The rampant success of the 2025 New England Patriots has taken the NFL world by storm, and analysts are absolutely terrified to admit what they already fear to be true.
Folks can hide behind all the hilarious Drake “Drake Maye” Maye memes they want, and write off the Patriots’ 9-2 start "because of the schedule." The harsh reality is that this team isn’t going anywhere, and no other AFC contender will want to see Maye, Mike Vrabel, and this fully galvanized group standing in their way come playoff time.
While most experts have the Patriots in or around their top five in power rankings, few are taking the leap of No. 1 overall. New England has just three wins over teams with a winning record this year, and while both of those triumphs were impressive and on the road — at Buffalo and Tampa Bay — the masses likely won’t take these Patriots seriously until their most difficult portion of the schedule: home against the Bills in Week 15, followed by the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 16.
At some point, someone’s going to have to find the courage to state the obvious here. The Patriots have met every challenger since Week 4, and have largely looked good doing it; the team is currently riding its first eight-game win streak of the post-Tom Brady era.
Are the Patriots already better than the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams? Are they really better than Buffalo? It’s all purely subjective, but it’s a crime that it’s somehow a hot take to say the Patriots are playing the best football of any team in the NFL right now.
Thankfully for Patriots fans, we have Devin McCourty. The former defensive team captain is 100 percent biased, but he wasn’t afraid to go where others haven’t in regard to where New England stands among the NFL's elite entering Week 12.
Devin McCourty spoke from the heart when discussing the current best teams in the NFL
The Eagles defeated the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football last week, showcasing a defense that already seems to be hitting 2024 championship levels. That’s a scary proposition for the league, as Philadelphia still has arguably the most overall roster talent in the entire NFL.
The good news for other NFC playoff hopefuls? The Eagles have been painfully poor on offense compared to 2024, and they’re running out of time to fix it. They’re currently ranked in the bottom third of the league in average yards gained per play.
That was enough reason for McCourty to place his Patriots above them. In a friendly back-and-forth with fellow analyst Jason Garrett, McCourty placed New England No. 1, while Garrett stuck with Philadelphia.
“Speaking it into existence,” McCourty said, via Hayden Bird of Boston.com. “Drake Maye and those New England Patriots are here. What a win Thursday night. The energy in the stadium was electric. There’s probably some teams better than them, but for right now we’re going with the New England Patriots.”
That should be music to the ears of Patriots fans, who have been force-fed takes on their team’s historically easy schedule all season long. There won’t be much reprieve this Sunday against the short-handed Cincinnati Bengals, either, with star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and pass rusher Trey Hendrickson both expected to be out.
Vrabel’s group has definitely benefitted from some good fortune this season, but it’s not all derived from the schedule. The Patriots have been fortunate to avoid a rash of injuries, which would immediately expose their suspect roster depth.
NFL teams just don’t luck into eight consecutive wins. The Patriots are getting top-tier coaching and elite quarterback play, and they have been solid across all three phases. They’ve been proving themselves over and over for about two months now, and eventually this ridiculous “paper tiger” argument will have no legs to stand on.