The inconsistent performances of the Patriots so far this season made it easy for every analyst and most non-New England fans to rule them out way before they even stepped on the field against the Bills on Sunday Night Football.
The overall assumption was that a lot would need to go in the Patriots' favor for them to have even the slightest chance against the undefeated team, which has been universally named the most certain Super Bowl contender so far in 2025.
Although they made plenty of their own mistakes to make the job much more difficult than it needed to be, the Patriots accomplished the impossible and walked out of Buffalo with the win on Sunday, for all of the NFL universe to see on primetime.
But it wasn't just phenomenal play that helped them reach that point, which was revealed by one starter during a post-game interview. On top of the Bills playing uncharacteristically sloppy, a mistake by the stadium's DJ apparently helped swing things in the Patriots' favor at halftime.
Garrett Bradbury reveals unexpected reason the Patriots gained momentum coming out of halftime vs. the Bills
While speaking to reporters after the win, starting center Garrett Bradbury revealed that many of his teammates were joking about the big mistake the DJ made by playing "Mr. Brightside," a song by The Killers that has become a classic in the eyes of many millennials.
Because many of the players love that song, it got them "more juiced up," according to Bradbury, giving them even more to thrive on as they eventually went on to beat their biggest AFC East rival.
Patriots C Garrett Bradbury said after the game that players were joking the stadium shouldn't have played "Mr. Brightside" before the two-minute warning. "It's an all-time song. That got us more juiced up probably than the Bills' defense."
— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) October 6, 2025
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Although Bradbury might not be entirely serious, the fact that he even mentioned this to the media proves just how far the Patriots locker room has come from the allegations of a mutiny behind the scenes last season.
They are very clearly in a better space and more unified as a group since Mike Vrabel took over, and came together in all the right ways to lead them to an unexpected win on primetime television.
Now they go into a stretch in their schedule that should be a cake walk compared to facing one of the best teams in the league under the brightest of lights. They'll play on the road for the next two weeks, against the Saints and the Titans, and then head back home to face the Browns and the Falcons.
There's a good chance they can stack together four more wins to bring them to a 7-2 record by the halfway mark of the season. To accomplish that, they'll definitely need to maintain the level of brotherhood they have in the locker room because once that falters, things go downhill quickly.