The New England Patriots moved to 4-2 on the season on Sunday, and after the Bills dropped to the same record with a loss against the Falcons on Monday night, New England moved to first place in the AFC East. Now, they have a pair of more than winnable games against the Titans and Browns, and it isn't outrageous to think they'll be 6-2 sooner rather than later.
The team's mentality has been strong, playing physical and suffocating football, particularly on defense. The run defense has been among the best in the league, and the trio of Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, and Harold Landry along the defense line has wreaked havoc in opposing backfields.
This mentality is exactly what Mike Vrabel has been preaching and is representative of his physicality and aggressiveness from when he was a player. Offensively, they haven't run nearly as much as Vrabel's Titans did, but their fourth-down aggression has been Dan Campbell-lite, with little hesitation to go for it in no-mans-land.
Milton Williams is exactly the type of player the Patriots needed
The Saints' offense played better than expected, turning the ball over only once and scoring five times in total. Despite their reasonable success, the defense still held them to 19 points while both Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller were bottled up: as a team, the Saints ran for just 3.1 a carry.
A big part of their defensive line success on Sunday and throughout the year has been Milton Williams, the highest-paid player in franchise history at $26 million per season. On Sunday, Williams showed exactly what fans were hoping to see out of Vrabel's teams: toughness. It was reported that he played through a serious illness.
#Patriots DT Milton Williams had a fever of over 100° less than 24 hours before playing the Saints, per @ByMarkDaniels.
— Carlos A. Lopez (@LosTalksPats) October 13, 2025
“If I can get out there. I’m going to get out there… Came here, got an IV, and put some food in my stomach. And tried to go out there and help the team win.” pic.twitter.com/a0OGn22qfp
He was also on the injury report with an ankle injury for most of the week. It would have been very easy for Williams to have taken the game off: the team had just won big, he was dealing with both illness and injury, and the 1-4 Saints didn't seem much of a threat.
Nonetheless, he persevered and showed the toughness and grit that Vrabel looks for and that fans crave. It's still early in the year, but the former Louisiana Tech standout is looking to be one of the league's best defensive tackles in his new home.