Who knows if Drake Maye listens to Terry Bradshaw on FOX NFL Sunday, but his remarks that Mike Vrabel should take Maye out for Week Four and replace him with Tommy DeVito sparked something in the dark recesses of his Maye’s quarterback psyche. Bradshaw’s exact remarks were, “Sometimes you get into such a rut that you lose your confidence, which is what’s happening. Sometimes, you have to bench ’em.” He said Sunday on the Fox pregame show.
“You just sit him down. Doesn’t mean he’s not your No. 1. You just sit him down and take that focus…That’s how you keep going forward.” The Patriots performed well keeping Drake Maye in. They executed confidently with the timing almost comically perfect after these words from the four-time Superbowl champion. Hours after Bradshaw’s comments, Maye goes into undefeated Buffalo, throws three touchdowns, and engineers the winning drive.
Buffalo spent years planning their new Highmark Stadium. Sparkling new. A fresh start. A new home for Bills Mafia where folding tables could live long, prosperous lives before being sacrificed in the parking lot. Then the New England Patriots showed up and like the worst houseguests imaginable, tracked mud across the carpet, drank straight from the carton, put their feet on the coffee table, and walked out with a victory on the Bills’ own turf. Maye went 22-of-39, throwing 269 yards, had three touchdowns, plus 54 rushing yards.
New England pummeled Buffalo’s perfect record.
Yes, those same Patriots that could barely complete a pass weeks ago. The same Drake Maye that Bradshaw recommended to bench.
New England tackled the undefeated Bills 29-26 Sunday, becoming the first visiting team to win at the new Highmark Stadium.
What say you now, Terry?
Okay, okay…Terry Bradshaw wasn’t completely off his rocker. Let’s give the guy a break; he was just doing his job. Just last week Maye’s turnovers and New England getting crushed 35–6 by Jacksonville made headlines. Now they turn around and beat an undefeated Buffalo team in Buffalo. Bradshaw wasn’t saying Drake Maye was permanently done; Terry argued sitting temporarily can remove pressure and help a quarterback reset.
That’s fair.
Drake Maye spent Sunday morning being informed by a four-time Super Bowl champion that he might benefit from watching Tommy DeVito play quarterback. Maye responded in the mature, measured manner you’d expect from a professional athlete. He went into Buffalo and threw three touchdowns. Where do you think his headspace was at? Was he a nervous wreck thinking he would be asked to resign, step down, quit-before-fired, or just afraid to get ghosted? Maye knew he hasn’t been playing well. And he knew he needed to do something about it.
Fans knew to trust their quarterback.
It seemed like everyone was brushing off the Patriots except for their own fans. They never seemed to fully throw Maye overboard like everyone else. They have seen what Drake Maye can do and what New England can be. They kept the trust in their team and it paid off. When the interceptions started piling up and the offense looked like it had been assembled faster than a flag football team with ten minutes before mom calls for dinner, the reaction from a lot of fans wasn’t, Get rid of him. It was more like, Can everyone just chill?
Maye threw three times as many touchdowns Sunday as he had during the first three games combined. There’s a difference between being frustrated with your quarterback and losing faith in him completely.
This has happened before. It was only Week Four. Great quarterbacks have had great defeats through Week Three and were still able to come out on top in their Week Four. Some examples of this include Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky, who in 2018 only had two touchdowns total in his first three games, and then then exploded for 354 yards and six touchdown passes in a 48–10 Week Four win over Tampa Bay.
Aaron Rodgers was supposed to be in his Packers prime in 2014 but instead had gone 1–2 in the first three games, then famously told everyone to “R-E-L-A-X.” He likely then went into a desolate cave, regrouped, and arrived fresh faced for Week Four, throwing four touchdowns to beat the Bears. Seems like the darkness retreat started a few years earlier than we realized.
Even former Patriot Drew Bledsoe threw six interceptions through New England’s first three games in 1994 before settling down against Detroit without throwing a single pick in Week Four. In 2024, Anthony Richardson arrived for the Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers and had thrown six interceptions through his first three games. He actually started Week Four well with 3-of-4 for 71 yards.
Patriots’ fans may have heard of another Week Four comeback.
His name is Tom Brady, and in 2014 he was reeling from a disastrous September. New England Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs, then Cincinnati Bengals. Brady and New England were embarrassed by a 41–14 loss to Kansas City in Week Four. The following week, Tom Brady threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns as the Patriots destroyed the previously unbeaten Cincinnati Bengals, 43–17.
Proof that anything can happen, games can be lost and won, and no one really puts too much stock into worrying about the early season. Some quarterbacks just need to find their footing.
Bradshaw’s suggestion wasn’t crazy.
Maye’s first three weeks really were that bad. But NFL history is littered with quarterbacks who spent September looking lost and October reminding everybody why they landed the quarterback job in the first place. The question isn’t whether Maye fixed everything Sunday. It’s whether Buffalo was just one fluke of a great afternoon, a lucky swipe of a rabbit’s foot, or simply an answered prayer. But maybe Sunday was the moment Drake Maye’s 2026 shining season finally started.
The Patriots are either good, terrible, or both.
Only time will tell, Terry.
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