ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Patriots are back, for at least one week on the field. But they're back in a big way in one area that is near and dear to the hearts of Masshole Nation.
Proving the haters wrong.
Nobody relishes turning negative noise about their team against the perpetrators (conveniently forgetting they were probably part of it), quite like Patriots Nation. Victories are nice. Victories that prove the haters wrong ... priceless.
And Sunday's stunning 29-26 victory over the previously undefeated Bills gave BLEHH Nation ammunition in spades.
Going into this game, the noise largely said:
• Drake Maye was broken and maybe soft
• Mike Vrabel had lost his team, and might have been feuding with the QB and offensive coordinator
• Josh McDaniels didn't know what he was doing and should be fired
• Romeo Doubs was a free-agent bust
• Hunter Henry and Morgan Moses may have slowed down (Present!)
• The Patriots' defense was overrated thanks to Drew Lock and the Steelers, but got exposed against the Jaguars
Some of that may prove true ultimately, but for one glorious Sunday in the Bills' exquisite new home on a perfect fall day in Upstate New York, they get to talk their shit because they all factored prominently into a shocking result.
"In this day and age, we hear the noise," said safety Kevin Byard. "We can tell people to ignore the noise, all this stuff, but we hear ... you know what I mean? I think it's one of those deals where there's a lot of doubt coming from the outside about this team and who we are, what type of culture that we have, and I think we was able to prove it today. You think about week one not finishing on the road, but getting a big win on the road here, and to be able to beat a playoff team, you got to be able to get a couple games on the road, especially against a playoff-caliber team like the Buffalo Bills. So, man, great win for this organization."
And a great win for the room.
“We are gonna fight until they cut our hands off” 😮💨 https://t.co/Wri16XInsp
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 4, 2026
I don't need to tell you what happened on the field for Maye on Sunday. All you really needed to do was compare Maye's demeanor after the Jaguars game to Sunday. A week ago, Maye seemed to be on the verge of tears as he searched for answers to get out of his own way and letting his teammates down. After winning his matchup with Josh Allen, including a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter on Sunday, you couldn't wipe the smile off his face. You would just see the weight of New England falling off Maye's shoulders in real time. He was positively beaming.
"Everybody wants to make a big thing about Drake. You know what I'm saying?" said Carlton Davis. "But at the same time, they gotta understand that Drake is human, but it's a part of the game. Like, there's a lot of times, I've played with so many quarterbacks, and I've seen them battle like Tom (Brady) or Jared Goff, with Baker Mayfield ... like, (turnovers are) part of the game. You know, the best thing about this game is how you respond to whatever happened, whether it was good or bad, and so we know he's a responder, and we just never, our faith in him never left us."
If there was any doubt about Vrabel's ability to reach his locker room, Sunday offered a reprieve. It started earlier in the week with his stern message to the team.
"Vrabel was on us all week, really got after us at practice. I feel like that showed," Milton Williams said.
Just the defense, or the team?
"Just the team in general," Williams said. "Just challenging guys. Just really challenging guys, and you know, letting us know that we are the answer. If anybody is gonna answer the bell, it's gonna be on us together. It's gonna take everybody in this room, no matter who's in, who's out, just took everybody. It took everybody."
Said Byard: "We take it to heart anytime we're challenged in any situation. We talked about being the answer for this team, and the answers are in the room."
Vrabel backed his players on the field by going for two early fourth downs (both were converted and led to touchdowns), pushing for more points before halftime (didn't work on a Drake Maye interception to Romeo Doubs), and the Patriots calling back-to-back pass plays on second- and third-and-10 with a minute left when it would have been understandable if they ran two times to make Buffalo burn their timeouts. The maligned Henry caught a short pass from Maye on third down, and rumbled 12 yards for a first down that clinched the game.
Vrabel's aggressiveness even spoke to the defense.
"Hell yeah, because it's like shit, we know he's putting it all on the table," Davis said. "He's ready to, not risk it all, but he's willing to put us in a better position, and he's letting us know that he's not holding anything back, we got to do the same on defense."
Henry finished with 5 receptions on 5 targets for 62 yards — basically matching his production from the first three games. Hat tip to the grizzled veteran. Let's also add that PFF only had Moses for one pressure allowed operating against the NFL's sack leader, Gregory Rousseau (who did have seven total pressures, four QB hits and two passes defensed ... we'll have to watch the film). Both can talk their smack, and it seemed Moses got a head start on that with a local beat writer at his locker.
(Imagn Images)
The offense was one thing, but I don't think anyone expected the Patriots' defense to frustrate Josh Allen the way they did on Sunday, especially without Christian Gonzalez and Christian Barmore.
"Yeah, me included," Williams admitted in the locker room after the game.
Allen finished with just five rushes for 4 yards, and was a pedestrian (for him) 23 of 33 for 253 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT for an 89.6 rating. Allen lost top wideout DJ Moore during the game, but the Patriots shut down tight ends Dalton Kincaid (1 catch on 2 targets for 7 yards) and Dawson Knox (2 for 13).
The Patriots' defense was so good, that Maye and Allen basically swapped roles by the end of the game. Maye was pulling plays out of his backside to get the Patriots' the lead. Allen was so frustrated that he lost patience and threw an interception into double coverage on 2nd and 6 with 1:14 left.
"Should throw that one out of bounds, live to fight another day," said Allen, sounding a lot like Maye in the previous weeks. "We hurt ourselves tonight. Offense, defense, special teams, everybody. We all feel like we could all play better. These ones sting. The division ones sting. I mean, it feels like a two-game swing, and we've got to find a way to learn from this and move it in the back of our brain, and learn from it and move on."
"If we protect the football, we win the game, it's not very hard, right?" said Bills coach Joe Brady, sounding a lot like Vrabel. "And we had two in two-minute drill situations… But we got to clean it up, or it's going to continue to show up."
How'd the Patriots do it?
"I just think we try to mix up our coverages," Byard said. "You know, I think most teams in this league kind of take us for a man, man-to-man team on third down, and they ran a lot of man beaters. They did. I mean, they got us a couple times where they picked us. They ran a tough man beater early in the game on the third down when they end up scoring. So we were just trying to mix up our coverages, mix up disguises. I think Zak (Kuhr) called a really great game, and yeah, I mean, you want to try to frustrate a quarterback like that because, like you said, he's a guy that's going to extend plays and make plays with his leg. They hit a couple of them, but I think we made more plays at the end of the day."
For the first time in what seems like a long time, you can say that about just about the entire Patriots team — coaches and players.
For at least one week, everyone is entitled to talk their shit.