The New England Patriots are climbing fast, and their latest jump in NFL.com’s power rankings says plenty about where this team stands after five weeks.
After a 45-17 rout of the Las Vegas Raiders pushed New England to 3-2, the Patriots surged eight spots to No. 10. That move comes on the heels of back-to-back wins over quality opponents, including a hard-earned victory in Buffalo against Josh Allen and the Bills.
Drake Maye is right in the middle of it all, and Mike Vrabel’s team suddenly looks like it has momentum again. The Patriots have won two straight against good competition, and they did it while dealing with an injury list that keeps growing.
The team already has about seven or more starters on IR, and four other starters or starting-level players are doubtful or questionable for Week 6 against the Jets. Among them are left tackle Will Campbell and running back TreVeyon Henderson.
That injury pileup has forced New England to lean hard on depth, and the next wave of players has answered the call. Cornerbacks Kindle Vildor and Charles Woods, linebacker Darius Muasau, and running back Corey Kiner have all been pressed into action and have performed well.
NFL.com made clear just how impressed it was with the Patriots’ performance against Las Vegas. The site singled out Maye along with two second-year receivers who have been underused but are now making noise: Kyle Williams and Efton Chism III.
Williams burned the Raiders for a 34-yard touchdown and another 49-yard catch-and-catch-and-catch touchdown pass. Chism, meanwhile, caught the winning one-handed touchdown pass against Buffalo and added five catches for 57 yards against Las Vegas.
“It took one wild win over the Bills to return the Patriots to excellence. They detonated the Raiders on Sunday, with fantastic offensive performances by Drake Maye, Efton Chism III, Kyle Williams, DeMario Douglas -- heck, just throw in every skill-position player. They all feasted in a game that saw New England finish with 536 yards of offense, pairing perfectly with a defense that put the clamps on Las Vegas early.”
Vrabel’s attitude seems to fit the moment. Even after a blowout like Sunday’s, the Patriots coach has kept the same hard-edged approach, treating each week like another job to handle. That mindset matters with a roster this banged up and a home game against a better-than-usual 2-3 Jets team waiting in Week 6.
For now, though, New England has the look of a team that can keep rolling despite the missing pieces. With Maye steering the offense and Vrabel pushing the tone, the Patriots have shown they can handle good teams without a full deck.
In Other News...
Elijah Ponder Is Changing The Patriots Pass Rush Conversation
When the Patriots rebuilt their edge-rush picture this offseason, the attention mostly went to the bigger moves, including the addition of DreMont Jones and the expectation that rookies Gabe Jacas and Elijah Ponder would have to grow up quickly at outside linebacker. With Harold Landry sidelined, the early concern was obvious enough: whether New England had enough depth to keep the pass rush from sputtering. Ponder has helped answer that in a hurry, turning what looked like a vulnerable spot into one of the more encouraging parts of the defense.
The most recent sign came against the Raiders, where Ponders disruption stood out enough to draw league-wide notice from Pro Football Focus. He has been showing up with sacks, tackles for loss and a forced fumble, all while making the Patriots look a lot more comfortable about their edge rotation than they did in the spring. For a team still sorting out its post-rebuild identity, that kind of emergence matters, even if the larger question around how far this pass rush can go is still hanging out there. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots May Have Already Won Big With This Criticized Signing
When the Patriots brought in Alijah Vera-Tucker in free agency after spending their first-round pick on Caleb Lomu, the move came with a fair amount of skepticism. Vera-Tuckers injury history made him an easy target for second-guessing, but through the early stretch of his Patriots tenure, he has looked like one of the most reliable pieces on the offensive line and has helped steady a group that needed it.
The workload is about to get a little heavier, too, with Will Campbell sidelined by a knee injury. Vera-Tucker will be asked to handle more responsibility in the days ahead, and his next assignment will be a tough one, with a matchup looming against Jets rookie edge rusher David Bailey. For a signing that was criticized at the start, the Patriots may already be seeing why it made so much sense. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Face A Familiar Cornerback Question They Can't Ignore
The Patriots were already thin at cornerback when injuries stacked up against the Raiders, leaving the group scrambling with multiple starters and backups unavailable. New England responded by elevating safety Elliott Davison for depth and bringing rookie Al'zillion Hamilton onto the practice squad, but he was not yet active, which only underlined how quickly the room can get stretched when the injuries start piling up.
One familiar name has also re-entered the conversation after a recent roster move in Dallas, and it is the kind of transaction the Patriots tend to monitor closely when a position gets this shaky. With the secondary banged up and the depth chart under pressure, New England has a choice to make about whether to look outside the building for another answer or trust the patchwork approach a little longer. [Read more 🡒]