Patriots’ Drake Maye turned a bad call into a defining moment | Matt Vautour

It was a bad call. It was a late call and it looked like a costly call when it happened.

Everybody from CBS officiating rules analyst Gene Steratore to the less-credentialed experts on the internet was incredulous at the first-quarter offensive pass interference call on Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs that negated a highlight film 61-yard touchdown pass from Drake Maye to DeMario Douglas.

The call was so late that the Patriot offense was already on the sideline celebrating. The extra point team was coming onto the field. The contact between Diggs and Kool-Aid McKinstry, which wasn’t near Douglas, was so innocuous that it took the CBS TV crew a few minutes to find the replay.

“It was a really late call. I was on the sideline about to sit down,” Maye said.

For a young team and the young quarterback, who haven’t done a lot of winning, having a huge momentum play ripped away from them could have derailed the Patriots. Maybe last year it would have.

Instead, it wasn’t even a speed bump.

Maye put his helmet back on, jogged back on the field and got back to work. He recognized Kyle Williams being held and threw his way to draw the penalty. He completed a little toss to TreVeyon Henderson and eventually he stepped up in the pocket again and threw another pretty touchdown pass, floating a 25-yarder to Kayshon Boutte over McKinstry.

“It was huge,” Maye said. “Boutte made a great play in the end zone. That was a bummer, but you’ve got to keep going.”

They did exactly that.

At this point in his career, it’s pretty obvious that Drake Maye can throw. He can run and make throws on the run when plays break down. He’s proven all of those things pretty consistently this month and he’s figured out how to be aggressive without being risky. It’s been 89 pass attempts and 14 quarters since he’s thrown an interception.

“It’s not my first time,” said Stefon Diggs, who watched Josh Allen evolve. “I see how he prepares, how he works. So I’m not surprised at all. I’m excited.”

Right now, Maye looks like the best young quarterback in the league. He’s playing better than any other passer still on a rookie deal, including projected franchise saviors Trevor Lawrence, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams.

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The next rung on the ladder is how he handles important moments, pressure and adversity. If the referees hadn’t thrown the flag on Diggs, his teammates and everybody watching would have left that drive admiring his throw.

But because of the penalty, they left impressed with his poise and maturity. There was no tantrum and referee tirade.

Maye shook off the bad break, so everybody else did, too.

Maye shook off all of last week’s adulation, so everybody else did, too.

He’s proving himself worthy of being followed.

“We just want to keep building momentum. We don’t want to linger on last week’s big win and let this one come beat you,” he said. “It was huge to get a win here. We have to keep going and keep building.”