The New England Patriots enter their AFC East matchup with the Buffalo Bills carrying plenty of baggage from a rough start to the 2026 season. With only one win and two especially ugly losses on the books, this afternoon’s 1 p.m. showdown could either help steady the ship or make things look even worse.
A lot of the attention starts with Drake Maye. Through three games, the quarterback has not come close to looking like one of the league’s best.
He has thrown a league-high six interceptions, has only one touchdown pass, and his 585 passing yards rank 25th. After last Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Maye was blunt about where things stand.
"I think it's disappointing," Maye said last Sunday when asked about his performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars. "You know, I think the ball starts rolling like that, we can't get out of our own way, can't get out of my own way personally. So I gotta look myself in the mirror and take this as a turning point."
New England’s defense also has to deal with absences that make the Bills game even trickier. Keion White had a notable role in last year’s first meeting with Buffalo, when he helped the Patriots to a 23-20 win.
In that game, the 27-year-old finished with a half sack and four tackles. This time around, the Patriots need more from him because Christian Barmore is out with a shoulder injury, and White has yet to record a sack this season.
The secondary is in a similar spot. With Christian Gonzalez sidelined by a shoulder injury, Charles Woods is likely headed for a bigger workload.
He already filled a comparable role two weeks ago against the Pittsburgh Steelers when Carlton Davis III was unavailable, and he responded with eight tackles and a pass deflection. On Friday, Mike Vrabel made it clear that the Patriots will be mixing and matching.
"I mean, I think Charles will get some snaps in there," head coach Mike Vrabel said Friday. "I think we'll mix around some guys.
Marcus (Jones) will play outside, inside a little bit. I think Karon's (Prunty) done a really nice job on special teams and so if he's asked to play on defense, he'll be ready to go.
Up front, Ben Brown is in line to be another player asked to do more than expected. He began the year as New England’s fourth-string right guard, but injuries to starter Mike Onwenu and backup Greg Van Roten, along with poor play from Walter Rouse, have pushed Brown into a starting role. Vrabel said Friday that Brown is the likely option.
"I would probably anticipate Ben Brown starting out there," Vrabel said Friday. "I think Walter (Rouse) will have to be ready to go. I think that we will see where we are with Matt Pryor coming over from Arizona, whether we feel like he could potentially help us at the game or be available for the game."
And then there’s Andy Borregales, who may have a chance to flip the script again against Buffalo. Last season’s first meeting with the Bills became a turning point for the rookie, who had already missed a field goal and two extra points earlier in the year.
In Buffalo, he knocked through all three of his field goals and both PATs, including a 52-yarder that won the game. He’s been shaky again lately, missing a kick in each of the last two weeks, including a rough 38-yard attempt.
The question now is whether the Bills can once again bring out his best.
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 🡒]