The New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl, and if the path they took to get here feels familiar, that’s because it is-eerily so.
Let’s rewind the clock 25 years. The year was 2001.
A young quarterback named Tom Brady had stepped in for an injured Drew Bledsoe and helped guide the Patriots to a Super Bowl berth. Brady wasn’t lighting up the stat sheet in the playoffs, but he was doing just enough, while the defense carried the load.
Sound familiar?
That 2001 team leaned heavily on its defense and situational football. Brady, then in his second year, was efficient but not explosive.
In his playoff debut, he threw for 352 yards against the Raiders, but it took him 52 attempts to get there, and he didn’t throw a touchdown. The Patriots escaped with a win thanks to the infamous “tuck rule” and an Adam Vinatieri overtime field goal.
In the AFC Championship Game, Brady exited early with an ankle injury, and Bledsoe stepped in to throw the team’s only touchdown pass of the postseason up to that point. The Patriots also got a big special teams score and held off the Steelers, 24-17. That set the stage for a Super Bowl showdown with the Rams and their high-flying “Greatest Show on Turf.”
The Patriots defense stole the show in that game, frustrating Kurt Warner and company, while Brady managed the offense and led a game-winning drive in the closing seconds. He threw for just 145 yards, but walked away with the MVP trophy-and the first of what would become six Super Bowl rings.
Fast forward to today, and the Patriots once again find themselves leaning on defense and timely plays rather than a high-octane offense. Only this time, the quarterback is Drake Maye.
Maye, in his second NFL season, has already shown he’s a different kind of player than Brady ever was. He’s more mobile, more aggressive downfield, and statistically had a better regular season in 2025 than Brady did in his first several years combined. But the playoffs have been a different story.
Maye’s efficiency has dropped off a cliff. His completion percentage is down nearly 20 points, his sack rate has doubled, and he’s turned the ball over more than he’s found the end zone-six fumbles to four touchdown passes. Yet, like Brady in 2001, he’s 3-0 as a playoff starter.
The Patriots’ path to the Super Bowl has been anything but conventional. They survived a depleted Chargers squad on Wild Card Weekend, then took advantage of a meltdown from Texans rookie C.J.
Stroud, who threw four first-half interceptions in the Divisional Round. In the AFC Championship Game, they faced a Denver team forced to start backup Jarrett Stidham after Bo Nix went down with an injury.
Maye didn’t do much through the air in that snowy slugfest in Denver, but he was effective on the ground, helping New England grind out a 10-7 win. Stidham’s late-game fumble and interception didn’t hurt either.
Critics might point to the quality of opponents-New England’s 14-3 regular season included 11 games against teams that fired their head coach by year’s end, and yes, they got to play the Jets twice. But the reality is, you can only play the teams on your schedule. And the Patriots have done that, and then some.
Now they head to the Super Bowl to face the Seattle Seahawks, a team that’s looked more balanced and arguably more battle-tested. But don’t count out the Patriots.
Maye has room to grow, and he’ll have two weeks to prepare with a coaching staff that knows how to gameplan for big moments. Expect them to emphasize quicker decision-making, pocket awareness, and leaning into his athleticism.
At just 23 years old, Maye is still learning the ropes of postseason football. His playoff struggles aren’t a sign of failure-they’re part of the development curve. And if history is any indication, sometimes all it takes is a little help from the defense, a few key breaks, and a quarterback who can make just enough plays when it matters most.
Back in 2001, that formula worked. The Patriots shocked the football world and launched a dynasty. Now, a quarter-century later, they’re hoping a new era is about to begin-with another young quarterback learning how to win, even when it’s not pretty.
The parallels? Let’s just say they’re hard to ignore.