10 Key Takeaways from the New England Patriots’ Resilient Victory at the Buffalo Bills

Resilience. Toughness. Finish.

Those same characteristics that were absent from the New England Patriots’ (2-2) recent defeats were ubiquitous in the team’s signature 29-26 victory over the Buffalo Bills (3-1) at Highmark Stadium on Sunday afternoon. New England’s most complete performance of the 2026 regular season wasn’t perfect, but complementary football and an unwavering resolve helped the shorthanded Patriots come up with the timely conversions and key stops necessary to place the first blemish on Buffalo’s campaign — closing the gap in the race for the AFC East and altering the future outlook of a team that had been faltering through the first month of action.

Here are 10 key takeaways from New England’s upset win over the Bills in Orchard Park:

Drake Maye’s confidence — or lack thereof — became a national storyline this week following another tumultuous Week 3 Patriots’ loss. In order for New England to outlast Buffalo on Sunday, he needed to put those concerns to bed. 

He did just that.

Maye’s performance on Sunday wasn’t flawless — he turned the ball over twice in the second quarter (once on a strip sack and later on an interception in the closing moments of the first half) — but unlike last week, the 24-year-old found the fortitude to push forward, and saved his best for when it was needed most. 

Maye navigated pocket well throughout the game, and was responsible for several key conversions with his arm and his legs. He engineered separate scoring drives of 12 plays, 97 yards; 14 plays, 73 yards; and 8 plays, 73 yards to help the Patriots maintain control of the scoreboard and the pace of the contest throughout. Maye's developing rapport with New England’s receiving corps took center stage in the game’s most critical moments, as did his composure. 

After finishing the first half 8-of-15 passing with 110 yards, one touchdown, one sack, one interception, one lost fumble, and and EPA/pass of -0.07 (per SūmerSports), Maye found new life and put together a second half showing to remember — he completed 14-of-22 passes with 158 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers, no sacks, and an EPA/pass of +0.41. Also making effective use of his scrambling abilities, Maye was the Patriots’ leading rusher with eight carries and 54 yards rushing. He totaled 322 yards of offense and accounted for three of New England’s four touchdowns — none larger than his late fourth-quarter connection with Efton Chism III

Maye stood tall through an ever-present Bills’ pass-rush that featured effective defensive line stunts and timely blitzes. When under pressure (on 18 dropbacks, 42.9%), Maye completed 6-of-13 passes with 66 yards passing, two touchdowns, no interceptions, held an adjusted completion percentage of 75.0%, scrambled four times, picked up six first downs, and registered a passer rating of 101.3 (per PFF). When blitzed (20 snaps, 47.8%), Maye completed 11-of-18 attempts with 156 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, held an adjusted completion percentage of 75.3%, picked up 11 first downs, and registered a passer rating of 128.7.

On the day, Maye only committed one turnover-worthy play and recorded a pressure-to-sack rate of just 5.6% — even while aggressively pushing the ball downfield with an Average Depth of Target (ADoT) of 12.3 yards. Each were good for his best marks on the season.

Whether it was backed up in the shadow of their own goal posts early, needing a score to reclaim the lead late, or a third-down conversion to seal the win, the Patriots turned to their young star quarterback to make a play.

He delivered. 

When New England was in need of crucial conversions on the game-winning drive, they turned to an unlikely spark of offense: second-year undrafted free agent Efton Chism III.

Seeing a much larger snap-share due to Mack Hollins’ early exit from the contest with a left calf injury, Chism made the most of his expanded opportunity in crunch time. 

Used primarily as a blocker in the run game with in-line concepts similar to Hollins' in the second half, Chism only registered two receptions in the game — but made a dent in Buffalo’s chances of winning with each. Both of his catches came on the game-winning touchdown drive. The first was a 2nd-and-10 conversion that pushed the ball into scoring position: Chism won on a deep in-cut and climbed the ladder to haul in a pass from Maye for a gain of 19 yards down to the Bills’ 28-yard-line.

Then came the dagger.

With 1:50 remaining in regulation and the Patriots facing a 26-21 deficit, Buffalo sent safety Damar Hamlin on a slot blitz over the left side of New England’s offensive line. Maye recognized the hot rusher immediately, rolled to his right, and heaved up a prayer down the right sideline, targeting Chism in the end zone. Blanketed by Davison Igbinosun, Chism reached out his right arm and hauled in the score one-handed to put the Patriots back on top. A miraculous finish to a possession that Chism helped sustain on multiple occasions — ultimately leading to the game’s final tally, 29-26.

