Mike Vrabel was Brady’s team-mate for 3 of these Tremendous Bowl wins and in his first season as New England’s head coach, the Patriots claimed 10 extra wins than in 2024 – tied for the most important turnaround in NFL historical past.

The Patriots have been one in all this season’s finest all-round groups, claiming the AFC’s second seed and their first AFC East division title in seven years in Brady’s final season in New England.

In Maye, the third total choose within the 2024 draft, the Patriots have lastly discovered Brady’s long-term successor.

At 23, he’s a 12 months youthful than the report seven-time Tremendous Bowl winner was when he claimed his first NFL title in 2002, and Maye once more confirmed a maturity past his years on Sunday.

Each he and reverse quantity CJ Stroud struggled with the wintry circumstances and Maye had 4 fumbles, two of them leading to turnovers. He additionally had one interception and was sacked 5 instances by Houston’s fearsome go rush.

Nonetheless, he additionally delivered three landing passes, two of them to assist set up a 21-10 lead at half-time and the latter a 32-yard deep shot within the fourth quarter to Kayshon Boutte, who made an excellent one-handed seize to seal victory.

In the meantime, after throwing simply eight interceptions in 14 video games throughout the common season, Houston’s third-year quarterback Stroud had 4 interceptions within the first half alone, with one in all them returned for a landing by Marcus Jones.

Sarcastically, Maye will now go up in opposition to Jarrett Stidham, who was initially seen as Brady’s successor when drafted in 2019 and was back-up for the legendary quarterback’s ultimate season in New England.

After becoming a member of Denver in 2023, 29-year-old Stidham is now set for less than the fifth begin of his NFL profession as a result of Broncos’ first-choice quarterback Bo Nix suffered a damaged ankle of their Divisional Spherical win over Buffalo on Saturday.