Thanks to Drake Maye, there's finally a reason to watch these Patriots

We here in New England are born cynics. We have standards. We're not Yahoos.

Why does a 41-21 home loss to the Houston Texans feel so good? (Oops, who gave Rochie my laptop?)

Seriously, guys. The last-place Patriots are 1-5. They are 7-23 since November 2022. They lost eight straight games at Gillette. Bob Kraft is needier than ever (CBS, please stop high-fiving players after touchdowns!) and there's little evidence that rookie head coach Jerod Mayo or revamped offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt know what they do.

Sources.

We knew the Pats would perform poorly this year, and they lived up to expectations. But finally there is a sign of life. After five games of boring attacking football (and we think Offensive!), they've finally removed rookie gimmick Maye from the Glass Menagerie and we've seen more than enough to give us hope.

“I thought Drake made some good decisions out there,” Mayo said. “He did a good job of extending plays with his legs and picking up first downs.” . I feel like we let him down. For a rookie quarterback to go out and do some good things, we could have supported him better.”

Maye was anything but great. He turned the ball over three times all by himself and controlled an offense that punted six times and gave the ball away four times. But the signs were there. He completed 20 of 33 passes for 243 yards and led the Pats to a season-high 21 points. He threw three touchdown passes.

That is three touchdown passes. That's more touchdown passes than struggling veteran Jacoby Brissett threw in the first five games of the season.

“There are some good things to take away from this,” Maye admitted. “But after a loss, my family and the people around me care more about the loss than about making plays. “The people around me care about winning.”

Nice central casting modesty.

A million years ago – 1971, to be exact – the Patriots selected Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett No. 1 overall, and Plunkett threw two touchdown passes to defeat the mighty Oakland Raiders 20-6 in the first game in history of Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. Plunkett endured terrible defeats in five seasons with the Pats, was eventually traded, and ended up winning two Super Bowls with the Raiders.

In 1993, new Patriots coach Bill Parcells gave the ball to No. 1 overall pick Drew Bledsoe, and Bledsoe completed 14 of 30 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns (one interception) in a season-opening 38-14 loss at Buffalo . Bledsoe was 21 years old. Three years later, he led the Patriots to the Super Bowl.

Just three years ago, Bill Belichick turned to first-round draft pick Mac Jones on Opening Day and Jones completed 29 of 39 passes for 281 yards in a 17-16 loss to the Dolphins in Foxborough.

“Belichick appears to have found a new quarterback,” I wrote. “Jones looks like a kid who can win in the NFL. . . played like a guy who could one day bring starting lineup glory back to New England.”

Oops.

I'm sorry, but this feels different. And part of that is rooted in the idea that we have such low expectations for this Patriot team.

New England's offense was nothing until the end of the first half. The Pats' first five drives resulted in four punts and an interception. The vaunted End Zone Militia was as bored as the ticket sellers at Fenway.

Then came Maye Magic. With less than a minute before halftime, Maye dropped back, had plenty of time and threw a perfect 40-yard spiral into the arms of Kayshon Boutte, who collected the pass inside the 5 and sailed over the goal line. The North Carolina kid's first career TD pass was easily the best play in New England's first six games. The Pats only had two completions of more than 20 yards in their first five games.

At halftime everything felt great. The Pats were on the move. They had the momentum and should get the ball early in the second half.

Unfortunately, on the second play of the second half, Maye was caught off guard by Houston defensive end Danielle Hunter and coughed up the football at his own 10. Houston recovered. Two plays later, Stephon Diggs sacked Christian Gonzalez in the end zone after intercepting a TD pass to make it 21-7.

After that there was no more play. But we saw the future. Maye moved the team with his arms and legs. He was sacked four times but ran five times for a team-high 38 yards.

The Pats bring their flop show to London next weekend to face the equally bad Jaguars. The game airs at 9:30 a.m. here in New England

Breakfast with Drake Maye.

Finally a reason to watch this team.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.