After losing (or, better yet, frittering away) a game against the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots are suffering the consequences in the national media. In one week, the darlings of the national media can change into also-rans, and that's exactly what's happening to the Patriots. After reeling off a string of 10 straight wins, they've fallen like Isaac Newton's apple from the pinnacle of NFL rankings as Super Bowl contenders.
Not that their Super Bowl aspirations were ever real in the first place. Their 10-game win streak was what it was, and Patriot Nation, and almost everyone else (former Patriot Cam Newton was an exception), had jumped on the bandwagon. Dreams of sugar plums floated around MVP candidate Drake Maye and the streaking Patriots before the roof caved in and they blew a winnable game to the Bills.
One major national media commentator reflected that drop clearly ahead of Patriots-Ravens this week.
Losing to the Bills the way they did has sunk the Patriots' expectations
To say that the Buffalo game was a big one is an understatement. After rolling to a 21-0 lead and threatening to blow the Bills right back to Orchard Park and out of the 2025 AFC East title race, the Patriots tumbled back to earth.
Colin Cowherd has relegated the Patriots to a non-Super Bowl-contending team in his latest NFL hierarchy for FOX Sports.
"They're a young team, missing their left tackle and left guard. Their issue is, they're not very good in the red zone on either side of the ball, and that's why I don't think they're a Super Bowl team. They're not good defensively."
Cowherd happens to be right. What happened in the Buffalo game exposed flaws that were always there, but with good luck had been brilliantly masked over by head coach Mike Vrabel.
That is, until the one thing he couldn't and can't now fix finally caught up to his team.
The Patriots' lack of depth is their Achilles heel
Vrabel has been justifiably lauded for brilliantly executing a roster transformation that saw him turn a bottom-of-the-NFL roster into a playoff team in one offseason. Yet even Houdini couldn't have totally made over a roster of 53 men in one fell swoop. It's just too huge an undertaking for one offseason, and the chickens have now proverbially come home to roost. It was depth all the time.
That's not to say the players Vrabel brought in were all top NFL performers. They weren't. Yet, the key was that they were all improvements over the lackluster groups of 2023 and 2024. Vrabel was able to at least assemble respectable starting lineups on both offense and defense in a hurry.
The key, of course, was always his young emerging star quarterback, Drake Maye. No Maye, no way would have been the catchphrase for Vrabel or anyone else who took the helm of this downtrodden football operation of 2024. Yet, by adding legitimate NFL players around Maye in free agency and then drafting brilliantly, Vrabel was able to solidify at least his starting 11s.
The problem was the players behind them. There weren't many who could adequately fill an injury situation, and it's costing the team dearly now. The good news is that guard Jared Wilson is back, and top defensive tackle and important run-stopper Milton Williams, along with left tackle Will Campbell, may also be back soon. One loss that may be longer is the top tackler, Robert Spillane. His absence was keenly felt against Buffalo and may have been a game-changer.
The return of the top starters mentioned will be a boost to the Patriots' chances if they all stay on the field. Yet, Patriot Nation shouldn't be fooled. While anything can happen in the NFL playoffs (Note 2001 as a good example), the Patriots' roster is paper-thin, and any major injury (ies) could derail their playoff hopes in a hurry.
To be Super Bowl-ready, Vrabel will likely need at least one and maybe two additional offseasons. It is what it is - reality in the NFL.