On the outside, Chism’s late involvement may come as a surprise, but not to those within the walls of Gillette Stadium. Notoriously one of the hardest workers in the building, Chism’s expanded opportunity and production were just a matter of time — and the timing couldn’t have been better.

Maye’s late-game heroics with Chism will steal headlines, but his growing chemistry with the rest of New England’s receiving corps shouldn’t be overlooked.

That sentiment rung especially true with Romeo Doubs, who had entered the contest with six receptions on 11 targets and was on the wrong end of several timely drops through the first three weeks of the regular season.

Doubs’ one blunder in this game did lead to points for the Bills amidst a massive momentum swing to end the first half, but didn't outweigh his most consistently impactful performance as a member of the Patriots. One play after New England forced a fumble to regain possession with 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Doubs reached down to haul-in a low pass from Maye on a short slant route; he rolled in an attempt to secure the catch, but the ball popped up out of his hands and into the arms of cornerback Dee Alford, who returned the interception to the Patriots’ 9-yard-line. Buffalo immediately tacked three points onto the scoreboard and entered the break with a 17-14 lead — their first of the game.

Aside from the mishap, Doubs was largely excellent. He caught six of his nine targets, gained 68 receiving yards, converted two fourth-downs, and scored two touchdowns against the Bills.

His first fourth-down conversion came on New England’s first possession of the game; Maye found an open Doubs for a hole-shot against Cover 2 to gain 15-yards down to the Buffalo 14-yard-line on 4th-and-3. His first touchdown came on the very next play, as the Patriots ran a fake-screen, wheel concept from a 3x1 formation and Doubs worked alone against cornerback Maxwell Hairston on the back-side of the play. The Bills’ Cover 3 took away Maye’s initial read, but he worked his way through the progression and back to Doubs, who boxed-out Hairston one-on-one on a deep in-cut in the end zone to score. The play capped off a 12 play, 97-yard drive for New England, and put them up 7-0 on the scoreboard.

Doubs’ second fourth-down conversion and touchdown also came on the same drive, and once again put the Patriots ahead on the scoreboard. On the opening possession of the third quarter, Doubs won on an out-breaking route against Hairston near the sideline to pick up nine yards on 4th-and-2 and pushed the ball inside the Buffalo 8-yard-line. On 2nd-and-Goal from the Bills’ 2-yard-line, Maye went back to the Doubs-Hairston well for a third time, and it paid off with a highlight-reel one-handed touchdown reception on a fade route to the back-right corner of the end zone. New England took a 21-17 lead early in the second-half as a result.

Elsewhere, Maye continued his strong rapport with Hollins (pre-injury) to the tune of three catches on four targets and 53 receiving yards, including chunk gains of 26-yards and 19-yards to pick up first downs. 

Hunter Henry was also in on the action much more consistently than in his previous outings. The veteran tight end hauled in all five of his targets, gained 62 yards, and was on the receiving end of Maye’s 3rd-and-10 play-action boot to put the game to bed with 49 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and no timeouts left for the Bills.

Much greater efficiency from Maye and his pass-catching targets led to critical conversions throughout the course of Sunday’s win. A nice step in the right direction for the group as a whole.

While the Patriots’ passing game began to find their rhythm, the rushing attack has taken longer to gain ground. Still, Sunday presented some positive developments in that area, too — particularly with Maye’s ability to extend plays.

Maye’s 54 rushing yards were a team-high, and his 6.8 yards per carry on eight rushes helped push New England over 4.0 yards per carry as a team. He nearly scored a touchdown on a 26-yard scramble in the second quarter that featured a key block from Chism to spring the elusive quarterback down the sideline and inside the one-yard line.

Outside of his contributions, the Patriots once again struggled to generate explosives on the ground — but their commitment to the run helped open other opportunities for the offense.

Rhamondre Stevenson (13 carries, 47 yards, one touchdown, 3.6 yards per carry) and TreVeyon Henderson (14 carries, 42 yards, 3.0 yards per carry) failed to make a major dent in the Buffalo front-seven for the vast majority of the day, but New England’s steady dosage of under-center plays (56.1%) helped open up opportunities off of play-action for Maye to dissect the secondary from.

Of the Patriots’ 35 rushing attempts, 21 came in the second-half and 12 came with an additional offensive linemen in the game (Caleb Lomu). New England found much more success running over the left side of the offensive line, which was to be expected considering New England’s severe injury situation at right guard and Morgan Moses’ lingering foot issue at right tackle.

In the win, Stevenson passed Curtis Martin (3,799) for fourth-place on the Patriots’ all-time leading rushers list and currently sits at 3,832 rushing yards. His two-point conversion in the fourth quarter also broke a tie with wide receivers Gino Cappelletti, Julian Edelman, and Jakobi Meyers (four) for the most two-point conversions in New England’s franchise history.

As a team, the Patriots rushed 35 times for 143 yards and one touchdown against Buffalo, but gaining ground more consistently will be a key to finding true offensive balance moving forward.

Sunday’s win over the Bills was a relatively good game for another new-look offensive line for New England, although the pressure numbers won’t represent it.

After placing both Mike Onwenu and Greg Van Roten on injured reserve in consecutive weeks, the Patriots turned to 2025 super-substitute Ben Brown at right guard for the first time in his Foxboro tenure. It was Brown’s first start at right guard for the Patriots after previously starting 10 games at left guard and four at center. Brown allowed three pressures on the day and notably got walked back into Maye’s lap by the Bills’ Landon Jackson to cause his second quarter fumble, but was otherwise serviceable — as had become his expectation in relief of others last fall.

Left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker was beat by defensive tackle Ed Oliver on that play as well, and was credited with a sack for it. He allowed four pressures and three hurries in pass protection, but was much more effective as a run-blocker for New England.

Similarly, left tackle Will Campbell’s box score figures marked his worst outing of 2026 — he allowed five pressures (no sacks) and posted a pass-blocking efficiency grade of 94.0% while facing off with the NFL’s current sack leader, Gregory Rousseau, and Bradley Chubb interchangeably.

To combat an aggressive Buffalo pass-rush and compensate for the loss of Eli Raridon (ankle), the Patriots turned to a strategy that served them well late in the 2025 regular season: six offensive linemen sets. First-round pick Caleb Lomu got the nod to fill that role on 20 snaps against the Bills, including eight snaps on New England’s 14-play drive to open the second-half. Lomu allowed no pressures as a pass-protector, and frequently flanked Campbell in run-blocking — forming a strong left side of the offensive line that the Patriots tried to establish the run behind.

The tackle-eligible gameplan wrinkle helped generate several of the team’s larger rushes, and also gave Maye a much cleaner pocket to work within — even with a sustained high pressure-rate. They’re not fully absolved of any wrong-doing on Sunday, but it was a much better outing than they’ve had in recent weeks.

Without Christian Gonzalez in the lineup on Sunday, containing Josh Allen and Buffalo’s passing arsenal was set to be an increased challenge. It was one that New England passed with flying colors, and with a much different philosophy in coverage than early-season tendencies would have suggested.

Through the first three weeks of the fall, the Patriots ran the third-highest percentage of man coverage snaps in the NFL (38.5%) and their zone coverage rate dropped to 55.8% — last in the league. Gonzalez’s excellence was a key cog in that gameplan, allowing just six receptions on 17 targets (35.3% catch rate), 38 yards (6.3 yards per reception), breaking up four passes, and accounting for a passer rating against of just 44.0 (per PFF). 

His absence was a key in changing the approach, but it wasn’t the only factor — as evidenced by New England’s switch to primarily zone coverages against a mobile Trevor Lawrence in Week 3, when their man coverage rate dropped to just 29.0% in the game. 

An increase in zone coverage was used once again this week, and its effects were two-fold: compensating for the loss of Gonzalez, and neutralizing the threat of Allen’s legs. 

Against the Bills, New England ran 72.2% of their defensive dropback snaps in zone coverage, as opposed to just 27.8% in man-to-man (per SūmerSports). As previously anticipated in our defensive game preview, the Patriots specialized in Cover 3 (12 attempts), keeping an extra zone defender underneath with eyes on Allen — and eventually, forcing him into a critical mistake late. Against Cover 3, Allen completed 10-of-12 passes with 71 yards, one interception, one sack, and registered a negative EPA/play of -0.20. 

