Going into their Week 5 matchup on Sunday Night Football against the lone-standing undefeated team in the NFL, the Bills, the Patriots were ruled out by all analysts and fans, with the universal belief being that they had no chance of walking out of Buffalo with the win.
The silver lining of those predictions was most suggested that it would be a close game, in the Bills' favor, but it was certainly proof of the work the Patriots have done this offseason to bring them closer to taking down the AFC East winners of the last five years.
And if you watched them on Sunday Night Football, you may have no idea that Drake Maye is only in his second season, starting just his 17th game, and a mostly revamped roster with virtually no players from last year's team remaining.
Making things even better is that the Patriots did walk out of Buffalo with the win, instantly putting the NFL on notice and making the rest of the league's worst nightmare come true, as they seem to have found their next franchise quarterback just five years after Tom Brady left the team.
The Patriots are back in a way that the NFL is going to be unhappy about
Since Brady took his talents to the Buccaneers and won them another Super Bowl, the Patriots have fallen into obscurity and become the laughing stock of the NFL. That was even true with Bill Belichick still on the sidelines, but it became an even bigger problem during the 2024 season.
It's what prompted Robert Kraft to move on from Jerod Mayo after one season to bring in Mike Vrabel, who has completely shifted the culture in Foxboro for the better. They might be a team that's a few years away from legitimately competing for a Super Bowl, but they just proved to the NFL that they're not that far away.
What made the night even better was seeing Stefon Diggs get his revenge by recording 10 receptions for 146 yards.
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 6, 2025
It was the second week in a row that Diggs put together one of the most flawless performances by a Patriots wide receiver in recent memory, and it couldn't have happened at a better time.
Now the rest of the NFL knows that the Patriots are on the come up, and they'll have to look out for them moving forward.