What Does Beating the Bills Mean?
NBC Analyst Chris Collingsworth, who I am not a big fan of, stated it clearly before the game “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best” and that is exactly what Drake Maye did Sunday Night.
His second half was a thing of beauty, completing 13/14 passes, 184 yards, 3 outstanding throws, 0 INT. Buffalo was blitzing Maye incessantly in the 3rd and 4th Quarters. Maye’s rollouts were deadly. He looked like Josh Allen out there. Fans throughout the country who tuned into this prime-time game were introduced to Drake Maye. This is their coming-out party. Maye is now a top 10 QB in this league.
This from Greg Bedard: “Maye should have been sacked for a 10-yard loss on the first play of the final drive, which likely would have led to a punt and a Bills win. Instead, he shrugged off 320-pound DaQuan Jones and completed a 12-yard pass. That’s a superhuman play. There’s like a half-dozen QBs in the league that could pull that off.”
Stefon Diggs handled his return to Buffalo with class. He was very gracious toward the fans and the Buffalo organization. Make no mistake, he played with a huge chip on his shoulder and showed everyone that he still has what it takes. Back-to-back 100-yard games for a player who had major ACL surgery in late October last year. Most athletes take a year and a half to come back from this surgery.
Andy Borregales was 3 for 3 on FGs, but none better than his 52-yard game-winning Field Goal. His kick would have been good from 65. Borregales followed up that kick with a kickoff to the 1-yard line. Many Kickers have had trouble getting the ball in the receiving zone. Not Borregales, and the players in the locker room showered him with “Andy, Andy, Andy” chants after the game.
NBC did a little highlight on the play of Will Campbell going one-on-one against Joey Bosa, a former premier pass-rusher. I thought Campbell was very good. These are the PFF Grades for the Offensive Line in the Buffalo Game.
| Season | Buffalo Game | |||
| Overall | Offense | Pass Blck | Run Blck | |
| Campbell | 66.8 (32) | 70.4 | 77 | 61.9 |
| Wilson | 50.7 (57) | 51.1 | 65.1 | 45.3 |
| Bradbury | 62.1(17) | 65.6 | 53.3 | 68.8 |
| Onwenu | 72.4 (10) | 83.4 | 67.4 | 85.8 |
| Moses | 64.3 (38) | 75.6 | 78.2 | 71.3 |
The Bills’ Offense was averaging 30+ pts a game coming in, and they were playing at home. The Patriots’ Defense, with Matt Kuhr calling the plays and Terrell Williams contributing to the game plan, had the defense ready and made the necessary adjustments during the game.
This was Drake Maye’s 1st game-winning drive, and he was magnificent. I’m calling it “Maye’s Magic.”
Christian Gonzalez didn’t get enough credit for how well he played this week and how he has settled down the secondary. He had that key 4th Quarter breakup on Khalil Shakir after an Allen scramble. The other play was covering Keon Coleman all over the field and into the endzone on another Allen scramble, where Coleman ran out of the back of the End Zone.
Drake Maye wasn’t perfect, as he ran out of a clean pocket twice, putting his head down and trying to get out. He was sacked twice, and he admitted they were on him. On one of these, he missed a wide-open Kayshon Boutte on the sideline because he panicked and had happy feet.
Bills Inside Linebacker Matt Milano, who missed the last two weeks after getting injured halfway through their 2nd game, missed the entire second half Sunday night, playing only 32 snaps. He re-aggravated the pectoral injury in the 3rd Quarter.
Stats
- Buffalo blitzed 8 times, and Maye ate them up. He completed 5 passes on those 8 blitzes for 82 yards.
- Stefon Diggs was the Number 1 receiver in the NFL this week for Yards After Catch with 63 yards.
- Josh McDaniels called for play-action passes on 41.8% of the pass plays. That’s the highest % all season. Maye was 11 of 13 on play-action passes for 126 yards. This was remarkable given the fact that the running backs averaged a little over 3 yards per carry and never really established the run.