New England used Cover 1 (eight attempts), Cover 2 (six attempts), and Cover 4 (four attempts) as their most frequent change-ups, mixing the pre-and-post-snap looks up for Allen on a regular basis and keeping him from keying in on any one coverage tendency.

As a result, Allen was largely ineffective at using his legs to extend plays. His final box score numbers may look decent in terms of efficiency — 23-of-33 passing, 253 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a passer rating of 89.6 — but the greater indicator of success lies within the rushing totals: five carries, four yards, and one touchdown (on a tush push in the second quarter).

Allen still found ways to make a splash with individual plays, but that’s expected for a player of his stature. A +0.05 EPA/pass and -0.17 EPA/rush illustrates his ineffectiveness on a per-snap basis over the course of the entire game, and calls to attention the successful gameplan head coach Mike Vrabel and defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr dialed-up to stop one of the NFL’s elite gunslingers.

Paired with the Patriots’ heavy-use of zone coverage was a vast reduction in blitz calls — but the pressure package still found ways to get home in key moments of the game.

Entering Sunday, New England ranked third in the league with a 43.8% blitz-rate, which dropped to just 30.8% when they took the field at Highmark Stadium. Blitzing Allen went as-expected: he completed 8-of-10 passes with 88 yards, was sacked once, and registered a passer rating of 103.3 (per PFF). A veteran presence under-center, Allen was able to diagnose the blitz and pick apart the vacancies downfield.

The Patriots' most effective pressure package was with their front-four. Generating pressure at a 30.6% clip with repeated defensive line stunts, New England held Allen to just 3-of-9 passing, 77 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, a 14.3% turnover-worthy play rate, and a passer rating of 25.9 when under pressure.

Led by rookie edge rusher Gabe Jacas’ career-best 28.2% pass-rush win-rate, the Patriots had four defensive linemen with over a 10.0% mark in that category: Jacas, Dre’Mont Jones (22.2%), Joshua Farmer (16.7%), and Milton Williams (10.0%). Second-year edge rusher Elijah Ponder trailed just behind the pack at 9.1%, but registered the team’s lone sack, bending around left tackle Dion Dawkins at the onset of Buffalo’s second drive.

Jacas also put the usually-steady Dawkins on his highlight reel, plowing straight through the five-time Pro Bowler to pressure Allen in his own end zone in the third quarter. Jacas registered a team-best three pressures and 89.1 pass-rush grade, per PFF, in his most complete performance to date. An encouraging sign of things to come for the rookie.

In addition to the outstanding outing New England’s defense put together against Allen and the Bills’ passing attack, they were also able to bottle-up running back James Cook for the vast majority of the game.

The NFL’s 2025 rushing title-holder with 1,621 yards and current yards per carry leader (6.0) may have respectable numbers in the final stat sheet — 12 carries, 75 yards (6.3 yards per carry), and one touchdown — but those were greatly skewed by a string of three carries for 35 yards to start the fourth quarter.

Aside from those three attempts, Cook carried the ball nine times for 40 yards (4.4 yards per carry), and the Patriots were largely able to deter Buffalo from their usual commitment to the ground game.

A concern in that area entering the day was Christian Barmore’s inactive status — New England’s most productive interior defensive lineman this fall was ruled out on Friday with a shoulder injury. Rather than Barmore’s absence being felt, it was the re-emergence of Craig Woodson that made the difference on a variety of fronts.

Woodson missed Week 3 with a shoulder injury, forcing the Patriots to run a much higher percentage of base defense and less nickel (topped the NFL with 89.6%) with a thin group of safeties last week. With his return, the Patriots’ returned to nickel at a 72.2% clip, while even while the Bills ran out of 12 personnel four times (25 yards) and 13 personnel five times (14 yards).

One week removed from a 33-rush, 176 yard showing, New England held Buffalo to 20 rushing attempts and 91 total team rushing yards — a massive win that made the Bills one-dimensional offensively and limited their use of the engine of their production the last two-plus seasons.

The Patriots were able to weather the storm of several momentum swings in Orchard Park with complementary football and great improvements situationally.

That began at the beginning of the game and extended into the deep waters of a one-possession contest that featured two fourth-quarter lead changes.

