For 20 years, the New York Jets were haunted by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

After Brady’s departure, the Jets had been able to even the score a bit against their AFC East rivals.

That was until Thursday night.

As Drake Maye walked off the field victorious in New England’s 27-14 win over the Jets, he left the stadium to rousing chants of “MVP” from the hometown fans. In a single season, the former third overall pick has not only become one of the best quarterbacks in the game, but he has brought New England back into championship contention.

It’s all too familiar a sight for Jets fans.

READ MORE: In Jets’ loss to Pats, we learned what we already knew

Maye’s performance on Thursday was a reminder of the Jets’ biggest struggle as a franchise, and how much of a problem he’ll be for the team moving forward.

Maye shines over Jets

The numbers speak for themselves. Maye was sensational in Thursday’s win for the Patriots, completing 25 of 34 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown. Maye led the Patriots to a touchdown or field goal attempt on six of their nine possessions before they iced the game.

What made Maye’s performance so impressive was the lack of answers the Jets had for him, which their team leaders admitted after the game.

“He is a nice quarterback,” Jets linebacker Quincy Williams said. “That offense is built around him. The biggest thing is being consistent. The whole team, with the run and the pass, and forcing you to play consistently. That one time that you’re out of position, that is going to be their big play, or the one time you’re not in your gap, that’s going to be their big run.”

New England’s second-year signal-caller is playing at an impressive level. Through 10 games, he’s among the league’s top quarterbacks in most statistical categories. He is also the MVP favorite as the weather begins to get colder.

The better Maye looks every week, the more an unfortunate reality will hit the Jets.

They will have to deal with this quarterback for another decade.

New York’s big mistake

For 20 years, a massive gap existed between the Patriots and the Jets. That was due in large part to a coaching discrepancy and Brady being better than anyone Gang Green could throw out at the quarterback position.

After a five-year reprieve, the Patriots are back to having the better quarterback in the matchup again.

The Jets have only themselves to blame.

In the final game of the 2023 regular season, New York walked into snowy Foxborough and knocked off the Patriots by a 17-3 final. Jets fans celebrated that game as an end to New England’s dominance in the division — it was the final game for head coach Bill Belichick, after all.

But the win came at a cost. By defeating the Patriots, the Jets allowed Maye to fall right into New England’s lap in the following draft.

READ MORE: Jets accomplished a critical big-picture goal despite TNF loss

There will be fans who argue that Maye to New England was always a foregone conclusion. After all, even a Patriots win in the season finale would have given them the fourth overall pick in the 2024 draft. Anything could have happened with the third overall pick had New England not owned it, though. The Arizona Cardinals — the expected team that would have held that spot — could have traded out of the pick to QB-needy teams like the New York Giants or Minnesota Vikings.

The Jets’ win, though, pushed Maye right to New England without any issue.

His performance on the field Thursday enhanced how much of a mistake that was for the Jets, and highlighted the one major difference between the two organizations.

AFC East gap

The gap between the Jets and the top two teams in the AFC East is massive. However, that gap doesn’t exist solely because of coaches or players.

It has everything to do with their mindset.

The Jets have been chasing a culture change for over 15 years. They continue to push the idea that a leader must be able to run a “no-nonsense” type of locker room, similar to how Bill Parcells ran the team.

But in the modern NFL, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The modern NFL is all about scheme and talent. It’s better for teams to bottom out, secure a franchise quarterback, and develop the young signal-caller through smart schematics, as opposed to trying to talk themselves into believing meaningless wins can change a culture.

New England understood that. They were a very bad team in 2023 and 2024. They secured their franchise quarterback and left tackle with the top-four picks yielded by those disastrous seasons.

They also paired their players with quality schematics in their coaching staff, headlined by veteran offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

The Jets, meanwhile, are busy trying to build a culture in the hardest way possible.

There are numerous factors that distinguish the Jets and the Patriots. But New York’s vision for what it takes to build a winning culture is arguably the biggest.

That will only become more obvious the better Maye looks.

There is hope that things are trending in the right direction, though.

With their trade deadline moves, the Jets finally shifted their focus from “building a culture” to pursuing a franchise quarterback. By shipping off Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, they traded their ability to secure culture-building wins in the short term for a better shot at landing their own Drake Maye in the near future.

Jets fans can only hope they nail the pick this time.

Reporting live from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts