As I traveled back from Buffalo yesterday, I kept thinking of how I wanted to frame the game. I kept coming back to the "proof of concept" phrase. Mike Vrabel and his coaching staff want this Patriots team to play a certain way, giving them keys to the game every single week. The more the players see that vision come to fruition, the more they'll be full believers in what is being preached.
On Sunday night, Vrabel and company made it clear that one of their top priorities was to control the Bills' outside zone running attack. They did that by changing how they've played defense through the first month of the season, employing either a more traditional 3-4 look or utilizing five-man defensive fronts when they anticipated Buffalo would utilize its heavier sets. That's a massive part of the Bills' identity and success, and the Pats snuffed it out early, eventually forcing offensive coordinator Joe Brady to abandon it (James Cook finished with 49 yards on 15 carries).
"There were different front structures, at least early, that we were trying to get a feel for, especially as the (run) game," Brady told reporters Monday.
Between that and the secondary successfully playing man coverage 40% of the snaps, the burden of that offense fell entirely on Josh Allen's shoulders to be perfect. He wasn't, reverting back to some of those hero tendencies that can be hit or miss. They missed enough to help the Pats secure a win and continue to create buy-in for Vrabel's way of doing business, right, Mike? (Stand by for the longest answer during the head coach's tenure.)
"I don't know if I look at it like that. I think that the buy-in – I don't know how you necessarily define that," he said. "Just trying to show them what they're capable of doing when we can do it together in all three phases and play up to our identity, because it wasn't great. I thought we played really hard. I thought we flew around on defense. I thought we tried to hammer the football out. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn't.
"They made some plays, but I thought we have, even offensively, a lot of room to grow. Special teams-wise, we didn't have the impact that we maybe were used to the previous weeks or some of the phases. So, I think that we continue to show them those things and what we need to improve, the things that we do well.
"I do think that they are trying to uphold the style of play that we want to play with. ... We expected a good week of practice. We expected to go in, play well, and give ourselves a chance to win, and that's what we did. Again, hopefully we can build some confidence by the way that we played. We gave up a touchdown drive to start the second half, but our offense came back and answered. They went down and tied the game, and we came back and made a kick, executed the time and the clock, and gave them, an MVP quarterback, very little time to be able to do anything. Those are things that we had to do, so maybe we can show them and say, "This is what you're capable of, this is how we'd like to maybe do it a little bit differently," but I don't question the buy-in. I think that they're trying. We've just got a lot of things we can improve on."
That's a lot of words (and I cut out some that didn't advance the answer). That's Vrabel ensuring that his talking points for this week are already circulating among the players, media (and, by extension, the fans) even before Wednesday's team meeting when he will lay out this week's keys. After Sunday's win, they'll all be listening even more intently.
On to the Musings...
THUMBS UP
Drake Maye. If you want to know how I felt about his performance, read my postgame story that I finished around 1:40 a.m. Monday morning. That second half was about as well as a second-year quarterback can play.
Stefon Diggs: Also in the postgame story. His feel against zones remains as good as anybody in the league, but it was some of the run-after-catch stuff that makes me think that knee is coming all the way back. His recovery to impact has been remarkable.
Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, and Marcus Jones: They played cat coverage ('you got this cat, I got that cat') defense 40% of the time and mostly erased a Bills wide receiving group that is slightly above average. I love that approach by interim DC Zak Kuhr. My guys are better than yours. Deal with it. The Bills couldn't, at least not consistently.
Jahlani Tavai: He blew an edge on the first play, but was excellent thereafter. Physical at the point of attack, either filling gaps or holding up on the edge. That looked like the player he was in 2023-24, not the mess that he (and the team) became a year later.
Hunter Henry: After I did the podcast with Andrew Callahan (every Monday night), I shut off my phone and fell into a deep sleep following the Chiefs-Jaguars game. I woke up to a text from someone with the Pats, wondering why we didn't have Henry as a stud in our studs/duds segment. I immediately thought of five plays I had starred in his. Better as a blocker than he has been all season, and continues to be clutch as a receiver. That deep seam he caught was exceptional, because he absorbed one hell of a hit. Good for him to see winning football again.
Will Campbell: Yeah, he gave up a couple of pressures, but to handle that environment and made Joey Bosa largely disappear is another feather in his cap.
Garrett Bradbury: Another clean-sheet game for him. Also, it's funny to see him on Stevenson's second touchdown, looking for someone to block, but the play was so well-schemed that he ended up seeking out a defender in the end zone.
THUMBS DOWN
Brenden Schooler, Joshua Farmer, and Cory Durden: Can't get those 15-yard penalties.
Run game: If you can't run against the Bills, when will they be able to?
Rhamondre Stevenson: The two touchdowns were a nice recovery from the early fumble, but you could sense Vrabel's frustration postgame. It feels as much mental as it is physical, and I'm not sure how to fix that.
POWER RANKINGS
1. Detroit Lions (4-1) - They are a wagon right now. Apologies to Dan Campbell for doubting the program would be as strong after losing both coordinators.
2. Tampa Bay (4-1) - Baker Mayfield is the best watch in the league right now.
3. Buffalo (4-1) - I don't like the Bills' defense, and I don't like their receivers. They need to be active at the deadline.
4. Indianapolis (4-1) - I hesitate to put the Colts this high because believing in Daniel Jones is a do-it-at-your-peril proposition. But he's playing great, and so are they.
5. San Francisco (4-1) - To beat the Rams with Mac Jones and Kendrick Bourne starring has my attention.
6. Philadelphia (4-1) - I HATE putting the Eagles here because it feels like something is seriously amiss in the City of Brotherly Love. But I do it anyway out of respect for the roster.
7. Green Bay (2-1-1) - The Packers need to get their collective heads out of their backsides. Too much talent for this.
8. Seattle (3-2) - Sam Darnold is balling, and after giving up 38 points, I bet Mike Macdonald has the 'Hawks back on the details this week.
9. LA Rams (3-2) - Matthew Stafford is a baller.
10. Denver (3-2) - Sean Payton said the Broncos were legit Super Bowl contenders before the year started. I don't believe him, but that was a big boy win in Philly.
Bottom 5
28. Miami (1-4) - What an awful loss to Carolina. The owner is voicing his complaints.
29. NY Giants (1-4) - If I were a betting man, I would have told you to take the Saints this weekend and been right. 5 turnovers. Yuck.
30. Las Vegas (1-4) - Before the Christian Wilkins thing happened, I wondered if the Raiders might be a playoff team. They have been dog food since the opener.
31. Tennessee (1-4) - The Titans had no business winning that game, and Brian Callahan remains clueless (see his decision to kick the extra point down 9).
32. NY Jets (0-5) - I'm not sure Aaron Glenn is on steady ground, and that defense is no longer feared.
