Pats Pulpit
For the better part of two decades, Foxborough, Massachusetts was the epicenter of the NFL. From their home base at Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots led by future Hall of Famers Bill Belichick and Tom Brady orchestrated an unprecedented run.
And then, it was over. When Brady left in 2020, there was hope the team would find a way to return to its championship days in the near future. When Belichick left in 2024, the franchise was in disrepair from the top down. The Patriots kept not just losing games at an extended rate, they also lost something even more fundamental: they lost relevance.
While they still played four primetime games in 2022, that number dropped to three in 2023, and finally one in 2024. Within a few short years, the Patriots had become an afterthought on the national stage.
For one October night in Orchard Park, New York, however, none of that mattered.
Facing off against the Bills on Sunday for their first of three scheduled primetime contests this season, the club of new head coach Mike Vrabel managed to earn what can be classified as a statement win. The Bills, after all, were the NFL’s only remaining unbeaten team entering the contest, were led by the reigning league MVP, and were listed as 8.5-point favorites at home.
And, yet the Patriots managed to beat them with a final score of 23-20. Obviously, they were not flawless and neither was their opponent, but at the end of the day their upset showed that the Patriots can not just hang with the NFL’s top teams; they can defeat them, too.
The league, it seems, has been put on notice; at least a nationwide audience has. These Patriots are here to compete, just as their head coach claimed back when he was first introduced back in January. These Patriots have the pieces in place to finally challenge the top dogs again.
For a franchise that won four games each of the last two seasons and has not had a winning record at any point since 2022, that is in itself a monumental improvement.
Its meaning is also not lost on a locker room that rallied around its underdog status all week leading up to the game.
“You know everybody’s watching,” said tight end Hunter Henry. “That’s what you dream of since you were a kid. Primetime, a team that’s one of the best teams in the league. Feel like we can make a statement.”
At least for one night, the Patriots managed to do just that. Whether or not they can use it as a springboard for more success in the future remains to be seen (even though their fourth-place schedule does include plenty of winnable games from now on).
For the moment, though, before the inevitable moving on to the next opponent, they are starting to build some serious momentum. They are starting to see what is possible. And they are finally becoming relevant again.
Now all they have...
