A lot of us got this wrong.
No, not the Sunday Night Football game in which the Patriots marched into Orchard Park, withstood the glare of the national stage and Buffalo’s all-white Cold Front uniforms, and walked out victorious over Super Bowl contenders. Nah, plenty of pundits, writers, and other media prognosticators declared an upset within reason.
We got Mike Vrabel’s “culture” wrong. This whole operation isn’t about running Foxboro like it’s the Naval Academy, or dressing down guys for the mistakes they make.
Run Rhamondre Stevenson back out there one series after he fumbled and turned the ball over, yet again? Well, yes, and he’ll score two touchdowns.
Put the game on the shoulders of the rookie kicker who shanked multiple extra points and a kickoff in the team’s first win over the Dolphins? Well, yes, and he’ll drill that puppy down the middle.
Lean on 31-year-old Stefon Diggs, the recently-rehabbed receiver, (in both knee and image), who was returning to the scene of a seemingly-painful breakup with his old team? Yes, and he’ll put up 146 yards.
On Mike Vrabel’s team, it’s not okay to screw up, but players always get a shot at penance. Clearly, it’s building confidence in the young and mostly inexperienced guys. And they’re bought in.
“I think that gives me a ton of confidence, just keeping my head level. I could get frustrated, I’ve had three fumbles in the last couple games,” Stevenson said postgame, and noted multiple times that he needed to “clean that up.”
Vrabel maintained that it’s unacceptable to put the ball on the ground after the game. But the Patriots needed Stevenson in the endzone Sunday night, and quarterback Drake Maye echoed the coach’s decision to keep him in the game.
“We’re going to trust Rhamondre all season. We need him,” he said postgame.
Vrabel's team is improving week-to-week, even though he plays guys who sometimes fumble and pick up penalties. He empowers Diggs to be the offense's vocal leader, even though a social media video made...waves...over the summer. In the locker room, players have extolled Vrabel's transparency. They know where they stand with their coach, and they respect him.
With and upset like this one, the cultural shift suddenly feels seismic.
Think back to Week 1. After the Patriots stumbled out of the gates against the Raiders, Sunday Night Football gave us one of the best games of the season as two Super Bowl contenders, the Bills and Baltimore Ravens, squared off to open 2025.
It was like watching two entirely different leagues. It was fair to worry that despite a coaching change, New England would remain relegated to that league of crummy teams, and crappy 1 o’clock games.
The Patriots who took the field this Sunday night against the Bills belonged there, and although Maye stacked another outstanding performance on top of last week’s Panthers win, it was truly a team effort to topple the previously unbeaten Bills.
The defense held a Buffalo team that was averaging 33 points per game heading into Week 5 to just 20. Marcus Jones killed a 7-play drive that could have been a total momentum changer in the third quarter with a pick. Christian Gonzalez forced Keon Coleman to the outskirts of the endzone to prevent a dagger of a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and followed that play up with coverage that forced the Bills to settle for a game-tying field goal, with little more than two minutes left.
The offense had a rough start, stalling out midfield like a rusted-out truck in Buffalo. Even as the Bills racked up awful penalties and coughed the ball up, the Patriots struggled to put up points in the first half. Then, running back Antonio Gibson left the field in tears, having suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury. But the loss of Gibson shifted New England’s approach from the ground to the air, and the chemistry between Maye and Diggs bubbled over. To be frank, there were one or two plays in which Diggs bailed out his young QB.
At times, this team was still a little dumb (see the back-to-back 15-yard penalties that basically olé'd Josh Allen’s offense into the endzone, goofy execution on the ugliest flea-flicker seen a while, Stevenson’s fumble, and six other penalties).
They’re not pristine.
But Vrabel has ingrained two qualities into this team: trust and resilience. Belief in those virtues – true belief – will keep a team in any game.