It’s time to put a bow on the mini-bye.

Following their Thursday night loss to the Chicago Bears, the New England Patriots (4-3) looked ahead to a 10-day break in action before an AFC East contest with the Miami Dolphins (1-5) in South Beach. The additional time gave New England an extended opportunity to glance inward, and examine the strengths and weaknesses of their first two months of regular games. 

With clear areas to build upon, several more to rectify, and a future outlook that may be brighter than what’s previously been put on tape, we take a closer look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Patriots’ first seven contests of the fall:

The Good

Drake "MVP" Maye

Following a difficult three-game stretch to begin regular season play, Drake Maye has returned to form as one of the elite at the quarterback position around the NFL — and reclaimed his status as the engineer of New England’s offensive success. 

In Weeks 1-3, Maye totaled just two offensive touchdowns and accounted for seven giveaways, including three interceptions in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ season-opening loss at the Seattle Seahawks and another two — plus an unforced fumble lost — in a blowout loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

From Weeks 4-7, Maye turned up the dial to 11. He threw for 300-plus yards twice after recording just one such game in his career prior, and is currently on a streak of four consecutive games with three-plus total touchdowns. He completed 90-of-134 passing attempts (67.2%) with 1,199 yards, 14 total touchdowns, two interceptions, a passer rating of 119.0, and an EPA/play of +0.41 during that span. 

Maye’s total touchdowns, passer rating, and EPA/play are all league-best marks over the course of the past month. On the season, he leads all quarterbacks in 20-plus yard completions (15), yards (517), and touchdowns (six).

His success has come regardless of coverage, pressure, or supporting cast — without the contributors that helped lift the team to great heights last fall, nor anything of significance from his top option(s) along the boundary. Maye has once again proven that he is a player who elevates those around him.

Applying Pressure

Zak Kuhr’s first season as the team’s full-time defensive coordinator has gotten off to a hot start, especially in the backfield for opposing passers.

Kuhr’s attacking front-seven philosophy turned heads in the 2025 postseason with a league-high blitz rate (43.9%) and pressure rate (50.9%), which led to high marks in sacks (13), tackles for loss (23), and takeaways (six).

It’s been more of the same to begin 2026 — and has helped turn a previous weakness into one of the Patriots’ greatest defensive strengths. Through seven weeks of the regular season, New England ranks fourth in the NFL in blitz rate (40.3%) and pressure rate (42.7%, per SūmerSports), and have done so without the services of either of their top pass-rushers from 2025. 

A second-year breakout from Elijah Ponder (team-high 5.5 sacks, 26 pressures) and immediate impact from rookie Gabe Jacas (team-high 17.6% pass-rush win-rate, 21 pressures). They've been paired with a rotating dial of exotic coverages and blitzers from the second and third levels that have constantly changed the pre-and-post snap pictures for opposing offenses, slowing their processing speed and allowing the rush to get home at a high rate.

Coverage Kings

Even in the wake of a devastating number of injuries, one of the Patriots’ more reliable units on a weekly basis has been in the secondary — led by one of the NFL’s elite cornerbacks, Christian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez has been worth every penny he got paid on a lucrative extension at the beginning of the regular season. He’s allowed just 13 receptions on 24 targets (54.2% reception rate), 129 yards, no touchdowns, four pass breakups, and has accounted for a passer rating against of 69.6 while shadowing some of the league’s top wideouts in five games played.

A valuable chess piece like Gonzalez has enabled New England to play man-to-man coverages at the second-highest rate in the league (37.1%, per SūmerSports) and unlock those pressure packages, but it hasn’t just been their top corner who’s delivered. When Carlton Davis III has been active, he’s been largely excellent (86.8 passer rating against) — but with just three games played, more has been placed on Charles Woods to step up.

After a difficult preseason, Woods has done just that. He’s allowed 13 receptions on 23 targets (56.5%), 125 yards, one touchdown, registered his first career interception, two pass breakups, and accounts for a passer rating against of just 68.2 — becoming a dependable second option opposite Gonzalez to mitigate the impact of rampant injuries in the secondary.

With Marcus Jones (one interception, one pass breakup, and one sack) used all over the formation, and Kevin Byard III (two pass breakups) and Craig Woodson (one interception) roaming over-the-top, this is one of the most diverse and versatile units the Patriots field each Sunday — and enables them to play aggressively up-front.

The Bad

Finding Balance

New England has worked diligently to find balance on offense with a stable running game, but outside of Maye’s individual contributions (38 rushes, 211 yards, two touchdowns), it hasn’t been all that consistent.

Rhamondre Stevenson (77 rushes, 285 yards, two touchdowns) leads the team in rushing, but ranks 37th in the NFL in rushing success rate (37.7%, per SūmerSports). TreVeyon Henderson (52 rushes, 203 yards, one touchdown) ranks 33rd (38.5%), but his EPA/rush lands just 56th (-0.25) among running backs with at least 25 touches, while Stevenson ranks 29th at -0.09. Corey Kiner (35 rushes, 151 yards) leads the way in success rate (42.9%), but falls between the two in EPA/rush (-0.19, 51st).

Not inspiring numbers from any of the Patriots’ running backs, but Maye’s effectiveness as a scrambler has helped mask many of those deficiencies. New England ranks eighth in rushing attempts per game (29.1), 11th in yards per game (122.0), and 13th in yards per carry (4.2), while registering the 17th-best EPA/rush (-0.07) and 19th-highest success rate (41.2%). They’ve averaged 1.27 yards before contact per rush (16th) and 2.92 yards after contact per rush (15th) as a team.

