One Year Later, Maye Finished What He Started Against the Bills

“Yeah, they weren’t blitzing us barely at all in the first half, so I figured they were down, they’d make something happen,” said Maye after the game. “They’re going to come after us. Like I said, they do a great job of disguising and just trying to make something happen, and the guys did a great job staying alive.”

Maye rose to the challenge and did a great job of finding them.  After the Bills opened the third quarter with a 10-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a touchdown that put Buffalo up 10-6, Maye answered.  He connected on back-to-back 16-yard passes to both Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte, and then, with pressure coming, Maye rolled to his right and fired an unbelievable pass up the right side of the field and connected with Diggs as he came back across to pick up 32 yards.

That throw got them to the Bills’ 4-yard line.  One play later, they took back the momentum after Rhamondre Stevenson took it in for the touchdown.  Just like that, they were back on top at 13-10.

New England’s defense then spoiled a potential scoring opportunity for Buffalo on the next drive.  After working their way down to the Patriots’ 9-yard line, an offensive pass interference call pushed Buffalo back 10 yards to the 19.  Marcus Jones then shocked the Bills after reading Josh Allen’s eyes and broke on a pass to Khalil Shakir, picking off the football at the 10-yard line.

That play absolutely stunned everyone in that stadium, with Bills fans clearly expecting Buffalo to take back control of the game.

Instead, Maye marched the Patriots 90 yards on 11 plays back in the other direction, with the young QB hitting Hunter Henry for a 24-yard play and then connecting on a 30-yard throw to Diggs to help set up another touchdown run by Stevenson.

That gave the Patriots a 20-10 edge with just over 12 minutes left in the game, putting the Bills back on their heels.

“They started blitzing in the fourth quarter,” said Vrabel after the game.  “We hit a couple plays that I felt were the difference. When they started blitzing and started heating us up, that we were able to hit some plays and some X plays against it. That was probably the difference for us being able to not let the blitz affect us.”

Allen answered the call, aided largely by two huge defensive penalties as both Corey Durden and Joshua Farmer each made a couple of mental errors, with Durden hitting Allen late and Farmer coming in for a hit after the whistle on James Cook.  That quickly put the Bills in Patriots territory, and they finished that one off with a touchdown to pull within three at 20-17.

A false start penalty on the ensuing drive by Vederian Lowe, who was in as an extra lineman on a 3rd-and-1, ended up killing that possession for Maye and the offense. But Bryce Baringer came up with a massive 73-yard punt that flipped the field and put some added pressure on the Bills’ offense.

New England’s defense held up its end of the bargain, holding Buffalo to a field goal with just over two minutes left in the game and the score knotted at 20-20.

Maye then started the final drive with an unbelievable throw to Diggs, facing severe pressure after the Bills broke through up the middle. Somehow, with a player hanging off of him, Maye managed to make a throw to the veteran wideout near the right sideline for a 12-yard gain.  He followed that up one play later with a terrific throw to Kayshon Boutte, and just like that, the Patriots were at the Bills’ 39.

They then ran the ball twice with Stevenson, with Maye wisely holding onto the ball on a 3rd-and-5 at the Bills’ 34, taking a sack and allowing New England to burn the clock down to 0:20.

Rookie kicker Andres Borregales did the rest, drilling the 52-yard kick right down the middle for what turned out to be the game-winner.

That silenced the crowd in Buffalo that came into the night fired up, likely thinking they were about to enjoy an easy win.

Instead, Maye’s second half was the difference.  He completed 13-of-14 (92.9%) for 184 yards over the final two quarters, finishing yet another game in terrific fashion.  Over the last three games, Maye’s a combined 34-of-38 (89.5%) for 430 yards, 3 touchdowns, and zero interceptions in the second half.

On a night where Bills fans filled the stadium wearing white in what they were hoping would be a “white-out” as the Bills donned alternate white uniforms, every one of them walked out of the stadium having watched the Bills lose their first game of the 2025 season.

Instead of Allen being the hero, it was Maye who was calm, cool, and made all the right decisions as he helped put the Patriots above .500 at 3-2 with the victory.

“I didn’t hurt the team,” said Maye when asked what he felt like he did Sunday night.  “Protected the football, made some plays, protected the football, and gave us a chance to win. And used my teammates around me. That’s the biggest thing.”