Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots celebrated a massive victory against one of the best teams in the league on Sunday night in Buffalo, beating the Bills 23-20. The team of head coach Mike Vrabel made a statement that they can play with anyone as long as they have Drake Maye and are able to keep mistakes at a minimum.
And with that said, let’s get into our lessons learned on Sunday night.
Drake Maye has been playing extremely well to start his second NFL season, but he hadn’t really exploded onto the scene until Sunday night. However, against the Bills the nation got to see him duel it out against Josh Allen and he made some absolutely silly plays.
The 32-yard throw to Stefon Diggs down the sideline is one of the best plays you’ll ever see, both from the QB and receiver. The first play on the final drive was ridiculous as well, with him fighting off a defensive lineman long enough to get the ball out to Diggs, who broke a tackle and picked up a first down. Then, the hole shot to Kayshon Boutte on the final drive put the icing on the cake; Maye stood in the pocket, took a hit, and made a perfect pass to Boutte for 19 yards, which put them in field goal range.
Sunday night was his coming-out party. If there were any fans out there that didn’t know Maye was a stud in the making, they now do, and the league has been put on notice that the Patriots, even if they don’t have the talent this year, will be back very soon with Maye running the offense.
The Patriots defense has been up and down this year, but this was the most energized that they have looked in 2025. They were flying to the ball, and always seemed to have more than one guy in on every tackle. It’s not easy to bottle up an offense as good as the Bills’, and the Patriots should feel very good about the way their defense played Sunday night.
Milton Williams continues to be a force inside, and the linebackers — including Jahlani Tavai, who made his season debut on Sunday night — all played pretty well, too. The secondary also made plays, with Jaylinn Hawkins scooping up a fumble forced by Robert Spillane and both Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones registering key plays to help secure the win.
If the Patriots defense plays the way they did on Sunday night against what was both the top ranked pass and the top ranked run offense in terms of EPA per play, they can compete with any team in the NFL.
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