The Patriots offense broke out at a perfect time in a 29-26 victory over the Bills in Buffalo on Sunday to, at least for a week, stem the tide after a rocky first three games of the season.

Things got awfully loud around here, with local and national pundits publishing daily think pieces on what was wrong with Drake Maye and the Patriots offense. Some felt it was mostly on Maye for his turnover-prone play, and some found faults in OC Josh McDaniels's play design, while others blamed a short-handed supporting cast without star WR A.J. Brown. Whatever your conclusion, everyone had an opinion on why New England's offense managed to score only two touchdowns in its first three games.

As always, football is a team sport. When things go poorly, it's all 11 players on the field and coaches on the sideline who need to pull harder on the rope. On Sunday, the Pats found answers together, with McDaniels livening up his play-calling to improve things schematically while Maye had one of his best games since putting himself on the map as an MVP candidate in the 2025 regular season.

Starting with the scheme, the Patriots entered the week near the bottom of the league in many of the "easy buttons" offenses use to stress defenses. The Pats were 29th in play-action rate (20.7%) and last in motion rate (54%). Without the threat of play-action and motion, the Patriots were 31st in EPA from under center (-0.35) through three games, putting much of the offense on Maye's shoulders in a static passing game.

The Patriots were a productive shotgun offense on a per-play basis. Although the turnovers knocked them down to 18th in EPA per shotgun play, which is still better than 31st from under center, New England was averaging 6.9 yards (fifth-best in the NFL) with a seventh-best explosive play rate from the gun in the first three weeks (16.5%). So, what did McDaniels do on Sunday vs. the Bills? You guessed it: a shotgun-heavy opening script and more window dressing, producing a season-high 51.3% success rate from under center.

Along with having Maye in the shotgun on 9-of-12 plays on the Patriots opening drive, including the 14-yard TD pass to WR Romeo Doubs, McDaniels upped the pre-snap motion rate to 75.3% in Week 4, their highest rate in a single game since Week 15, 2023. The Pats were successful on 46.4% of their plays with motion (good!) and they increased their play-action usage to 35.7%, with Maye going 7-of-13 for 85 yards and a touchdown off play-action concepts.

By creating blocking advantages with pre-snap motion, the Patriots run game ranked in the 75th percentile with a 45% rushing success rate in Buffalo. Above, the Pats change the picture by shifting TE Hunter Henry into the formation. Henry adds as a blocker so the right side of the offensive line can block down while LG Alijah Vera-Tucker pulls to the play-side end, and Henry blocks up to the linebacker for an 8-yard gain.

After running several successful trap plays, New England's first play on its game-winning drive was a McDaniels staple. The Pats have Vera-Tucker pull on the run-action to the tight end, the same as the play above, to get the Bills second-level defenders into the line of scrimmage. Then, Henry releases on a crossing route that hits for a 14-yard drive starter.

With McDaniels's adjustments and play-sequencing, Maye looked far more confident in what was going on around him. Maye's trust in the offense's structure to let routes develop while getting through progressions was night and day compared to the first three weeks. As a result, Maye's EPA per drop-back (+0.27) and total EPA (+11.4) were his best single-game outputs since Week 18, 2025 vs. Miami. In my charting, Maye's 16.5 "plus" plays were tied for the most he's had in a game in the last two seasons (Week 16 vs. Baltimore).

Maye still had moments where issues from the first three weeks popped up, especially early in the second quarter, when he had a three-play sequence that went: 1-yard scramble (bailed from a clean pocket), strip-sack fumble, and then an incomplete pass that was nearly another fumble. Still, this was a huge step forward for Maye (+8.5 net, 16.5 plus, 8 minus) and McDaniels, with the former playing close to his best football and the latter awakening a scheme that was taking criticism for being too stale over the last three games. If this is the level of quarterback play and play-calling the Patriots offense is going to get, New England should be in decent shape as it hopefully gets healthier heading into October.

Here's a review of the defense and quick-hit film notes from the Patriots statement win over the Bills in Week 4.

Defense Review: Patriots Force Bills QB Josh Allen to be a 'Check-Down Charlie'

The Patriots defense under play-caller Zak Kuhr is putting some exciting schematic twists on film, which seemed a step ahead of the Bills offense for large stretches on Sunday.

I'm a fan of Bills HC Joe Brady as an offensive play-caller, but Buffalo's game plan was strange. First, the Bills ran RB James Cook only 12 times against a Pats run defense ranked 28th in rush EPA. Cook gained 75 yards on his 12 carries (6.3 average, 8 successful runs, 3 runs of 10+ yards). Yet, the Bills didn't feed him and played 63% of their snaps in 11 personnel (3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB), by far their highest rate of 11p this season.

Heading into Week 4, Buffalo was using multi-tight-end sets at a league-high clip of 56.5%. On Sunday, the Bills used multiple tight ends on just 33.3% of their offensive snaps, with a called pass rate of 64.8% (54.9% over the previous three weeks). My guess is the Bills saw that star CB Christian Gonzalez was out for the Patriots and thought their wideouts could win matchups against New England's depth corners, which was likely just fine with the Pats since they were able to major in three-corner nickel (72.2%).

New England didn't need to play any snaps in three-safety nickel and only had to match the Bills heavy personnel groupings 15 times in base defense (Pats played 27 snaps in base defense vs. the Jags). The Patriots defense over the last year-plus under Vrabel and DC Zak Kuhr is very comfortable in standard nickel, so Buffalo playing mostly out of three-receiver groupings played right into the Patriots hands, even without Gonzalez.

