The New England Patriots are taking on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday for their first division game of the 2026 season. Similar to last year, this contest could have major ramifications on Mike Vrabel’s team: at 1-2 going up against a 3-0 opponent, a victory might have a similar effect as it had on the Patriots’ 2025 Super Bowl team.
Our attention was mostly on this particular game this week, and even our weekly clean-up has a distinct Patriots vs. Bills flavor. And with that said, welcome to the Week
4 version of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
Sticking with the process
Through three games, the Patriots’ offense has been one of the worst in the NFL by whatever metric you want to use. Points? Tied for dead-last. Turnovers? The same. Yards? 21st. Expected points added per play? 28th.
Needless to say, things have not been great. And with every unsatisfactory performance, the pressure continues to mount.
Quarterback Drake Maye, who has turned the ball over a league-worst seven times so far, has been the face of New England’s offensive struggles. However, as offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels pointed out, the problems are far-reaching and it is on the entire offensive structure — players and coaches alike — to turn the ship around toward calmer waters.
“Our improvement and our progress offensively is going to be a function of everybody. Starts with me, our coaches, our players,” McDaniels said.
“It takes a lot of us to do the right things and call the game the way I want to call it and execute it the way they want to execute it, and do those things right, take care of the football, and then go out there and see what that looks like. We know we haven’t done that yet, and so what is the result going to be when we do it? I hope we find out on Sunday.”
But while the Patriots offense has remained stuck in the mud thus far, the veteran OC is not willing to make any drastic changes. Instead, the message has been sticking to the plan in place.
“Sometimes, when you get into a stretch where you want to do things so well right now and you’re just not doing them exactly the way you want them, you can feel like you want to press and drastically alter what you’re doing; when I think the solution really is not patience in the sense of being lazy to change something — that’s not what I’m referring to — but I think just sticking with the process of trying to make things right that you know you can make better,” McDaniels said.
“I think our players see things that we can do better, and until we actually do the things that we’re trying to do the way we want them done, that’s where you get into trouble, where you start changing things and throwing everything out.”
One of the most accomplished offensive coaches in NFL history, McDaniels oversaw an attack that was among the best in football last year before running into some trouble in the playoffs. The hope was that some savvy offseason moves and natural development within the system implemented in 2025 would help the unit get over the hump, but so far the opposite has been the case.
Nonetheless, McDaniels still has confidence in the plan and his players, including Drake Maye. And even with time already seemingly starting to run out, he believes that the approach —continuously building and adding to the offense along the way — ultimately will prove to be fruitful.
“Are we going to run plays that we haven’t run before this week? Yes. Did we do that last week? Yes. Is it going to be 50% of the game plan? I hope not, because I think you get good at certain things through repetition and habit,” he explained. “I think that I’m drawn on past experiences from different seasons, and sometimes it’s sticking with it and as painful as it can feel sometimes, the joy of doing it well isn’t far away.”
Slow running
Even though Drake Maye’s issues have been front and center, the support he has received from New England’s run game has also been underwhelming. Three games into the season, the group ranks just 24th in EPA per run (-0.205).
“I think there have been flashes of some good stuff, and then some stuff we hadn’t done well,” said left tacke Will Campbell. “You just have to keep working at it to give the guys in the backfield opportunities to make plays. … Anytime you can run the football at your own will it makes the game easier regardless of any other stuff going on.”
The Patriots, like last year, have relied heavily on a combination of Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson as the 1-2 punch at running back so far. Stevenson acknowledged that the production is not yet where it needs to be, and that — just like Josh McDaniels preached in regards to the offense as a whole — it takes time to get there.
“It still needs work,” he said. “Obviously, it’s early in the season. But that comes down to just more reps and just running those plays; it’s me and Tre getting behind our O-line and trusting them and them trusting us.”
New-look environment
The Patriots have some fond memories of the Bills’ old stadium, going 32-21 through the years. On Sunday, however, they will find themselves in a different environment: the franchise’s new, state-of-the-art Highmark Stadium.
For the Patriots, however, the new arena won’t have much of an impact on the atmosphere they are going to face.
“I’m sure they’ll be as friendly as they were last year,” Will Campbell said. “It’ll be fun, though. Those games are always exciting. Lots of energy, a lot of juice, it’s a good atmosphere to play in.”
“It’s always an incredible atmosphere,” added safety Kevin Byard. “It’s like a college town. Those fans love Buffalo, and those environments, me as a player, I always love to go to stadiums like that.”
Since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the Patriots are 30-34 when playing a regular season game at a new opposing stadium for the first time. They did win seven straight between 2014 and 2021, but lost their two most recent such games to the Vikings and Raiders in 2022.
Kicking woes
Andy Borregales has not had his best season so far. The Patriots’ second-year kicker has missed field goal attempts in back-to-back games, all from a rather makable distance.
What’s the issue? For special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer it all comes back to one thing.
“It’s just honing down some of the fundamental things,” he explained.
