The good news is that the Patriots won on Sunday! It’s a game Aaron Rodgers is still Pondering as he took quite a few Spillanes. After taking seven hits, including four sacks, he probably felt like a Jacas and headed over to the nearest Barmore afterwards. He certainly didn’t Ellissit any sympathy, even if a Farmer was needed to plow him off the turf. I’ll stop now.
Guess who didn’t think the Week 2 win was worth celebrating? Local sports talk radio (as usual) and a good number of the experts below.
In fact the Pats should be thanking Old Man Rodgers for the win. All are very concerned about Drake Maye’s “slump”, loss of “accuracy”, and the “disjointed” offense that still needs to be “figured out”. All valid criticisms, but it’s always a good thing to get the W while cleaning up the early-season kinks.
In Week 3 the Patriots head to Jacksonville as 2.5 point underdogs to the 1-1 Jaguars. The Jags opened with a 34-10 home win over the Browns in Week 1, then lost 20-13 at Denver in Week 2 after blowing a 13-3 third-quarter lead. This won’t be an easy ride, as QB Trevor Lawrence is a lot quicker than Aaron Rodgers, but I believe the Patriots catch a win Sunday to return home 2-1.
GO PATS!!
Around the AFC East:
Buffalo Bills (2-0) vs. Los Angeles Chargers (0-2)
New England Patriots (1-1) at Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1)
New York Jets (1-1) at Detroit Lions (1-1)
Miami Dolphins (0-2) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (2-0)
AFC Matchups:
Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)
Las Vegas Raiders (2-0) at New Orleans Saints (1-1)
Baltimore Ravens (1-1) at Dallas Cowboys (1-1)
Denver Broncos (1-1) vs. Los Angeles Rams (1-1)
Tennessee Titans (0-2) at New York Giants (1-1)
Houston Texans (0-2) at Indianapolis Colts (0-2)
Cleveland Browns (1-1) vs. Carolina Panthers (1-1)
7th – Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News): The Patriots were bound to lean more on the running game and defense early with A.J. Brown’s injury limiting the passing potential of the Drake Maye offense. Mike Vrabel turned well to that game plan with big results against another one of his former teams, the Steelers. [+2]
7th – Nate Davis (USA Today): If you hadn’t heard, lifelong Seahawks fan Macklemore will not be allowed to perform at Gillette Stadium this week. The Pats have now won seven in a row … against teams not based in the Pacific Northwest. [+3]
7th – Ian Glendon (Full Press Coverage): The defense should collect the offense’s paycheck. Holding Pittsburgh to three points restored order. New England slips because unbeaten teams climbed past it; the offense still has to contribute more consistently. [-1]
10th – NFL Nation (ESPN): One thing we know about the QB1: Drake Maye’s accuracy isn’t what he’s accustomed to. After leading the NFL with a 72% completion percentage in 2025, Maye has completed 67.3% of his throws through two games — with one touchdown pass and four interceptions. Those performances came against two of the league’s top defenses (Seahawks and Steelers), but Maye isn’t satisfied with his performance. “It starts with me making good decisions, being in good plays,” he said. — Mike Reiss [nc]
11th – Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports): The Patriots won and they got some downfield passing going, but Drake Maye is still in a slump. He didn’t throw a touchdown Sunday and had only 208 yards. His Week 1 struggles can be excused because the Seahawks’ defense is incredible. The Steelers’ defense isn’t on that level and the Patriots were still underwhelming on offense. The Patriots are still figuring out their receiver rotation without A.J. Brown, but the passing offense needs to do more. Maye is 19th in adjusted EPA per play and 10th in success rate, which isn’t that bad considering half of his season so far was against Seattle, but it’s nowhere near his MVP form of last season. [nc]
11th – Ralph Vacchiano (FOX Sports): Take the win and thank old man Aaron Rodgers for that. For the second straight week, quarterback Drake Maye did not look good. [-1]
14th – Pete Prisco (CBS Sports): The defense came up big in the victory over the Steelers to get them to 1-1. The offense still looks disjointed at times. [+5]
14th – Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk): At this rate, they won’t have to worry about a difficult negotiation with Drake Maye in 2027. [-1]
15th – Conor Orr (SI): We can wait until the Drake Maye and Patriots offensive line drama plays itself out. Spoiler, I don’t think there’s going to be much drama. The Patriots’ offensive line is okay, but much worse in the interim now that Mike Onwenu has broken his ankle. Maye is going to stop pressing and do his best Joe Burrow impression from the pocket. But the story of this team at the moment is just how dominant Christian Gonzalez has been. [-4]
18th – Nick Shook (NFL.com): It’s strange to have the Patriots stuck in the bottom half of the rankings after a win, but it’s also jarring to see New England’s offense struggle to find a consistent pulse. Drake Maye isn’t playing as poorly as his stat line suggests and still dropped a few dimes against the Steelers, but he’s also not operating comfortably in the offense, which lost right guard Mike Onwenu to an ankle injury on Sunday. If Maye’s not right, Sundays are going to be a chore for this group until he improves. The defense deserves a hat tip, though; it reduced Pittsburgh’s offense to rubble in Week 2. [nc]
AVG RANK: 11.4 [+.5]