Higher rushing totals against weaker run defense units from Weeks 4-6 helped boost those numbers, but their deficiencies in establishing the ground game were ever-present in their Week 7 loss in Chicago. The Patriots will need to find better balance offensively to further supplement Maye’s effectiveness as a passer in the critical moments of games that lie ahead.

Plugging the Gaps

Much like the New England offense, their defense has struggled to establish dominance at the point of attack on a regular basis.

On the surface, the Patriots’ 95.3 rushing yards against per game (eighth lowest in the NFL) may paint the picture of a unit that’s stifled the opposition’s ground game, but many of the other metrics tell a different story. New England ranks in the lower-third in EPA/rush allowed (-0.03, 23rd) and rushing success rate against (45.3%, 27th), and has been one of the NFL’s worst at stuffing runs. 

Their 16.9% stuffed run rate ranks 31st in the league (per PFF), while their middling missed tackle rate (15.5%, 15th) and yards allowed before contact (3.2, 26th) have each taken hits in recent weeks.

Previously viewed as a strength of the team, each of the Patriots’ interior defenders have struggled to maintain control at the line of scrimmage. Milton Williams (59.8 run defense grade, 51st of 126 interior defensive linemen), Christian Barmore (50.2, 85th), Cory Durden (33.6, 120th), and DaQuan Jones (30.0, 124th) have all been ineffective as the first line of defense, placing more pressure on Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss to force stops from the second level.

Each of Spillane (55.0 run defense grade, 58th of 73 linebackers) and Elliss (74.3, 13th) have been serviceable on that end, but carry too much of the burden for the front-seven as a whole. New England needs more significant contributions from their defensive line to force opponents into a dropback passing game — where they’ve feasted on cutting drives short with the ninth-best conversion rate allowed (36.1%) in the NFL.

Inconsistent Connections

Through Maye’s recent resurgence as a passer, it was expected that more consistent connections would develop with his downfield targets. That hasn’t been the case. 

With A.J. Brown, Mack Hollins, and Romeo Doubs each in-and-out of the lineup to begin the season, Kyle Williams has had plenty of opportunity to see an increased snap and target share, but the production hasn’t followed. Williams has registered just six receptions on 12 targets, 147 yards, and one touchdown while appearing in all seven games to begin the season.

Now that Brown is back, chemistry between the quarterback and his top-flight receiver has been slow to develop — with just six receptions on 16 targets and 75 yards over the last two games to show for it. 

Most of the Patriots’ passing game production has come from receiving targets between-the-hashes of late. Each of Hunter Henry (26 receptions, 296 yards, two touchdowns), Eli Raridon (12 receptions, 168 yards, two touchdowns) and DeMario Douglas (23 receptions, 256 yards, three touchdowns) have had their moments, but only Henry has been a constant producer on a weekly basis. Stevenson has also been leaned on as a checkdown option; he ranks third behind Henry and Douglas in receptions (20) and fourth in receiving yards (204), and has added one touchdown receiving.

Maye has done well to distribute the ball indiscriminately to a rotating cast of bodies on the outside, but more stable results will be needed from those at the top ranks of the Patriots’ skill positions in the latter stages of the season. 

The Ugly

Turnover Differential

A shaky start to 2026 offensively put New England behind the eight-ball in turnover differential, but the continued absence of takeaways and further giveaways via fumbles and interceptions have compounded the issue. 

The Patriots’ 14 offensive giveaways rank second-to-last in the NFL, as does their minus-seven turnover differential.  Their seven takeaways as a defense is tied for 20th.

One of the greatest metrics of team success, they’ll need to clean things up on offense in a hurry, and be more opportunistic on the defensive side of the ball. Generating more takeaways would create advantageous positions for the offense to begin possessions in — reducing the need for long, sustained drives to put points up on the scoreboard. It was a major point of emphasis entering the year, but has yet to yield results in live action.

That brand of complementary football has been evident in spurts, but rarely maintained throughout the course of an entire game this season. It will be a necessity as the stakes become greater and the playoffs approach. 

Injury Woes

A constant thorn in New England’s side has been an unavoidable injury bug that has plagued the team since the early summer program. After placing just 16 players on injured reserve in all of 2025, the Patriots have already seen 21 contributors land on the list this fall. 

Romeo Doubs and Alijah Vera-Tucker were the most recent additions to IR, and join a host of others that figured to play integral parts of the team’s success in the regular season. Not included on that list is Harold Landry, who has remained on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list after finishing last season as New England’s most productive pass-rusher. 

While many of the Patriots’ injuries are not considered to be season-ending, they’ll quickly run into the challenge of managing a roster with a slimming number of designations to return from injured reserve. Granted eight of those spots to begin the season, New England has already used three on A.J. Brown, Marcus Bryant, and Brenden Schooler. 

The complicated calculations needed for the remaining five return designations have already taken their first casualty, with punter Bryce Baringer released earlier this week. 

Romeo Doubs, Reggie Gilliam, Mack Hollins, Quintayvious Hutchins, Khalil Jacobs, Harold Landry, Mike Onwenu, Dell Pettus, and Greg Van Roten are all still eligible to return, leaving the Patriots with several more difficult roster construction decisions to make in the coming weeks.

Looking Ahead

There have been several highs and lows for New England en route to a 4-3 record to begin the 2026 regular season. Those lows are largely correctable, and have already been on display through a three-game winning streak in October and one closely-fought loss under the lights in the windy city. With a trip to Miami on deck, the Patriots will have another chance to rectify their recent woes and establish more clear-cut strengths against a team that’s struggled to establish their own identity through the first two months of the fall.

What do you think New England’s greatest strengths and weaknesses have been through the first two months of the 2026 regular season? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation on Patriots Roundtable.

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- Drake Maye Dismantled the Bears’ Defense in Spite of Patriots’ Loss

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