Julian Edelman didn’t hold back after the Patriots’ 29-26 win over the Bills on Sunday, taking to X to question the officiating in a game that had more than a few heated moments.
“Officiating today has been suspect,” Edelman, the former New England standout who now works as a studio analyst for Fox NFL Kickoff, wrote.
He didn’t point to one specific call, but there was no shortage of plays that drew attention. A potential illegal hands-to-the-face penalty would have gone against Buffalo and helped New England, while a possible intentional grounding call on Josh Allen never materialized.
The biggest flashpoint came when Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after he told an official that a defensive holding call on cornerback Marcus Jones was a “terrible call.”
That flag mattered. The holding penalty had already given Buffalo a fresh set of downs at the 11-yard line, and Vrabel’s penalty moved the ball even closer. Three plays later, Allen finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 14-14.
The game was still choppy from there. Drake Maye was intercepted in the final seconds of the first half, and Buffalo turned that into a 27-yard Tyler Bass field goal to go into halftime up 17-14. Maye was 8 of 15 for 111 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the opening half.
The officiating crew also came into the day under a microscope. Bill Vinovich was the lead official, and his crew had already drawn criticism last week after a controversial Sunday night matchup between the Rams and Broncos, when a defensive pass interference call on Los Angeles during Denver’s final drive helped decide the game. NBC’s rules analyst couldn’t defend the flag.
Per NFLPenalties.com, Vinovich’s crew has worked two games this season and is near the bottom of the league in penalties called. Through three games, the Patriots had been flagged 22 times for 149 yards.
In Other News...
Patriots May Have Found A Needed Offensive Bright Spot Up Front
The Patriots 1-2 start has been defined by an offense that has struggled to generate much of anything, which makes any steady development up front worth noticing. One of the few encouraging signs came in Week 3 against Jacksonville, where Jared Wilson handled his work well and gave New England a cleaner look along the interior than it has often had through the first month.
Wilson has been working mainly at center this season, and the progress he has shown from earlier games is part of why his latest outing stood out. He did not allow a pressure or commit a penalty, and that was enough to land him on PFFs Team of the Week, a small but meaningful bright spot for a line trying to help stabilize an offense that badly needs it. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Let Another AFC East Game Slip Away For One Reason
The Patriots walked out of Buffalo with a 29-26 win in a game that had plenty of the usual AFC East friction, plus a few swings that kept it from feeling settled until the final stretch. New England got touchdowns from Romeo Doubs and Efton Chism III, while Buffalo answered with a Josh Allen strike to Keon Coleman, and the game had the kind of back-and-forth edge that has made these matchups so hard to separate in recent years.
What stood out, though, was how often the Bills were able to lean on James Cook on the ground and still never fully take control of the game. Buffalo also had chances fueled by multiple Drake Maye turnovers, but the Patriots kept finding enough offense and enough answers to leave the division rival still searching for what slipped away in another one-possession AFC East result. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Bills Matchup Just Got More Complicated In The Secondary
The early weeks of the 2026 season have already tested New Englands depth, with A.J. Brown, Mike Onwenu, Christian Barmore and Christian Gonzalez all dealing with injuries. Now the Patriots are preparing for a divisional trip to Buffalo with another familiar layer of uncertainty in the secondary, even as the Bills are navigating some issues of their own on the back end.
Buffalo cornerback Christian Benford is unlikely to play, which adds another wrinkle to a matchup that already looked like it could turn on coverage and communication. For the Patriots, a game that might have been about establishing control in the AFC East now comes with more moving parts in the defensive backfields on both sides, and that could make Sunday feel a lot less predictable than it did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]