So much has happened during this remarkable Patriots season — a lot has been repaired, upgraded, and rapidly improved by the coach-quarterback partnership of Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye — that things that happened relatively recently suddenly feel like the distant past.
Consider: It was less than 15 months ago that Maye made his first start as Patriots quarterback, a 41-21 loss to the Texans in Week 6 of the 2024 season.
A familiar refrain then, one repeated often in the buildup to his eventual selection by the Patriots with the No. 3 overall pick, and intermittently here early in his career, was that if all went right and he developed as hoped, he could be another Justin Herbert.