The New England Patriots have already survived the toughest four-game stretch any NFL team has seen since 1986, and that alone changes the way the rest of their season looks. The Seahawks, Steelers, Jaguars, and Bills came into the year with a combined 2025 win percentage of .721, which is a brutal opening run by any measure. New England came through it at 2-2, and in the context of a first-place schedule, a wave of injuries, and constant roster turnover, that’s a strong early return.
Now the path ahead appears far more manageable.
With 13 games left in the 2026 regular season, ESPN’s football power index has the Patriots with the 27th-hardest remaining schedule. That number matters because the opening month already forced New England to deal with a stretch loaded with playoff-caliber opponents. Of the 10 teams still left on the schedule, five reached the playoffs last year, though the Bills are not part of that group in this count since the Patriots already beat them 29-26 in Week 4.
What comes next is a noticeable drop in difficulty. Across the rest of the schedule, including both games against the Jets and Dolphins, the average win total of New England’s opponents is .481. That is a sharp contrast from what the Patriots just came through, and it gives them a cleaner runway as they push toward a second straight playoff run.
The next four weeks are where that shift really shows up. New England will face the Raiders, Jets, Bears, and Dolphins from Weeks 5 through 8. On paper, that stretch is much friendlier than the first month, even if each opponent brings a different kind of challenge.
Las Vegas enters at 3-1 and has gotten off to a fast start under first-year head coach Klint Kubiak, who once faced Mike Vrabel’s Patriots in the Super Bowl while serving as Seattle’s offensive coordinator. The Jets are also 3-1, but their record comes with a different kind of backdrop: they’re rebuilding while trying to stay relevant in the AFC East, and rookie first-rounders EDGE David Bailey and TE Kenyon Sadiq have been among the young players flashing promise. Even so, New York has dropped three straight since opening with a win over the winless Tennessee Titans.
Chicago is the most intriguing stop in that stretch. The Bears are 3-1 and look like one of the NFC’s tougher teams despite losing starting quarterback Caleb Williams to a hamstring injury. Head coach Ben Johnson has kept them rolling, and Week 7’s Thursday night matchup in Chicago figures to draw plenty of attention as third-year quarterbacks and second-year head coaches meet under the lights.
Then comes Miami to close out the first half of the season. The Dolphins are still searching for their first win under head coach Jeff Hafley, and their offense took another hit when star running back Devon Achane suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 3.
That has left the unit leaning on free agent addition Malik Willis. Barring a major surprise, this is a game the Patriots should expect to handle.
The early-season results already showed that New England can absorb a difficult schedule and still stay afloat. After four games, the Patriots are right where they need to be, and the next month offers a real chance to build on that foundation.
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 🡒]