The New England Patriots are heading into their first playoff game since they were summarily blown out of Buffalo in 2021 by the Bills. Led by Head Coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye, the Patriots are a confident football team having wrapped up a 14-3 bounce-back season after finishing 4-13 in 2024.
Thoughts about whether playing the Bills now or later have become moot. Josh Allen and company can take their wrath out on Jacksonville, whom they play away in a Wild Card game. If they both advance, the Patriots will maybe have to take them on and out later.
The Patriots will host the Chargers at home, and frankly, it's not clear that Mike Vrabel, Maye, or their team cares who they play or where. This team ran off a 10-game winning streak and, even more impressively, won all eight of their road games.
They fear no team, nor do they seem to care where they play them.
Facing Buffalo may be inevitable, and the Patriots will be ready
The likelihood of the Patriots facing the Bills at some point if they advance past the first round(s) of the playoffs is high. The Bills are a formidable team, well-coached by Sean McDermott and led by 2024 NFL MVP quarterback Josh Allen. They are never an easy out.
After Week 18, NBC Boston's Tom Curran and Phil Perry commented on the Chargers' matchup for the Patriots,
"You could even look at the quarterbacks, and I would say that Drake Maye is a better player than Justin Herbert based upon 2025, and I do like Drake Maye's decision-making better than Justin Herbert's. Justin Herbert is an unbelievably talented player and very similar to Drake Maye, but he has more brain farts.
I've just seen way more brain farts from him over the course of his career in leverage situations. Plus, they have to come out here (to New England). I think the Patriots should be able to win this game."
Perry thinks the Patriots dodged a bullet by avoiding the always difficult Bills.
"'I think it is the best matchup for them,' Phil Perry said. 'I think seeing the Chargers is a benefit insofar as you're allowed to avoid the Buffalo Bills. That, to me, would be the goal in this situation...Keep them at bay for as long as possible.'"
Curran is right in that the Patriots can beat the Chargers and have the better quarterback. Drake Maye is the NFL's true MVP, whether he gets the award or not. He's proven it on the field, no matter who criticizes whom he played against. You play who the NFL says you play, and the Patriots beat almost all of them.
Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye can beat any NFL team anywhere
While the Bills are always a formidable foe, it's essential to keep a couple of things in mind when facing them for a third time. First, the Patriots beat Buffalo in Buffalo.
Secondly, the Patriots had the Bills on the ropes in Foxborough with a commanding 21-0 lead before their defense, under an Allen-led onslaught and the superb running of James Cook, collapsed and allowed five straight touchdown drives.
Even so, the Patriots, with a spectacular 65-yard touchdown run by phenomenal rookie TreVeyon Henderson, roared back to take the lead late before finally succumbing to Allen and the Bills. Losing to the Bill is never shameful. Losing after they had a 21-0 lead at home is eminently regrettable.
Regardless, the Patriots beat the Bills in Buffalo and are well aware they should have beaten them again at home, where they will match up if they face off later. Vrabel's team will be reinforced for that game with top injury returnees Milton Williams and Will Campbell, and maybe Robert Spillane, presumably ready to go.
Yet, it's the Chargers' first, and now a rumor that they actually wanted to play the Patriots is making the rounds, as suggested by none other than former Patriot Devin McCourty. The thought that that may have been a motivation to tank against the Broncos in Week 18 had occurred.
If that is true, let's make one thing perfectly clear to the Chargers. Be careful what you wish for. You will be playing against the NFL's best coach and quarterback, and they have only one thing in mind: sending you back to la-la Land on that long flight, after knocking you out of the 2025 NFL playoffs.