Ben Affleck shares his thoughts on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye

Ben Affleck has a lot of love for the New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

“It’s, like, a miracle. How do you get another really good quarterback?” Affleck, 53, wondered on the Thursday, January 15, episode of the “Casuals With Katie Nolan” Podcast.. “That’s one of those things where you think, that’s just good luck. I thought I’d be dead before New England had another great football team.”

Both Affleck and Matt Damon appeared on the podcast to promote his new Netflix movie The Ripbut it took a while to talk about football. For those of you living under a rock, both Affleck and Damon, 55, are avid Boston sports fans.

“Everybody saw it as a rebuilding year, and also the first year on the field for this new coach that everybody’s excited about,” Damon said, referring to the Patriots’ head coach. Mike Vrabel. “What they’ve done is unbelievable, unbelievable. Also, the way they’re prepared for the future. Drake Maye is 23 years old.”

Affleck added, “Every time I see the guy I’m like, ‘This kid is in high school.’ People say, ‘No, Dad, you’re just old.'”

Damon also credited Patriots coach Vrabel for doing an “amazing job” with the team.

“We have this amazing coach,” he said. “(Tennessee), they fired him. I love it when that happens.”

Damon continued: “(Patriots owner) Robert Kraft and this whole organization, since he bought it, has been something entirely different. He is completely different from the team, unrecognizable.”

Affleck said that when he was younger, there were “blackouts” on TV instead of Patriots games because they “couldn’t sell out the stadium.”

Damon joked that it was “a small mercy” in his childhood.

Affleck joked with podcast host Nolan, saying he “misled” the team’s future by comparing the current era of Maye and Vrabel to that of Tom Brady i Bill Belichick in the past

Both Damon and Affleck also weighed in on the Patriots’ chances in the next round of the NFL playoffs. (It’s important to note that the podcast was recorded before it was revealed that the patriots would face the Houston Texans on Sunday, January 18.)

“The Texans have a great defense, the Steelers Aaron Rodgers” Damon said. “There’s no easy game for anybody the rest of the way. I think the best thing about this season is that there are probably 10 teams with one of them win the Super Bowlyou’d say, like, “Yeah, I’m not surprised.” And that’s great.”

He continued, “There’s not that kind of dynastic control over what there’s been in the past, usually for New England. It was great for us, not so great for everybody else. It’s made it really exciting.”

Damon said that no matter what happens, the team is getting “playoff experience,” which is “invaluable” going forward.

“The further they go, the better built they will be for the kind of career that looks like they should continue, barring injury, they should continue for a number of years,” he concluded.