promise. This was proof; further proof Maye is the centerpiece the Patriots have sought ever since Tom Brady left New England and took a franchise’s hope and identity with him.

Maye is winning games now. He is hope.

Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams might as well have been speaking about Maye when he said this about his new team from a victorious locker room: “The world (saw) what we’re capable of tonight. We got to show that s— every week now.”

Granted, Maye has only made 17 starts, a small sample. But sample size be damned.

Discounting Maye because of sample concerns would be akin to dismissing the stranger who joins a pickup basketball game, hits almost every shot, pockets a few steals and throws down a thunderous dunk all in the first five minutes. Do you really need to see more from them to know they can play?

That kid can hoop. This quarterback can hoop, too.

“Drake could definitely be a great (one),” said Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis. “I’m excited for him because I know the intangibles that he carries with him. And to see it come to fruition, and to see him kind of put it into play, it’s amazing.”

He finished 22 of 30 for 273 yards, and scored on three of four possessions in the second half. The final brushes on his second-half masterpiece were quintessential Maye, strokes of genius.

Starting at his 29-yard line with 2:12 remaining in a tied game, he took a shotgun snap on a busted run-pass option designed to leverage his mobility and quick release. Except Bills defensive tackle DaQuan Jones breached the pocket instantly. Trouble.

Maye scooted right, guided by his innate refusal to give up on a play. He stiff-armed Jones with his left arm, while Jones grabbed a hold of Maye’s collar on the front of his jersey and rode him toward the sideline. Maye scanned his options downfield.

Unable to chase him out, Jones dropped his 320-pound body to the ground, figuring he would drag Maye with him. He was right, and another Buffalo defender closed fast. A sack like this, more than 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, would probably kill the drive.

Instead, as Maye’s right knee closed within a foot of the turf, he flicked a pass right for Stefon Diggs that hit Diggs square in the hands. Twelve yards. First down.

The two-minute warning hit next, just enough time for the 72,000 in attendance to gawk at the creativity and daring Maye had mustered to revive a play that was dead on arrival.

Now back on first-and-10, Maye handed the ball off for a 1-yard pickup. The Patriots were still at least 15 yards, maybe 20, from field goal range. Seconds fell off the clock, each one bringing them closer to overtime, and the danger of confronting Allen again.

At the snap on second down, Maye recognized Buffalo was dropping into a zone defense with a hole along the right sideline. Kayshon Boutte, one of three receivers flanked to his right, sprinted upfield and slipped into that window. Maye ripped the ball in Boutte’s direction, over the head of one Bills defender and just outside the outstretched reach of another speeding toward the receiver.

Maye never saw Boutte catch the pass. Instead, he was slung down as the ball left his hand by another Bills pass-rusher whose pressure would have discouraged Maye from even throwing in the first half. Once Maye got up, the Patriots had moved up to Buffalo’s 39-yard line, striking distance for a game-winning field goal.

From there, Rhamondre Stevenson churned out five more yards, and rookie kicker Andy Borregales clinched a victory none in the visitors locker room would soon forget; least of all the quarterback who authored it.

“He was big tonight. A game-winning drive for a young player, I’m pretty sure his confidence is through the roof,” Williams said. “We’re going to need that going forward.”

So, how far can the Patriots go?

Are they a division threat to Buffalo, as Sunday night would suggest?

Are they a wild-card contender?

All questions that hinge on another: how good can Maye be?

Harold Landry, who hunted Allen all Sunday night and chased Maye all summer, hoping to push his young quarterback closer to the greatness Allen has already achieved, paused before answering.

“Honestly,” Landry said, “I think it’s up to him.”

____

©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.