The Patriots will have some real spotlight moments around Gillette Stadium this week. New England is set to celebrate its 2001 Super Bowl team and Hall of Fame kicker Adam Vinatieri, and on top of that, the Patriots get a 3-1 Raiders team that is a lot more dangerous than many expected entering the season.
Las Vegas has opened 3-0 and stayed right there with the Kansas City Chiefs last week, so this is not a soft landing. Kirk Cousins, Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers have formed a dangerous offensive trio, and Mike Vrabel made it clear Wednesday that Bowers demands serious attention.
"They turn what would be a 5-yard gain into 15-yard gains because of his ability to see that quickly," Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday. "So, it’s a great challenge, it’s a new opponent, and somebody that we have to really invest a lot of time in."
New England is coming off a much-needed bounce-back in Buffalo, but the bigger question is whether that performance can actually turn into something sustainable. Drake Maye and the Patriots need to stack good games, not just flash one.
The offense has injuries to work around, Mack Hollins is out after a calf injury, and the run game still hasn’t been as steady as hoped. Still, if Maye avoids the pressure led by Maxx Crosby, New England has a chance to look a lot more like the version people expected.
The receiver room is also stretched thin. A.J.
Brown is out for at least one more game, and Hollins missed all three practices, leaving Doubs, DeMario Douglas, Efton Chism III and Kyle Williams as the main options, with Kyle Dixon, Chandler Brayboy and Cameron Dorner on the practice squad. Doubs, who caught two touchdowns last week, now has a clear opening to step into a bigger role and give the Patriots the WR1 presence they’ve been missing early in his first season in New England.
The defense, though, is where the injury list really gets wild. Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis III are both out, and depth rookies Channing Canada and Karon Prunty are also unavailable.
Backup Charles Woods is questionable, which leaves Marcus Jones as the only certain cornerback on New England’s 53-man roster expected to play Sunday. The Patriots also added practice squad corners Kindle Vildor and Al’Zillion Hamilton on Tuesday, and with Brock Bowers heading to town, the secondary is staring at a major test.
That’s why Vildor is the pick as the X-factor. Somebody has to help slow Bowers, and with Jones giving up eight inches to the Raiders’ tight end and Hamilton only recently joining the team, Vildor is the one expected to carry a significant load against the pass.
Even with all those defensive issues, the Patriots’ offense looked alive again against Buffalo, scoring 29 points and helping Maye earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. If that version of the offense shows up again, New England should be able to trade punches with Las Vegas. The prediction here is that the Patriots pull it out by three, with Andy Borregales delivering the game-winner.
In Other News...
Patriots Fans Are Starting To See Efton Chism Very Differently
Efton Chism has gone from an afterthought to a name Patriots fans are starting to track a lot more closely. The second-year slot receiver has shown enough in recent weeks to get noticed, including a memorable catch in Week 4, and his timing makes the interest feel even more relevant with injuries thinning out the receiver room. Around New England, that has naturally brought more attention to what kind of role he might be able to carve out in the offense.
Patriots insider Tom E. Curran has been part of that conversation, weighing Chisms style and how it might fit if the team needs another dependable option inside. Chism has already invited the easy comparisons, too, with some seeing shades of Julian Edelman and noting his friendly relationship with the former Patriots star. The bigger question now is whether what Chism has flashed can keep translating once the workload and the expectations both start to rise. [Read more 🡒]
Former Patriots Super Bowl Champions Death Left A Family Facing Heartbreak
Jordan Deveys death this summer has left a painful void around a family that had already built a life well beyond his NFL days. The former offensive lineman, who spent eight seasons in the league with teams including the Patriots, Chiefs and 49ers, won a Super Bowl in New England before moving into coaching high school football in Idaho. His wife, Linsey, chose their 15th wedding anniversary to publicly share the news, underscoring just how abruptly the familys world changed.
What she described next made the loss even harder to absorb, especially for their children and their 11-year-old son Cash. Linsey said the emotional toll has been overwhelming as the family tries to navigate grief in the open, with the story of Jordan Deveys death now carrying a deeply personal dimension that reaches far beyond football and into the private pain left behind. [Read more 🡒]
Drake Maye Faces A Bigger Test As Patriots Hope Momentum Is Real
Drake Maye has already gone through the kind of early-season adjustment every young quarterback eventually faces, with opponents building a better scouting file and forcing him to work through it. After a challenging start, he showed clear progress against the Bills, and now the Patriots are trying to figure out whether that performance was the beginning of something real or just one sharp afternoon in an uneven stretch.
The next chance to answer that comes against a Raiders defense preparing with full respect for what Maye can do. If he keeps building on the signs he showed last week, New England could start turning recent momentum into a genuine winning streak, which is exactly the sort of development this team has been waiting to see from its quarterback. [Read more 🡒]