Drake Maye on playing his hometown Panthers for the first time: 'It's different playing up here'

"But yeah, just that season. I think they were 15-1. I was at that NFC Championship game at home, big time win. Just being a fan of Cam [Newton] was probably the biggest memory, him coming out here, doing the airplane and hitting 'The Cam.'"

"So, just little things like that, and getting to know him later on and playing him. He coached the 7-on-7 team and playing against him and seeing stuff like that. So, just getting to know some of the players around has been pretty cool."

"It's different playing up here. Going back to Charlotte would have been different, but going against the team that I grew up watching, grew up cheering for. A lot of great memories in that stadium back at Bank of America."

"So yeah, it's a little different, but at the same time, it's still just another week. Another week in the NFL, and none of the same players that I grew up rooting for besides the long snapper are still there."

Drake Maye grew up north of Charlotte in Huntersville, North Carolina, and attended Super Bowl 50 when the Panthers lost to Peyton Manning. Maye remembers the Panthers’ 15-1 season, the NFC Championship win at home, and memorable Cam Newton moments such as the airplane celebration and "The Cam." Maye later encountered Newton while training and competing in 7-on-7 settings. The Patriots host the Panthers in Foxborough, which Maye describes as different from a homecoming in Charlotte. New England enters the game 1-2 after a turnover-filled loss in which Maye had a fumble and an interception.

Read at Boston.com