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It's hard not to sympathize with the Browns, Jets, and Bears. Those franchises have spent decades in quarterback purgatory, rotating through prospects and placeholders. Meanwhile, after only half a decade of looking, the Patriots – the after-Brady Patriots – appear to have found the guy.

Five years. From Brady through Newton, Jones, Zappe, and Maye's rocky start to now: a young quarterback who appears to be a elite player and Most Valuable Player contender.

Last week was his breakout: a victory away in Buffalo, where Maye matched throws with Josh Allen and outplayed the current MVP in the fourth quarter. But Sunday in New Orleans may have been even more impressive. Fresh off an surprise victory over the division favorites, a trip to a struggling Saints squad had potential for a letdown. And the Saints threatened early. They ripped off a large gain on the opening snap of the game, before stalling out in the redzone and opting for a field goal. It took Maye just four snaps to respond, launching a long deep ball to DeMario Douglas for the go-ahead touchdown.

Drake Maye connects with Pop Douglas on a 53-yard bomb!

It was Maye in peak form, navigating the pocket to throw a strike downfield. From there, he didn’t let up: Maye torched the Saints in all parts of the playing surface. His opening two quarters was so searing that even North Carolina was compelled to post. He finished 18 completions on 26 attempts for over 250 yards with three touchdowns and zero giveaways. And it could have been more if not for a series of questionable officiating calls.

It was his fifth consecutive outing with at least 200 yards and a QB rating north of 100. Only the Chiefs' star, Dak Prescott, and Dan Marino have ever done that at 23 years old or less.

The top QBs convert tough away matches into routine victories. They don’t put the ball in harm’s way, maintain offensive momentum and make the decisive throws on important plays. The Patriots needed every bit of Maye’s near perfection to narrowly defeat the Saints. They struggled on the ground against a stout front. Their defense gave up multiple chunk plays. This was a game that had to be won by Maye's passing. And he performed under pressure.

Maye was hit a few times and tackled once, but the pressure he faced was continuous. It didn’t matter. Maye passed all three touchdown passes under pressure, with all three traveling 20 yards or more in the air.

It’s not just the numbers. It’s how Maye carries himself. He’s self-assured and calm in the pocket, bouncing through reads to find open targets. When needed, he can take off and improvise on the ground. As a rookie, he was a somewhat erratic, fleeing the pocket at the first sign of trouble. But this season, he’s been more like Brady, conforming to the confines of the scheme and delivering the ball where it needs to go in a hurry.

This year, Maye is up to 10 TD passes, two rushing touchdowns and only two picks. He’s halved his Turnover Worthy Play rate from his rookie year, when he was always attempting to create plays out of broken plays. Now, he’s picking his moments. He has avoided a turnover-worthy play in three outings.

After college, Maye was touted as a strong-armed passer. Evaluators questioned his ability to process sophisticated coverages and operate a complex offense. Too loose. Overly risky. But the offensive coordinator, in his third stint as Patriots offensive coordinator, has unleashed the entire range of his scheme. Maye isn't restricted; he’s being relied on. The Patriots are shapeshifting weekly once more, and Maye is leading the offense like an experienced veteran.

His growth has sped up the Patriots' schedule. If there were to be second-year progress, you imagined it would be a gradual process. There would still exist the spectacular passes, while Maye used the season trying to cut his mental errors in half. That would be progress. In contrast, Maye has exceeded expectations. Six games into his second season, he’s turned into one of the NFL's top players – and he’s made the Patriots into division contenders again.

Chicago supporters will find solace in seeing the progress of their rookie QB. But if you’re a Browns or Jets fan, you have to wince. Because this is the ideal scenario when a franchise QB arrives. And for the rest of the league’s quarterback-starved franchises, it’s yet another reminder of how cruel and cyclical this game can be. The Patriots went from the greatest of all time to a possible great in five years. Some teams spend a quarter of a century searching – and still don’t find a solution.

Securing a franchise quarterback is about more than winning games. It changes the identity of a fanbase and franchise. For 20 years, the Pats lived the gilded life. But the recent years have been about not constructing a transition from Tom Brady to the next era. They’ve discovered the solution today. Prepare for your New England pals to rediscover their championship confidence.

Player of the Week

JSN, WR, Seattle Seahawks. Against a tough Jacksonville D, Seattle's sole option was for their QB to target JSN, constantly. The wideout responded with eight catches for over 150 yards and a touchdown on 13 targets, as the Seahawks snuck past the Jags by eight points. The Seahawks' D set the tone, pressuring Trevor Lawrence and sacking him a year-high seven times. But it was Smith-Njigba who carried the Seahawks’ offense, making up all the first 117 of the Seahawks’ initial 117 yards via passing. That featured a long TD and perhaps the best route we’ll see from a receiver all year.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba just beat new Jaguars CB Greg Newsome on his first play with his new team – a 61-yard TD.

Highlight of the Week

The Dolphins were on the wrong side of yet another frustrating, late defeat. They took a one-point lead over the Los Angeles Chargers with 48 seconds left, after their QB found his tight end for his fourth score of the season. The Chargers returned a 40-yard kickoff on the following kick. From there, Justin Herbert and Ladd McConkey took over.

INCREDIBLE PLAY FROM HERBERT AND MCCONKEY.

Hoo boy. That is mean. Amazingly, Herbert escaped two defenders, dodging the initial before throwing the second to the deck. He located his target in the short area, who faked out a defender to move the ball in range for the winning field goal.

It exemplifies the Chargers’ season: narrowly winning on the excellence of their QB and his surrounding playmakers as his protection struggles. And it sums up the Dolphins’ defense, too: a pass-rush that struggles to finish and a floundering secondary. With the loss, the Dolphins fell to one win and five losses. Painful late-game failures have become standard for the Dolphins. With another defeat, he’s losing time to keep his position.

Notable Statistic

Negative 10. That’s the passing yardage Justin Fields ended with in the New York Jets' 13-11 loss to the Denver Broncos in London. It’s the fewest in any game since the Chargers had negative 19 in 1998. Even then, the Chargers had Ryan Leaf making his third professional start. Fields was making his 49th start.

It's clear what Fields is now: an exceptional runner who has difficulty to decipher the {passing game|pass