FOXBORO — While a region rages, over the play of their Patriots and in the middle of on-again, off-again debate over Jerod Mayo’s future as the head coach, we forget what matters most.

The quarterback, the quarterback, the quarterback.

Drake Maye.

In Maye, the Patriots have a future. A path forward. Back to relevance, possibly the division title, but at least the playoffs sometime in the next few years; assuming everyone around this 22-year-old doesn’t doesn’t snuff out his light with top-down organizational incompetence.

How fast Maye can usher in this future, or a future, is obviously unknown, and not entire. But until then, this much we know: Maye’s got a head start on greatness.

His offensive coordinator, who backed up Joe Montana and Jim Kelly, then coached Aaron Rodgers told us last week.

“To me, the great quarterbacks are the fastest processors. They can see the field. They can understand the issues. They can see the space on the field and process that quickly,” Alex Van Pelt said. “Then the other part, the piece that I’ve always found with the great quarterbacks is the competitiveness.”

And Maye?

“I see the processing piece, for sure,” Van Pelt added. “I think as he gets more comfortable as a leader, you’ll see that take over as well. He’s ultra-competitive.”

Now, let’s the season-long stats that capture Maye’s performance, and rewind the clock.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) scrambles out of the pocket with New England Patriots defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (91) in pursuit during the first half of an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

The two most common comparisons he drew as a college prospect were the next two quarterbacks on the Patriots’ schedule: Josh Allen and Justin Herbert. Maye’s physical tools more closely resembled Herbert, and his daring, off-schedule playmaking reminded scouts of Allen.

A crude football equation, if you will: Allen’s brain plus Herbert’s body equaled Drake Maye.

Allen is the odds-on favorite to become the NFL’s next MVP, but in the lead-up he’s achieved something just as rare: becoming Bill Belichick-proof.

Against Belichick, Allen owned the highest passer rating of any quarterback to make more than five career starts or attempt at least 200 passes versus his defense. He went 7-2 against the Patriots the last four years, and averaged more than 30 points per game. Two years ago, Buffalo became the first team to beat the Pats by 10 or more points in three consecutive meetings since 2000.

The season before that, Allen’s Bills played two games against the Patriots without punting. Not once.

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Allen is a modern prototype and marvel; a quarterback capable of reading and dicing coverage from the pocket, but also dragging plays to the edges of the field where he can devastate defenses as a scrambler or off-platform thrower. Allen is exactly whom Maye should be aiming to become.

“Yeah, what a special player. He’s playing at a really high level,” Maye said Wednesday. “It’s been fun to watch some of his highlights in some of the games. They’ve got a lot of primetime games, so any time Josh is on, I’m a big fan of his, a big fan of his game.”

As I wrote in my scouting report of Maye last spring, the quarterback position is becoming less classically trained musician and more classically trained jazz performer. The best play with a disciplined creativity, knowing when to wield their improvisational genius and when to resist their inner muse and simply play the notes in front of them. Quarterbacks without such tools, daring and creativity are hard-capped in the modern game, shut out from forever joining the NFL’s elites.

This week, Mayo explained Allen’s development as a function of discipline. How a younger Allen, just as daring but a little rash, always wanted to show off his rocket arm and ignored easy completions underneath at the expense of an explosive play. The Patriots didn’t even bother defending receivers running checkdowns against Buffalo, as Devin McCourty later told me, because they knew Allen wouldn’t throw them.

Well, Maye is already hard at work in this area.

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“I think I’ve been trying to work on that each and every week as I go on. I think last week was a good testament,” he said. “At some point, you need to take a shot, though, to keep the defense kind of honest. So, I just try to take what they give me.”

Like Maye’s teammates, Allen believes in the young gunslinger’s potential.

“I think their quarterback is going to be really good for a really long time,” Allen told reporters. “He’s making some unbelievable plays, extending and from the pocket. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and his game.”

So how fast will Maye catch up to Allen? Can he?

He’s not quite as tall, nor as strong. But he is plenty dangerous. Smart. Accurate. Athletic. A natural.

Maye’s rise is the story of the Patriots’ season, even if Allen is about to bury him and his teammates on Sunday; just as Tom Brady repeatedly did to Allen early in his career.

Will Maye emerge from the rubble as quickly Allen did, with teammates and coaches pulling him out?

The fate of the franchise depends on it.