Drake Maye has a pain.

Somewhere, someplace, he’s sore.

More probable than not.

While his face screams youth, his body simply aches.

Or not.

He’s 22.

Although he doesn’t look a day over 14.

Nothing hurts at that age nearly as much as it should.

Maye absorbed the impact of an NFL opposing player attacking at full speed.

He was hit.

He was tackled.

He hit.

He tackled.

He laid the Patriots’ best open field stop of the day Sunday on Calen Bullock after the Texans safety picked off Maye in the first quarter.

By the way, NFL players get hurt. Any player could see his season end on any snap for any reason.

See: Aidan Hutchinson. No one told Dan Campbell not to play Hutchinson Sunday.

Gay Talese changed long-form journalism with his infamous 1966 “Esquire” profile entitled “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold.” We thank him for the inspiration above. The Chairman of the Board was a surly crooner in the throes of a mid-life and mid-career crisis. And it was made all the worse due to a case of the sniffles.

Here’s hoping Maye has another 25 good years like Sinatra did.

Maye’s all future.

He’s all promise.

It’s Maye in October.

And hopefully November and December, too.

Time will tell if he’s more Jim Plunkett and less Tony Eason.

Or more Drew Bledsoe and less Mac Jones.

That Maye was able to simply walk off the field at Gillette Stadium Sunday shocked Patriots State Run Media and the drive-time pearl-clutchers.

In a time of so-called “misinformation” – Maye was the subject of more half-truths than commuters on the MBTA.

Here’s a quick rundown of the narratives that died on Sunday:

“They’re playing hard for Jacoby Brissett.”

“Maye will be killed because of the offensive line.”

“They should have moved down and taken J.J. McCarthy.”

“Bill Belichick says Maye isn’t ready.”

“The Packer Way.”

Belichick’s draft day assessment of Maye – perhaps – may go down in history as one of the all-time “Ice Age Takes.” Along with that infamous NFL Draft scouting report on Tom Brady.

“His footwork needs a lot of work. You can see here he’s just all over the place. Never resets his feet. Never really gets in position to throw. Gets strip-sacked. Too much hopping around. Step up and throw.”

Yes, Belichick drafted Brady. He also drafted Brady’s replacement at least four times. He had zero plan for Brady’s replacement until July. The same season Brady won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay. No need to back into N’Keal Harry, or Sony Michel, or that Gronk trade before the 2018 season.

The first of Maye’s 3 TD passes Sunday was the best ball threw by any Patriots QB since Brady’s pick-six to Logan Ryan. It was a 40-yard dime to Kayshon Boutte that got Robert Kraft off his seat quicker than the “A-Team” at Orchids of Asia Day Spa.

“Jonathan! The 300s won’t be empty in November after all!”

Maye threw as many TD passes Sunday as Jacoby Brissett had thrown in five games.

“Well, they came in garbage time.”

My answer is this: “The entire Patriots season was garbage time before Sunday.”

We, too, want to turn the page and move on to a new generation of leadership. But at the same time, we cannot ignore the disaster of the last 4 years. Or the past 8 months.

Once the Patriots decided they would draft Maye, most likely before free-agency, why didn’t they turn their entire focus (from every free-agency signee to every other draft pick) into making Maye the starting QB in Week 1?

At least 99.9% of New England knew “The Jacoby Brissett Era” would result in calamity.

The Patriots current “brain trust” makes Don Sweeney and Cam Neely look like Einstein and Oppenheimer.

“The Packer Way” is awesome when you have Brett Favre starting – so you can sit Aaron Rodgers – and Aaron Rodgers starting – so you can sit Jordan Love.

In much the same way “The Dynasty” crumbled once Brady landed in the Sunshine State, “The Packer Way” has delivered as many championships this century as “The Yankees Way.”

That being one.

By the way, can you please put “IT WAS ALWAYS BRADY” on my grave?

Moving forward, Maye has turned these Patriots into the most-relevant last-place team since the 2012 Red Sox. But for all the right reasons.

He’s fun to watch. He can throw the ball. He can move with the ball. He can run with the ball. He’s got the blessings of youth. He can throw the ball.

And he’s ugly tough despite his handsome features.

Maye spent his entire life as the little brother in a hyper-athletic family.

He took plenty of beatings on the field – and probably a few off it.

He lost a former University of North Carolina teammate, Tylee Craft, to cancer on Saturday. And a large chunk of his home state was wiped out by Hurricane Helene.

Maye was still 100% the professional after he and the Patriots suffered a 41-21 beatdown at the hands of the Texans.

This week, the Patriots travel to London to play the equally inept Jaguars.

Call this stinker USA’s payback for “The War of 1812.”

The UN Human Rights Commission might need to pull the plug at halftime.

Think of the children.

The Patriots are 5.5-point underdogs. Most likely thanks to their “break but don’t bend” rushing defense.

Speaking of dead narratives, we haven’t heard much lately about how good Belichick was because the Patriots retained so many of the players he signed.

In the meantime, we’re on to Breakfast at Wembley.

Maye The Force Be With You.

Bill Speros (@RealOBF and @BillSperos on X) can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com.