Borregales has had some good moments already this year, but he sent a 47-yard attempt wide to the right in Week 2 against Pittsburgh, followed by a 38-yard miss in the same direction versus Jacksonville last Sunday.
“In a four-quarter game, you know you can have a great pregame and then you might not be able to kick a field goal in the third quarter,” Springer added. “It’s just honing him back and making sure that he’s locked in from the first to the fourth quarter on some of those things. He’s got to understand — as we all understand — how important those plays really are in a game.
“You make that field goal, it’s a one-score game in the third quarter with some momentum. And then when you don’t make those field goals, it gets flat because we’re dependent on those guys to make those field goals and get those points, and our field goal team to block. It’s all about making him understand that you have to be locked in for four quarters. He’s working his tail off and doing great things. Unfortunately, he missed that one, but always confident in Andy. He’ll be right back to where he was as he did in the fourth quarter there, hit that field goal later to get right back on track.”
Backup development
With Christian Gonzalez out, the Patriots will rely on Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones as their top two cornerbacks. Charles Woods, the team’s fourth option at the position, is also likely to see increased snaps as Mike Vrabel said.
For Davis, he earned that increase due to the work he put in in his second season in the system.
“Just more mature, understanding how to be a better professional,” Davis said about the 26-year-old. “He’s coming into the facility earlier, he’s put more time in his craft and he’s shown up.”
Identity travels
The Patriots are taking their act on the road for the second straight week and third time in their first four games to open the season. The “road warrior” mentality they established last season, when they went unbeaten away from Foxborough all the way until the Super Bowl, seems to be a thing of the past, however: New England went 0-2 as the visitors so far.
For offensive tackle Will Campbell, the secret to returning to form is to focusing on the team’s identity.
“Vrabel always talks about the identity has to travel and it doesn’t take any breaks. It’s something that we have to bring to the table every single week,” he said.
What is that identity, though?
“The things that we practice every day, the things that Vrabel preaches — tough, physical, things along those lines; just playing harder than the guy across from you for four quarters.”
For the Patriots to beat the Bills, playing to that identity will be key.
James Cook is cooking
Led by one of the best quarterbacks in football — Josh Allen, who Patriots defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr called an “MVP-caliber quarterback playing MVP football” this week — the Bills offense is not just dangerous due to its ability to move the ball through the air. The unit also is ranked first in the NFL in EPA per run (0.073).
The engine that powers the attack is James Cook, who has amassed 346 rushing yards, two touchdowns, and a league-best 6.0 yards per carry in his three games so far.
“James Cook, he’s an elite running back,” said safety Kevin Byard. “He’s going to run wherever we’re not. No matter what run is called, he can cut back, reverse field. He is very dynamic, he makes guys miss in the open field, so we have to be good tacklers in the secondary.”
“With him, everybody’s at the point of contact,” added outside linebackers coach Mike Smith. “He can truly go anywhere. Start on one side and end up on the other side. You can never assume this guy’s down, either.”
Buffalo perspective
Following the NFL can be quite the insular affair, which is why looking beyond one’s own bubble can be valuable every now and then. Take Drake Maye’s current troubles, which have led to plenty of doom-and-gloom takes being shared in New England.
Needless to say, Buffalo head coach Joe Brady doesn’t buy into it.
“It’s a week-to-week league, and it’s so hard to play the position,” Brady said. “Drake Maye, he’s an outstanding quarterback that’s going to play for so long, that’s at such a high level. He’s going to present so many issues for us this week. Epecially at position, I don’t think a lot of those guys are going to be able to have the success that he had last year that he’s going to continue to have if he’s worrying about, ‘Oh shoot, I’m having some issues.’ It’s too hard to play the position. He’s going to be good to go.”
Jim Leonhard connection
As part of their wide-sweeping coaching changes this offseason, the Bills hired former NFL defensive back Jim Leonhard, who most recently worked for the Broncos, as their defensive coordinator. While Leonhard has no direct connections to New England, he and Patriots outside linebackers coach Mike Smith spent parts of their active careers together with the Ravens and Jets.
For Smith, Leonhard’s career since they were teammates came as no surprise.
“Extremely intelligent guy,” he said about Leonhard. “I remember one time, we were in training camp, when he was a player with the Jets, and he created his own playbook. I’m like, ‘When do you have time to do this?’ And i was like going through it, I was like, ‘This is pretty dang good.’
“Just a student ofthe game. He’s always been smart. He just loves the game of football. Very creative. He’s been a part of a lot of good systems through those years. I could see that being any easy role for him when he got out of playing.”
Under Leonhard, the Bills are ranked 21st in the NFL, allowing 26 points per game.
Week ahead
The Patriots remain on a 1-to-1 schedule this week, and will take on the Raiders at 1 p.m. ET. This means, it’s a typical week in terms of media availability and practice.
Mike Vrabel will speak on Monday, while the team will start their on-field preparation on Wednesday.
