On Sunday evening, the New England Patriots picked up one of the more impressive wins of this young NFL season with a road victory over the Buffalo Bills by a score of 23-20. The Patriots were able to overcome a hostile crowd and some questionable officiating, picking up a huge road win over their divisional rivals.
New England won this game courtesy of a late drive orchestrated by Drake Maye, which was capped off by a field goal from Andres Borregales that was drilled right through the uprights with plenty of room to spare.
After the game, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel got candid about how the team was able to execute the kick correctly despite the influx of blocked field goals around the league so far this year.
“They really just bought into it. The pad level, every single rep — when you think, in the middle of practice, they could get lazy. So we asked them to focus on it. We asked them to treat each kick like it was a game-winner all week,” said Vrabel, per Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team on X, formerly Twitter.
A huge win for the Patriots
Up until Week 5, it had been difficult to get an accurate read on the New England Patriots this season. On the one hand, Drake Maye has looked like a potential future star at times, with the team recently putting 42 points on the Carolina Panthers. On the other, the Patriots had suffered puzzling losses to the Las Vegas Raiders and very nearly dropped a game to the lowly Miami Dolphins.
However, any doubt about New England's legitimacy as a potential playoff team were erased with the game on Sunday night, knocking off a Bills team that many project will go to the Super Bowl this year.
Making matters even more exciting for the Patriots is that the Bills game was the only contest in the first half of their season against an average or better opponent, and their remarkably easy schedule will continue with upcoming games against the New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans, and Cleveland Browns over the next three weeks.