- In the last 9 games, dating back through the playoffs and the end of the regular season, the Bills had just 1 turnover total. The Patriots made them turn over the ball 3 times on Sunday. Last season, the Bills’ running backs fumbled only once all season.
- The Bills went 27 games in a row winning the turnover battle, before succumbing to the Pats 3-1 Sunday night.
- Drake Maye is only the 2nd QB in NFL history with 4 or more consecutive games with 200+ passing yards, 73.3 Completion%, and a QB Rating of 100+. The other was the GOAT, Tom Brady.
- Sunday Night’s two-game winning streak is the 1st since 2022.
- After five weeks, Maye is now sixth in Expected Points Added (EPA) per drop-back (+0.29), and following another turnover-free performance, Maye is now the ninth-best in turnover-worthy play rate among 33 qualified QBs (2.0%).
- Evan Lazar of Patriots.com provided these nuggets: “On Sunday night, the Bills faced the second-highest rate of man coverage they’ve seen this season (41%), while the Pats also played two-thirds of Buffalo’s pass plays in single-high safety shells. By mostly playing with an extra hat in the box vs. the run, New England shut down Buffalo’s rushing attack, holding the Bills to season lows in rushing success rate (33.3%) and expected points added per rush on non-scrambles (-0.38 EPA per rush). New England limited the Bills on the ground by playing with aggressive front mechanics mostly out of their base over fronts (4-3). The Pats played 14 snaps in base defense, their most since Week 1, matching Buffalo’s heavy personnel groupings with base 68.4% of the time.”
- Lazar added another point, “(Allen) time to throw (3.27s) was higher than usual, as he looked to extend plays and had to throw downfield more often, which limited Buffalo’s explosive YAC weapons to just 4.6 YAC/catch (7.0-yard average entering Week 5).” You give an NFL QB 3.27 seconds to throw, they are going to chew you up.”
- Drake Maye was 8 of 10 on throws 10+ yards downfield last night. He now leads the league in completion rate on those throws at 68.8% (33-of-48).
- James Cook was averaging over 100 yards a game through the 1st 4 games. He had 15 carries for 49 yards rushing, and zero catches.
- Through 5 games, the Patriots have limited the Opponents’ leading running back to less than 50 yards a game.
- Here is another Tom Brady / Drake Maye comparison:
- 30 Pass Attempts
- 273 Pass Yards
- 55.9% Pass Success%
- Game-Winning Drive
First Patriots QB to do all of that in a game since Tom Brady in the 2018 AFCCG @ KC
Comings and Goings
Patriots sign runningback to Practice squad
The New England Patriots have signed running back Jashaun Corbin to the practice squad, adding depth to their running back roster following the injury to veteran Antonio Gibson.
Corbin, 25, has previously spent time with the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, and Atlanta Falcons. Corbin was selected to the All UFL Team in 2025 playing for the for the San Antonio Brahmas. He led the league in rushing yards (515 yards, 5.3 yards per carry). The Patriots have also released offensive lineman Royce Newman from the practice squad to make room for Corbin’s signing.
This signing sets up the elevation of Terrell Jennings from the Practice Squad and gives the Patriots time to evaluate Corbin and other players, without making a commitment to the 53-man roster,
Damien Martinez, RB Miami, and a 7th round pick of Seattle this year, was in for a Tryout. I’m shocked they didn’t sign him to the Practice Squad. He is a player I highlighted in my draft work that would be ideal for the Pats. The combination of youth (entering the NFL at just 21) and production efficiency (maintaining 6.2 YPC over 514 career carries), along with his size (6′, 217 lbs) and 4.51 speed, would have been ideal for the Patriots. Martinez did have 5 fumbles in 514 carries, but none in 2024 while playing for the University of Miami.
NFL Draft Buzz had this to say about Martinez “Martinez thrives in downhill, gap-scheme offenses where his patience, vision, and punishing running style create maximum impact. Watching his tape reveals a back who understands how to set up blocks and exploit defensive overcommitment – a trait that translates well to the NFL level.”
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Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
