FOXBOROUGH - Drake Maye was 19, and a freshman at North Carolina the last time the Patriots played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He remembers the game vividly, though. It marked Tom Brady’s return to New England for the first time since leaving after a six-time Super Bowl winning run that ran over two decades.
Maye has a good recollection because people still talk about it.
“That was a big game. I know he came back here,” Maye said. “I think they said they were cheering him when he first game out, and once the game went on, they were booing him, which I respect from our fan base.”
Maye recalled it being a low-scoring game. And as legend has it, from people in the locker room who were there, divine intervention occurred.
“The trainers in the training room the other day were saying Tom had a drive that put them ahead. And it was raining all game. And the rain stopped when Tom went out there for the game-winning drive. Almost like the football gods were with him.”
The Patriots face the Buccaneers once again Sunday, only the game is in Tampa Bay.
Not Gillette, where Brady eeked out a 19-17 win in that Oct. 3 game. His team topped Bill Belichick, Mac Jones and a Patriots team that went to the playoffs that year.
“It was a good battle. You remember games like that, the comeback game,” Maye said. “It was cool.”
Four years later, Maye will be squaring off against fellow MVP-candidate Baker Mayfield.
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