FOXBORO — Drake Maye and the Patriots are in the midst of a storybook season they hope doesn’t reach its conclusion Sunday night against the Chargers.

Any first-round playoff exit is at least somewhat disappointing, especially for a team like the Patriots, which earned the No. 2 seed in the AFC with a 14-3 record, but the team has already far exceeded any reasonable expectations set upon them this season.

Related Articles

Callahan: If Mike Vrabel’s Patriots are right about who they are, they will beat the Chargers

Patriots-Chargers injury report: Four players return in limited capacity

Why Mike Vrabel previously called Gillette Stadium a ‘viper’s den’

Patriots’ Stefon Diggs says he didn’t change as teammate overnight

Patriots get some good news at Wednesday practice before facing Chargers in NFL playoffs

One of the Patriots’ goals back in the spring was to host home playoff games. That seemed lofty, coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons, but fast forward nine months, and they’re already there. Head coach Mike Vrabel doesn’t want his team to be content with what they’ve accomplished.

“I’m happy, I’m excited, but also, we’re not here just to get here,” Vrabel said Wednesday. “We have to be able to host games and compete for championships. So, there’s not going to be any consolation prize for anybody. We understand what we have to do.”

Maye is having an MVP-caliber season as the Patriots’ starting quarterback, taking a considerable second-year leap after a promising rookie campaign.

The 23-year-old signal caller was asked about his emotions ahead of Sunday night’s wild-card round matchup.

“There’s obviously a little bit of mixed emotions,” Maye said. “I think the biggest thing is excited. Excited to get the opportunity to play home playoff games. That’s what you star at the beginning of the season of things we want to do here, and goals we want to accomplish, and we got our chance and opportunity right here.

“So, take advantage of playing in front of a crowd that’s been great all year, a crowd that we expect to be loud, and a night game against an opponent that has had some playoff experience and has a great offense and a great defense. So we got our hands full, but looking forward to play in front of this crowd.”

The Patriots have been dogged for their “easy” schedule on their path to the playoffs. At .391, they have the NFL’s lowest strength of schedule so far this season. At .370, they also have the lowest strength of victory out of any team in the postseason.

That’s also been a strike against Maye’s MVP candidacy from some. Now, the Patriots face a significant test against an 11-6 Chargers team whose defense has played among the best in the NFL over the second half of the season.

So, does Maye, playing in his first postseason game, feel like he has something to prove on Sunday night?

“No, I wouldn’t say that. I think just prove to my teammates, try to be the same player in the regular season as hopefully I am in the postseason,” Maye said. “And that starts with me playing well, and knowing that every week my job is, it’s huge. It’s big. I got to play well for us to win. And I know that’s the nature of this league and the nature of this position. I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

Maye has the full support of his teammates. Both wide receiver Stefon Diggs and left tackle Will Campbell both said Wednesday that Maye is their MVP.

Diggs did say he wished Maye was a little bit “meaner” as a leader, however.

“He has great delivery, because he’ll be like ‘what you see right here?’” Diggs said. “And it’s more like an open line of communication with the guys, not even just me. I seen how he interacts with other guys, and getting on the same page is big for him. I think at the quarterback position, how you deliver stuff is always important, and he does a great job at that.

“I wish he was a little bit more meaner at times. I think that’s just being young. He’s been playing extremely well. So hopefully he comes into his own as far as, like, his mean side. But he’s a great guy, man. His communication is always there. He’s been a great quarterback. He’s our star. I feel like it’s never too demanding. It’s more so like, ‘What you saw right here?’ You know, I know what you saw. He know what I saw, but it’s like, ‘What you saw right here?’”

Maye acknowledged that he’ll probably start getting more demanding as he grows older as a player.

For now, he’s more understand, especially when it comes to younger receivers.

“Becoming harder on them comes with learning them and then respecting our relationship together,” Maye said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned is get to know them and have some success with them, have some failure with them and learn, ‘Hey, what do you like here? Hey, how’d you feel like I threw this ball to you,’ and these guys have responded to me great all year. They want the ball. Every receiver does, but they take criticism well, and they don’t take it personally, and they just want to help the team. And they’re blocking downfield. They’re doing all the little things. ”

I think as I get older, I’ll probably start getting more mad when they don’t line up correctly, but I think I try to know what kind of position they’re in it, especially if they’re young, and we got a young group for the most part, but the older guys like Stef, they like when I get fired up a little bit.”

Whatever Maye is doing right now is working. He’s getting the most out of his offensive playmakers.

And if the Patriots beat the Chargers, they’ll get to host another playoff game in the divisional round.