PATS Quarterback Drake Maye, 23, During an Interview Following the  Teams’ Convincing Win Against Texas.

The New England Patriots beat the Houston Texans in a thrilling game this afternoon – 28 to 16 in Foxboro in the AFC Championship game.

Marred by too many turnovers in the first half of the game, the only consistency was the poor weather – it started out as rain and turned into a driving snow storm by the end of the game.  QB C. J. Stroud of Texas had a bad first half.  In addition to too  many turnovers,  he was unable to get anything going offensively.  Nothing seemed to work for him.  But it did work for the Patriots and in particular for its youthful, second year quarterback – Drake Maye – who is a  candidate for MVP.  The second half was a little better for Texas, but the team could not overtake what may be a new era for the Patriots.

Not surprisingly, comparisons were made at the end of the game between Coach Belichick and his winning quarterback Tom Brady to the developing team of Coach Vrabel and Drake Maye.

“The New York Times” had an in-depth article on Drake Maye in its sports section today.  In that piece, the “Times” predicted that the Patriots would win today’s game.  The piece was a look at the relationship Maye has with his coaches McDaniels and Vrabel.

It felt so good to be cheering for a winning Patriots team once again after some down time following the departure of Tom Brady,