FOXBORO — Drake Maye barked for the ball.
It flew into his hands at the start of his drop near midfield, where he stared a snarling Texans defense straight down the middle.
The stare was a trap.
As his back foot hit the back of the pocket, Maye shuffled forward, jerked his gaze to the right and cocked his arm. He lofted a deep ball down the sideline.
Kayshon Boutte was a half-step ahead of Derek Stingley, one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, if not football players, in the world. Maye bet on Boutte with this throw, a perfect rainbow arcing toward the end zone.
The bet cashed.
Touchdown.
That was 15 months ago, moments before halftime of a 20-point loss to the same Houston team that left Sunday night having played its last football of the season. That was a time when no one knew if Maye could walk as a starting NFL quarterback, let alone run or put a franchise on his back. That was his first career touchdown pass.
On Sunday, Maye dropped back again near the same midfield spot. He veered again to his right and lobbed another pass down the same sideline. This time, Stingley was in Boutte’s left pocket, and Maye’s throw looked a touch too far off his receiver’s right shoulder. Boutte shot his arm out and snared it anyway, completing one of the greatest catches in franchise history.
Bedlam ensued. An exalted Gillette Stadium could exhale. This knockdown, drag-out divisional-round battle had been decided, even with 13 minutes still left on the clock.
Patriots 28, Texans 16.
The Pats are returning to the AFC Championship Game on a road paved by their defense, a defense that snatched four interceptions and embarrassed a precocious young quarterback. If that script doesn’t feel familiar, like Maye’s touchdown pass to Boutte repeating just a year later, it should have.
Twenty-two years ago to the day, the Patriots picked off Peyton Manning four times in a home playoff game to clear their path to the Super Bowl. Snow fell then as it did Sunday. And despite being favored by 3.5 points both nights, the Pats insisted nobody believed in them.
“It’s kind of a big thing that no one believed in us,” Christian Gonzalez said. “Nobody counted on us, counted on us in being in any of these games.”
As Mike Vrabel stalked the sideline Sunday, what he saw can only be described as reminders of the early dynasty days. Days when the Patriots star quarterback finished wins furnished by their defense, which created pressure through disguised coverage and exotic blitzes. Days when the offense spread the ball around, as Maye did hitting seven different receivers against Houston.
Days when the Patriots were a football team greater than the sum of their talent, thanks to a coaching staff that utilized and empowered players in a way they haven’t been before. Once that Bill Belichick to guys like Vrabel, a backup in Pittsburgh turned franchise Hall of Famer in New England. Now, it’s Vrabel to Boutte, and defensive linemen like Khyiris Tonga, who had a sack, and K’Lavon Chaisson, an edge rusher who also notched a sack after setting several career highs during the regular season.
“Everybody’s stepping up. We’re using everybody,” Vrabel said. “Everybody’s making plays. Everybody’s helping us win.”
The Patriots’ formula has changed. After a regular season when Maye undertook most of the heavy lifting, their defense can carry them now, and has through two playoff games. This is a complete, scrappy, clever, tough team.
Of course, it helped C.J. Stroud gift-wrapped a few turnovers like he had forgotten to ship them over the holidays. But there is getting lucky, and there is creating your own luck, as the Patriots did by blitzing Stroud even after he’d beaten their pressure with a second-quarter touchdown.
“We knew that, at the end of the day, when it comes down to having only a four-man rush or three-man rush, (Stroud) can dice defenses up,” Marcus Jones said. “So, our main thing was to have pressure. When it comes down to it, I am glad that we caused what we caused today.”
And surely, so were the old legends on hand.
A little more than 30 minutes before kickoff, Vince Wilfork paced his old sideline. A short walk to his right, Tedy Bruschi sat on a television set. A few minutes later and several stories higher, Ty Law waved to a crowd of familiar faces from the stadium lighthouse as a guest of honor.
They had all gathered to share in the ongoing revival of the franchise they once raised together, a revival led by a former teammate building something new with an old formula.
Now it’s on to Denver, a place where none of them, nor Belichick nor Tom Brady, could ever plant their flag in the playoffs. Thoughts began to drift to the Broncos right around the two-minute warning, when the Patriots had their second playoff win in hand with two more rounds to go.
Just like old times, Bon Jovi blared over the loudspeakers. The crowd sang.
“Whoa, we’re halfway there
Whoa, oh, livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand, we’ll make it, I swear
“Whoa oh, livin’ on a prayer.”