To open up the action on Sunday afternoon, the Bills won the coin toss and elected to receive. They promptly went three-and-out, and New England responded with a 12 play, 97-yard touchdown drive to jump on-top, 7-0. Buffalo tied the game on their next possession, then forced a turnover with Maye’s second-quarter strip sack to take the ball back with an opportunity to go ahead.

That drive resulted in another three-and-out, and the Patriots marched six plays, 63 yards to jump back in front, 14-7. Allen and the Bills’ offense responded to that score with one of their own yet again, and after forcing a three-and-out of their own, reclaimed possession with another chance to pull ahead.

New England’s defense responded with a takeaway on the second play of the drive, as Carlton Davis forced a fumble on Khalil Shakir that was recovered by Elijah Ponder to regain possession for the Patriots with 16 seconds remaining. Doubs’ wonky interception followed, and gifted Buffalo their first lead of the game, 17-14, to head into halftime up on the scoreboard.

The Patriots mounted a 14-play, 73-yard touchdown drive to go up 21-17 at the beginning of the third quarter, then their defense forced another three-and-out. The next time Buffalo got the ball back? Three-and-out. 

Up until the fourth quarter, the Bills had five offensive drives where they could have taken the lead — each of them resulted in either a three-and-out or takeaway (with the exception of the end-of-half one play field goal). Three of them featured scores in return by New England.

Buffalo took their most significant lead of the game with 4:27 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 34-yard strike from Allen to wide receiver Keon Coleman to move out in-front, 26-21. Maye and the Patriots’ offense then mounted the eight-play, 73-yard game-winning touchdown drive.

Just one week after an 0-for-3 red zone showing from the offense and an 0-for-5 red zone showing from the defense, New England converted on all three of their trips into the red zone and held the Bills to just 2-for-4 inside the 20-yard-line. The Patriots’ defense registered two takeaways and forced four three-and-outs while holding Buffalo to just 6-of-12 on third-down in the game.

A greatly improved, situationally-sound football team was on display for the NFL to see on Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, and it was a complementary effort on both sides of the football that got it done — especially in the final stand to seal the victory late.

After New England’s go-ahead touchdown put them up 29-26 late in the fourth quarter, Allen and the Bills’ offense were granted one more opportunity to tie or take the lead.

With 1:42 remaining, the ball on their own 24-yard-line, and two timeouts in their back pocket, Allen needed to gain roughly 35 yards to reach the edge of field goal range and knot the score at 29. He quickly rattled off 16 yards and pushed the ball out to the 40, but then the closer stepped in.

On Buffalo’s previous drive, safety Craig Woodson was responsible for helping cornerback Charles Woods over the deep middle-third of the field in Cover 1, but bit down on a route underneath the play and left the replacement defensive back on an island downfield. Keon Coleman was the greatest beneficiary of that blunder, scoring on a 34-yard pass from Allen on a post into the end zone.

This time, Woodson was redeemed. Dre’Mont Jones shook free and unabated to the quarterback on an interior defensive line stunt, but Allen bounced right off of the would-be sack and flung a pass down the left sideline to Joshua Palmer against Cover 3. Marcus Jones was in direct coverage on the play, but a roaming Woodson broke early on the pass and undercut the throw, hauling in an interception that removed any aspirations of a comeback for Allen and the Bills.

New England needed one more first down to ice the game, and turned to Maye’s arm on second and third-and-long to get it done. On 3rd-and-10 with 53 seconds left, Maye booted out to his right and connected with Hunter Henry for the first-down that sealed the win.

A redemption arc emblematic of the Patriots’ highs and lows to begin the year, all transpiring within the final moments of a signature victory in Buffalo.

Sunday afternoon’s win over the Bills was more than just a “W” in the win column for New England. It was representative of the team’s ability to battle through and overcome adversity — something that they’ve come face-to-face with each week since the regular season kicked off. This particular win was a reversal of fortune, and perhaps, fate, for a team that was in desperate need of hope after starting the season 1-2. Much like 2025, a trip to Orchard Park to knock off an undefeated Buffalo squad changes the forecast of the weeks ahead for the Patriots. Now just one game back in the race for the AFC East, the 2026 season has new life, and greener pastures lie ahead.

What were your takeaways from New England’s upset victory at Buffalo on Sunday? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation on Patriots Roundtable.

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