When the Patriots opened the 2026 schedule with the league’s toughest early stretch in 40 years, the first month still managed to land right on the number: 2-2. After last year’s “historically easy” slate, the bounce-back has been real, but Sunday brings a different kind of chance - one that could help steady a season that still needs a spark.
A win over the Raiders would get New England to 2-0 at home for the first time since 2020. It would also push the Patriots toward a home streak they haven’t enjoyed in years, with a shot at going undefeated at Gillette Stadium this season for the first time since 2018. That’s the bigger picture here: not just beating a team that was undefeated until last week, but starting to make Foxboro matter again.
That hasn’t been a given in the post-Belichick-Brady years. Even with the crowds picking back up since Drake Maye was drafted two years ago, the Patriots haven’t exactly turned Gillette into a fortress.
Since the 2020 season, they’ve lost 29 home games and gone 22-29 overall there. For a team trying to rebuild any kind of edge, that’s a problem.
Sunday won’t hand them anything. The Raiders bring a dangerous group around Kirk Cousins, with tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer giving the offense a real punch and Ashton Jeanty - the first running back taken in last year’s draft - adding another weapon. On the other side, Maxx Crosby is still Maxx Crosby, one of the league’s best pass rushers, and he figures to spend plenty of time hunting the Patriots’ soft spot up front.
That matchup puts a lot on right tackle Morgan Moses and backup right guard Ben Brown. If they can’t hold up, things could get ugly fast for Maye and the Patriots’ offense. And if the Raiders leave Foxboro with a win, New England’s chance to start building something at home goes out the window.
That would sting on its own. But the bigger concern is what it would do to the momentum from last week’s win over the Bills. That result gave the Patriots something to build on, and a loss here - especially at home - would drag them right back to where they were before Week 4.
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
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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 🡒]