As they sat together for a one-on-one interview in the Optum Field Lounge at Gillette Stadium, ESPN’s Jeff Darlington asked Patriots quarterback Drake Maye a defining question.

“Would you say you guys are the architects of a new era or do you feel like you’re carrying on the greatness of the old one?” he asked before Sunday’s game between New England and Tampa Bay.

It’s a tricky question, especially for a quarterback who wants to carve his own path, while knowing how reverently fans hold onto the Tom Brady Era.

“I feel like it’s a new era, but some of the same principles and same people,” Maye said, referencing coach Mike Vrabel, who was a player during the beginning of Brady’s successful run, and Josh McDaniels, Brady’s offensive coordinator at the end of it.

Maye said he’s emb

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