Ahead of Mike Vrabel's debut season as the Patriots' head coach last year, expectations weren't exactly high for what their year would look like. There was a lot of optimism that they would look improved and win a few more games, but for the most part, analysts and even fans believed the season would be a wash and another year to build on.
That feeling changed once they went on a 10-game win streak, as a new narrative about their "easy schedule" began to take over. It followed them all the way to the Super Bowl, and their loss only fueled the conversation further, keeping it a hot topic over the past month of the 2026 season.
Because the Patriots went into their Week 4 matchup against the Bills with a 1-2 record and Drake Maye's struggles were on full display, facing "real" teams dominated the conversation and explained their poor showing so far.
But now that they've beaten the Bills, there might be a change in that narrative.
And you know what it should shift to? Allen and the Bills got their first three wins of the season, which quickly pushed the quarterback to the top of the MVP race, against teams with a combined 2-10 record after Week 4; yet, for some reason, nobody is talking about Buffalo's schedule.
It might be time to start it now.
Hopes that the Patriots would remain a bottom-tier team fueled the negativity around their success
Throughout the 2025 season, the Patriots were consistently disrespected for their wins, with analysts suggesting their weak opponents were the sole reason Maye and the rest of the team played at a high level.
It didn't matter that they had a Coach of the Year head coach or an offensive coordinator many have said is among the best the league has to offer.
It didn't matter that their second-year quarterback fell just one vote shy of winning MVP to 17-year veteran Matthew Stafford.
It didn't matter that they had a cornerback who was proving every week to be a top-5 player at the position, or a wide receiver who crossed the 1,000+ receiving-yard threshold for the first time in New England since Julian Edelman in 2020.
None of it mattered because the narrative had to be that the Patriots weren't that good, mainly because nobody outside New England wanted to believe that a team that had fallen to the bottom of the league for the past five years was actually competitive again.
The team that had dominated the NFL for two decades was supposed to be bad for longer than just five years. They weren't supposed to already find their next franchise quarterback or possibly the right head coach to replace Bill Belichick. None of it was supposed to happen that fast.
So now that they appear to be back where they always were for the past 20 years, the loudest critics can't get themselves to admit the truth about what's going on with the Bills right now, or even critique Allen's performance.
The same energy about the schedule should be used against the Bills as it was for the Patriots
We know the Patriots are treated very differently by the league and the media, so it's not surprising that the hate campaign against them last season happened, but it's not shifting to the Bills now that there's an argument to make about their schedule.
It didn't take long for that to become the reason for the Patriots' success in 2025, even when they beat Buffalo on the road in Week 5. Yet the Bills, who beat only the Texans, Lions, and Chargers, somehow seem immune to criticism.
The same can be said about Allen, who was outplayed by Maye in Sunday's matchup and literally gave the game away with an ill-timed interception that sealed it for his biggest rival.
Not only that, but he threw two interceptions last week when the Chargers came to town and fumbled, something Drake Maye had been doing for much of the season so far. But has there been an uproar about that? Nope.
Does there need to be? Not necessarily, but it would prove the media doesn't have an agenda against the Patriots and that they're willing to criticize poor play and benefit from an easy schedule, no matter who that quarterback or team is. But the longer they don't, the more it shows how biased they can be toward the Patriots.
On top of that, if Maye only looked like an MVP last year because he played against "weak opponents," why isn't that a point about Allen looking like an MVP through three games, when the teams he beat have won two games combined this year?
Clearly, he gets the superstar treatment, and for the most part, it makes sense. But it will never be anything but infuriating for Patriots fans who constantly have to listen to the national media downplay what their team is doing while propping up the Bills for doing the same thing.
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