The New England Patriots are back at 3-2, and the way they got there has changed the feel around the team in a hurry.
Two straight wins - over the Buffalo Bills, who were picked by almost everybody as the AFC favorites, and the Las Vegas Raiders, who entered Week 4 at 3-1 - have pushed New England right back into the conversation. Drake Maye looks like Drake Maye again.
The receivers around him appear to be settling in. A.J.
Brown could return next week. And with the AFC not looking nearly as imposing as it did early in the season, the Patriots suddenly have a path that looks a lot friendlier from here.
That doesn’t mean everything is clean in New England. Christian Gonzalez, Will Campbell, TreVeyon Henderson, Carlton Davis III, Mack Hollins, and Mike Onwenu are all dealing with injuries. But there’s still plenty for fans to latch onto, especially with the team trying to bounce back from its loss in Super Bowl LX.
Not long ago, this group looked ready to be written off. Maye struggled.
Brown went down in the first game. Romeo Doubs had a rough debut and has been inconsistent since.
The run game wasn’t doing much of anything. For a while, the skepticism around New England made sense.
Now the tone has flipped. The Patriots are building momentum, and the numbers in the AFC help explain why. They’re just 0.5 games behind the Bills in the AFC East, and only Buffalo, the Baltimore Ravens at 4-1, the Jacksonville Jaguars at 4-1, and the Kansas City Chiefs at 4-0 have better records in the conference.
The schedule also looks less intimidating than it did a few weeks ago. If the Patriots keep playing at this level, there isn’t a game left that screams automatic loss. The toughest ones might be @ the Detroit Lions in Germany in Week 10 or @ Kansas City in Week 15 on Monday night.
The bigger point is simple: New England is heating up at the right time. The offense is looking sharper, the playcalling has become more creative and less predictable, and players are starting to settle into their roles. They’re the reigning AFC champions, and while no one needs to start talking about Super Bowl LXI quite yet, the Patriots are looking like a team the rest of the league has to respect again.
In Other News...
Josh McDaniels May Be Unlocking What Patriots Fans Wanted From Drake Maye
Drake Mayes best stretch as a pro arrived at just the right time for the Patriots, and it gave New England something it has been searching for since drafting him: a passing game that finally looks dangerous. In the Week 5 rout of the Raiders, Maye threw four touchdown passes in a 45-17 win, and the offense looked far more comfortable than it did earlier in the season.
The surge did not come out of nowhere. ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky pointed to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels for the adjustments helping Maye settle in, crediting the way the system has been reshaped around the quarterbacks strengths. For a Patriots team that has spent much of the start of the year trying to find its identity, the bigger question now is whether this version of the offense can hold up as defenses adjust back. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots May Have Found A New Weapon In Eli Raridon
Eli Raridon is starting to look like more than a rookie tight end trying to find his footing. In the Patriots win over the Raiders, he turned in the busiest receiving day of his young career, showing the kind of versatility New England hoped for when it brought him along as both a blocker and a pass-catching option. Even before that, Raridon had already flashed enough to matter, scoring a touchdown in his NFL debut and giving the offense a different look at a position that often has to do a little of everything.
Mike Vrabel has made it clear he sees the talent, and Raridons early progress has only added to the intrigue. He missed some time with a thigh injury, but he has still been on the field for a notable share of the offense and keeps finding ways to stay involved. For a Patriots team still sorting out where the next useful pieces come from, the question now is less whether Raridon can help and more how quickly that role can keep growing. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Made A Statement But Two Problems Still Stand Out
The Patriots 45-17 win over the Raiders offered plenty to like, starting with a confident showing from Drake Maye and an offense that kept rolling despite injuries to key players. New England looked far more in control than it has in stretches this season, and the result felt like the kind of statement win a team can build on as the schedule tightens.
Still, the film left a couple of familiar concerns in view. The defense had trouble handling Brock Bowers in space, and the penalty count kept undercutting some of the momentum the Patriots generated. It was a convincing victory, but the kind that also reminds a coaching staff there is still cleanup work ahead before this group can call itself fully complete. [Read more 🡒]