The New England Patriots have not started the way they wanted, and the offense still has some cracks showing. Even with Mike Onwenu out, the line has held up reasonably well overall, but “reasonably well” is a dangerous standard when Drake Maye has already taken nine sacks in the first three games.
That puts a lot of pressure on the Week 4 trip to Buffalo, where Will Campbell could be staring at his toughest assignment yet. The Bills have Greg Rousseau rolling through a breakout stretch, and he leads the league with 6.0 sacks through three games.
Maye’s history against Buffalo gives the Patriots at least a little reason to believe he can produce. He is 2-2 in those matchups, with a 64.4 percent completion rate, 689 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He has also added 85 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Still, the sack numbers jump off the page. Buffalo has taken him down 10 times in four meetings, and Rousseau’s current form only makes that problem look worse.
Campbell has made a clear jump from his uneven rookie season. Pro Football Focus, via subscription, has him down for just three total pressures allowed, along with one quarterback hit and one sack. That is a major step forward from the trouble he ran into late in 2025.
Even so, one blocker is not going to solve everything against a pass rusher who is making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks. Maye has also contributed to his own problems, trying to do too much, getting in his own head, and holding the ball too long.
That has left the Patriots quarterback stuck in a bad loop: he is pressing because he has been playing poorly, and he has been playing poorly because he is pressing. Against a disciplined, experienced Bills team, that kind of spiral is not going to fly.
Josh McDaniels has his hands full. He needs to get Maye back on track while also finding a way to slow down a defender who has been shrugging off double teams and chip blocks while stacking sacks at a ridiculous rate.
For the Patriots, a win over a division rival and fellow Super Bowl hopeful would be a much-needed lift. And if Maye can help beat the league’s sack leader, it would go a long way toward changing the story after his uneven rookie year.
In Other News...
Patriots Head To Buffalo With A Problem They Cant Afford
The Patriots are heading into a pivotal AFC East trip with an injury report that already looks longer than they would like, and Christian Gonzalez is the name that stands out most. New England listed 11 players ahead of its Week 4 matchup with the Bills, and the top cornerback missed practice with a shoulder injury after getting hurt in the previous game but finishing it.
Drake Maye is dealing with a shoulder issue of his own, though offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said it has not forced the Patriots to alter the game plan. Even so, heading to Buffalo with one of the rosters key defensive pieces banged up and the rookie quarterback less than full strength adds another layer of urgency to a game New England could use to steady its season. [Read more 🡒]
Tom Brady And Julian Edelman Just Had Fun With Mike Tomlin
Mike Tomlins latest off-field reveal has turned into an unexpected source of amusement for some familiar Patriots voices. The former Steelers coach, now an NBC broadcaster, posted a 20-minute YouTube video showing off a long-running Minecraft project, one he said he had been building for 12 years as an intricate city. The clip spread quickly on social media, and it did not take long for Julian Edelman and Tom Brady to chime in with the kind of lighthearted teasing that tends to follow anything involving Tomlin and the Patriots.
For New England fans, the jokes land because the rivalry history is baked in. Brady and Edelman have both had plenty of success against Tomlins Steelers in the postseason, including that memorable 2017 AFC Championship Game win, and the back-and-forth added another small chapter to a familiar matchup. Tomlins football rsum against those two still matters, but the reaction to his Minecraft obsession showed that even after all these years, the old Patriots-Steelers edge is alive and well. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Backlash Is Getting Ugly As Drake Maye Frustration Grows
The Patriots have spent the first few weeks of the 2026 season dealing with more noise than they probably wanted, and the 1-2 start has only made it louder. Mike Vrabels offseason controversy with former reporter Dianna Russini already stirred up plenty of attention after photos of the two led to her resignation from The Athletic, following an internal investigation that found a violation of newsroom standards.
Now the frustration is spilling over onto the field, with sports analyst Bill Simmons relaying his fathers harsh view that the offseason drama has helped drag the team down. He also expressed disappointment in Drake Mayes play, adding another layer to a start that has left the Patriots trying to quiet both the backlash and the growing unease around their young quarterback. [Read more 🡒]