BOSTON -- I watched the Patriots game on Sunday. You watched the Patriots game on Sunday. (If you had them on a second screen while reserving your main TV for RedZone, then shame on you. I get it. But shame on you regardless.)
And while watching that game, it felt like the first time that rookie quarterback Drake Maye was just ... OK. He made some slick throws -- like his first completion to a well-covered Austin Hooper on a corner route, or his ridiculous touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn that didn't count due to the receiver stepping out of bounds (twice) -- but he also wasn't carrying the offense in a way that he did a week earlier in Tennessee.
Yet sometimes, watching the game on television doesn't give you the full picture of what's going on. That's especially true when the state of the team leads to broadcast networks sending their C, D, or F teams to cover their games.
And while one pass by Maye before halftime looked pretty good on TV, it looked unbelievable on the coach's tape.
It came with 16 seconds left in the first half. The Patriots had just scored a touchdown to take a 10-3 lead before forcing a punt on a 71-second drive by Chicago. Thanks to a 24-yard punt return by Marcus Jones, Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt didn't have to worry about making the wrong call before halftime in this one. They went for points, and thanks to this throw by Maye on a first-and-10 near midfield, they got it.
That throw was, quite simply, special.
Of course, an element of this evaluation that cannot be ignored is that those of us in the northeast corner of the United States have grown accustomed to watching some ... not-so-special quarterback play over the past five years. From late-stage Cam Newton to Mac Jones to Bailey Zappe with a little bit of Brian Hoyer mixed in, we just haven't seen arm talent that makes you jump out of your chair ever since Tom Brady got sent packing five years ago. So yes, there's an element of a water-in-a-desert type of reaction at play.
Still, watch that thing again. Boutte was covered 1-on-1 by cornerback Jaylon Johnson. Safety Elijah Hicks had him covered over the top to prevent a deep ball. The throwing window didn't really exist, but Maye had the confidence to wait for Boutte to come out of his break before threading the needle to a spot where only Boutte had the chance to catch it.
Of course, it wasn't a perfect game from Maye. His interception was very bad (though he claims he was trying to throw it away), and he should have had another pick in the end zone. He finished 15-for-25 for 184 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and he ran four times for 24 yards.
Nothing about that stat line is going to scream much of anything to anybody who didn't watch the game. And even those of us who did watch the game might have missed the sheer absurdity of at least one of those completions.