The Patriots may not have been sounding alarms after a 1-2 start, but Mike Vrabel wasn’t interested in sugarcoating anything after last week’s blowout loss to the Jaguars. He said his concern level was “very high.”
One week later, New England walked out of Buffalo with a 29-26 road win over the Bills, and the mood around the team looks very different. A late touchdown from Efton Chism III delivered the game-winner and gave the Patriots a result that could matter far beyond one Sunday in October.
Vrabel said after the victory that the win “gets us back in the division race,” and that was no exaggeration. Had New England lost, it would have fallen three games behind Buffalo in the AFC East. Instead, the Patriots flipped the script and made this division race feel alive again.
There’s also a familiar feel to it. Last season, the Patriots opened 1-2 before ripping off a 13-1 run in the regular season. Asking this group to match that kind of surge feels like a stretch, especially with the schedule ahead, but the pattern is hard to miss: New England went to Buffalo as an underdog on Oct. 5 last year and came away with a three-point win that signaled a real step forward in Drake Maye’s second season.
Sunday carried a similar message. The Patriots didn’t need to convince the rest of the league they belonged, but they may have needed to prove it to themselves.
Maye went toe-to-toe with Allen, as Vrabel put it, and New England did it without two critical pieces in A.J. Brown and Christian Gonzalez.
That’s what made the win feel bigger than the scoreboard. Last year’s victory over the Bills sparked a run that didn’t end until a Dec. 14 meeting with Buffalo, ironically enough. This season may not line up for anything quite that dramatic, but there’s a clear opening for New England to build something.
The next stretch will tell the story. The Patriots host the Raiders on Oct. 11, then get the Jets on Oct. 18 before heading to Chicago to face the Bears on Oct.
- After that comes a trip to Miami on Nov. 1, a home game against the Packers on Nov. 8, and then the Lions in London on Nov.
The Raiders are still hard to read after their 3-0 start, but the Jets and Dolphins look like opponents New England can handle. The tougher tests may come from the NFC North, where the Bears are a tricky road assignment, the Lions bring a dangerous offense to London, and the Packers have looked more vulnerable than expected so far.
For now, though, the Patriots have the kind of win that can change a season’s temperature fast.
In Other News...
Patriots Have A Gabe Jacas Opportunity They Can't Ignore
The Patriots pass rush has been thin enough to make every possible reinforcement worth a look, especially with losses and injuries already testing the depth chart. In that kind of spot, the idea of adding a veteran edge rusher like Khalil Mack from the Chargers carries obvious appeal for New England, not just for what he could still bring on the field, but for the kind of experience he could pass along in the room.
Gabe Jacas is part of why this conversation matters in the first place. The Patriots appear to have a young player whose game shares some traits with Macks, and pairing him with a proven pro could accelerate that development in a hurry. Whether New England decides the price is worth it remains the real question, but the fit is easy to see, and the need is hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots May Be Eyeing A Veteran Fix For Their Run Game
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Williams brings eight NFL seasons of experience and a resume that includes a strong 2022 campaign with the Detroit Lions, which makes him the kind of established option teams often check on when they want insurance at running back. The Patriots have not signed him yet, but they have kept roster spots open for exactly this kind of addition, leaving the door open as they weigh whether a veteran presence fits their plans. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Are Getting Early Proof They Made The Right WR Call
The Patriots spent the offseason reshaping their wide receiver room, bringing in A.J. Brown in a trade and signing Romeo Doubs while moving on from Stefon Diggs and dealing Kayshon Boutte. It was the kind of aggressive reset that can look smart on paper and awkward on the field early, especially after Brown landed on injured reserve and Doubs had a rough start before finding his footing over the last few games.
Romeo Doubs recent improvement has given New England at least a little early validation for how it handled the position, even if the full picture is still developing. Across the league, former Patriots target Michael Pittman Jr. has not exactly stormed out of the gate after being traded to the Steelers, with his production lagging behind the expectations that came with his extension, and that contrast only sharpens how much these receiver decisions matter for a team trying to get the room right. [Read more 🡒]