The New England Patriots celebrated a massive victory in Buffalo on Sunday, beating their division rivals 29-26 and improving their record to 2-2 on the year. It’s still early and a lot will happen, but this one win may have just saved their season.
Let’s move on to the lessons we learned from the game.
It’s a mentally tough team
The Patriots heard everything that was going on this week, they couldn’t have missed it. People say it’s over. They said Drake Maye was broken. They claimed there was a disagreement between him and Mike Vrabel. They said the team hated Vrabel. They ranked the Patriots 31st in the league.
None of that mattered. When the Patriots’ backs were against the wall, they responded with a huge win in Buffalo – becoming the first road victory to celebrate a victory at the new Highmark Stadium.
From the 97-yard drive to start the game to the fourth-quarter drive to win it, the Patriots battled back and won despite four of their best players – CB Christian Gonzalez, DT Christian Barmore, WR AJ Brown, RG Mike Onwenu – being injured.
In doing so, they could have pulled their season back from the brink of collapse. A 2-2 record looks a lot better than 1-3, and with a win against the Bills, and only having one game behind them now, they have a chance to compete for the division again. There is still a long way to go, as mentioned above, but this win last year served as a springboard for the team. Maybe it’s the same this season.
Drake Maye responds to criticism
Of all the people who were criticized this week, no one was criticized more than Drake Maye. So the fact that he played the way he did on Sunday was impressive.
It wasn’t perfect and I didn’t like the fumble just outside the red zone, but he played his best game of the season and did everything for the team, running for 54 yards along with 269 passes and three touchdowns. If Maye continues to play like he did in Buffalo on Sunday, the critics won’t have much to say.
In fact, if he plays this way every week, he’ll be back in the MVP conversation very quickly.
When Mack Hollins went down with an injury in the third quarter, the Patriots were left with a hole on their wide receiver depth chart. Efton Chism stepped in to fill that hole, and he made two monstrous catches on the final drive, the second being a one-handed touchdown on third down that won the Patriots the game.
The severity of Hollins’ injury remains to be seen, and we’ll see how effective Chism can be if asked to assume his role full-time. At least on Sunday, though, the second-year forward stepped up when the Patriots desperately needed it. It was exciting to see, and potentially a sign of good things to come from him.
Speaking of guys who are injured, the depth at receiver is being tested with Hollins now also affected. Add in the fact that AJ Brown is also not eligible to return until Week 6 against the Jets, and the team might have to rely on Efton Chism and Kyle Williams — or rookie tight end Eli Raridon — at a higher rate than normal.
Young edges continue to impress
The Patriots are currently struggling along the defensive line, but they have gotten solid play from their two young edge defenders, Elijah Ponder and Gabe Jacas. Both have shown real flash and power, and they constantly seem to be around the ball making plays.
Jacas helped force what could have been a safety, while Ponder recovered a sack and a fumble. They’re not blue-chip players right now, but they both seem like capable starters, and that’s huge considering Ponder was a UDFA last season and Jacas looked horrible in camp and preseason. The Patriots needed them to play well with Harold Landry and will continue to rely on them until the team captain can return from the PUP list.
Roméo Doubs has a good day, but leaves something to be desired
Since we’re on the subject of receivers, let’s talk about the guy who has been New England’s default WR1 since AJ Brown went down, Romeo Doubs. On the one hand, he had two touchdowns and two fourth-down conversions on Sunday; on the other, he dropped a pass that ended up being an interception that gave the Bills three points before the end of the half. The throw wasn’t perfect from Drake Maye, but you’d still like to see a $68 million catcher knock it down.
Doubs must continue to improve if the Patriots want to continue winning games with AJ Brown on IR and Mack Hollins’ prospects unclear, but he took a step in the right direction on Sunday. In total, he finished with six receptions for 58 yards and these two TDs.
Defensive masterclass on Josh Allen
Josh Allen is one of, if not the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He had a good day throwing the ball on Sunday, but the Patriots were able to shut him down almost completely as a ball carrier. He had a rushing touchdown, but finished with just 4 rushing yards for the day.
Every time he broke the pocket or stepped forward, several guys were waiting to stop him from running. The Patriots have also done a good job of not leaving guys open while doing this, focusing on the “second play” element that makes Allen such a dangerous player. They made it difficult for the Bills to generate explosive plays — at least when they weren’t throwing to Keon Coleman — and forced them to string together long drives to score. Considering the injuries the Patriots were dealing with, it was an impressive performance.
The Patriots look better running the ball, but still can’t run with a big personnel
The Patriots want to establish the run, and they signed a group of players this offseason to help them do just that. They’ve already lost Julian Hill for the season, and Reggie Gilliam has been banged up as well, but you’d still like the Patriots to be able to pass the ball more effectively, especially with a heavy personnel.
The good news is that the Patriots have been able to operate quite effectively with lighter packages. The bad news is that they still can’t line up and force it down your throat like they apparently would like to do.
They just have to accept who they are and what injuries to several players, including Mike Onwenu, caused them. That might mean they’ll have to pass the ball more and run out of lighter formations, but based on what we saw on Wednesday, that’s perfectly fine and could be a recipe for success for this team.
It’s not a record day for referees
It was far from a banner day for the league’s referees, with multiple bizarre interactions between players, coaches and officials. One of them came during the Patriots game.
Seemingly without warning, Mike Vrabel was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing over a pending call against Marcus Jones. Additionally, the holding call on Will Campbell was also suspect and the fact that the Bills had worse calls that were missed, including a blatant hands-to-the-face flag that should have been thrown at Drake Maye’s strip bag.
From what we’ve seen around the league, the referees should be questioned, and the way some of them behave leaves a lot to be desired.
The Raiders will be next, in the flashbacks
The Patriots hope to build on their win in Buffalo next week when they host the Las Vegas Raiders at Gillette Stadium.
The Raiders are coming off a season where they were the worst team in the league, but they are playing very well right now and seem to be real. They are 3-1 and almost managed to upset the Chiefs on Sunday.
It seemed like an easy victory when the schedule was released in May, but it doesn’t seem so easy today. The Patriots are going to look good in their red jerseys, and the hope is that the old Deion Sanders quote turns out to be true and they play as good as they look.
Gn sports
