CINCINNATI — Drake Maye is just 23 years old, and to us ain’t-that-young-anymore folks, he doesn’t even look that old when he’s authentically aw-shucksing his way through a press conference.
There is one time when he usually looks much older than his years: when he’s at work on the football field.
In his second NFL season, the immensely talented Maye has played with the poise and precision of a quarterback who has far more than his 25 games of NFL experience. He is a legitimate Most Valuable Player candidate, and should remain so even after an occasionally spotty performance in the Patriots’ tense 26-20 victory Sunday over the Bengals — one in which he looked like the relatively inexperienced quarterback that he is, at least in the early going.