The Pats used a 71.4% zone coverage rate to force QB Josh Allen to be a "check-down Charlie" while also preventing Allen from killing them on scrambles (1 scramble, 4 yards). Nine of Allen's pass attempts were behind the line, and 20 were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage (60.6%). So, even though he was 17-of-20 on short throws, Allen only averaged 5.0 yards per pass attempt on throws under 10 air yards.

For example, Allen averaged just 4.3 air yards per attempt in 12 drop-backs vs. cover three, the Pats most-used coverage. Above, New England runs a "fire" zone where they blitz S Craig Woodson (up the middle) and LB Christian Elliss (off the edge) to stress Buffalo's protection. Allen throws "hot" against the blitz to the back releasing into the flat, but NCB Marcus Jones plays the curl/flat zone to the passing strength, and it's an easy third-down stop.

The Patriots also forced check-downs into some "tricky" cover-two zones. Kuhr and the Pats coaching staff defensively have some of the best tricky cover-two disguises or non-traditional Tampa-2 designs in the league, where they get to cover two structures in unique ways (seven drop-backs).

In this clip, the Pats show a single-high structure pre-snap before rotating into an inverted cover-two, with safeties Craig Woodson and Kevin Byard III down near the line of scrimmage while Jones plays the post. At the snap, Jones bumps over and outside, and CB Charles Woods drops back to play deep zones that split the field in half. Allen wants to work the curl/flat combination up top, but the Pats have it covered, so he comes across the field to take a 4-yard checkdown on first down (win for the defense).

Lastly, the Patriots baited the Bills into throwing a perimeter screen on a 3rd-and-8 in the third quarter, which brought out the boo birds in Buffalo. The Pats show cover zero pre-snap with their mugged-up linebackers and back-end structure. At the snap, they bail out of the pressure look and Allen throws the screen right into a zone coverage for a 1-yard gain. According to Bills C Connor McGovern, Allen checked into the screen (you can see the communication/helmet tap pre-snap). The Pats defense successfully baited the Bills QB into throwing a blitz-beater when the defense wasn't blitzing.

The Patriots coaching staff deserve their flowers for out-foxing Allen and Brady. Kuhr forced Brady into favorable calls for the Pats defense all afternoon, and the Patriots' ability to disguise their zone coverages has been fun to watch. Their "tricky" cover two, cover zero bluffs, and fire zones are really well designed to confuse quarterbacks and funnel throws to areas of the field they're comfortable with.

After three weeks of discussing Maye's impatience, Allen started pressing on Sunday, leading to the game-sealing interception on an ill-advised heave downfield.

Quick-Hit Film Notes from Patriots-Bills

Offense

- Vrabel said "sure, of course. That's what happens," when asked if WR Efton Chism III will get more game reps after his terrific fourth quarter on Sunday. Chism's 23-yard TD gets all the love, as it should, but he also climbed the ladder on a 19-yard deep dig earlier in the drive. Plus, Chism threw a good perimeter block on a 6-yard screen and gave a subtle nudge to Bills S Cole Bishop, putting Bishop a step behind on the 12-yard boot/flat play to Henry that put the game on ice – Chism is a gamer.

- TE Hunter Henry was more involved in the passing game with a season-high five catches for 62 yards. Henry caught a 20-yard sail route, a 14-yard PA crosser, an 8-yard RPO shovel pass, an 8-yard short option route, and sealed the win with a 12-yard boot play. The Pats getting Henry rolling being tied to their best offensive performance doesn't feel like a coincidence.

- WR Mack Hollins continues to be huge for this offense without A.J. Brown. Hollins worked open off-script for Maye on a 26-yard completion and was open in-structure on a dig for a 19-yard catch. Vrabel didn't have an update on Hollins, who left the game early with a calf injury, so we'll need to wait and see about his availability for Week 5.

- WR Romeo Doubs had some good and some bad. He had two drops that led to an interception (Maye partially at fault for a low throw) and an incomplete pass on a perfectly thrown go ball. However, Doubs also had a 14-yard TD on a backside post, a goal-line fade TD, two fourth-down conversions, and caught a 12-yard curl on the GW drive. Doubs' second fourth-down conversion on an out-breaker is notable. That's his best route, but the Pats haven't been able to get him targets on it in the first three weeks. Still areas that need to be cleaned up, but improved with six catches for 58 yards and two touchdowns.

- WR DeMario Douglas had a great toe-tapping third-down conversion on a 10-yard out and sat down underneath a zone coverage for a 5-yard completion. However, Maye's first drop-back of the game might've been a scramble because Douglas broke into the linebackers' inside leverage rather than breaking out on a slot/option route (see audio breakdown).

- RB Rhamondre Stevenson had seven successful runs with duo and trap plays being the run concepts of the day. Stevenson gained 10 yards (short pull) and 8 yards (long pull) on trap schemes. The Pats also rolled out a jumbo package with two tight ends, OT Caleb Lomu eligible, FB Reggie Gilliam, and Stevenson on the field for a 3rd-and-1 conversion – that's old-school football right there to pick up the yard.

- RB TreVeyon Henderson was given a reverse (11 yards), a misdirection toss scheme (8 yards), and had two nice runs on outside zone (8) and duo (6). Henderson had two successful plays on runs outside the tackles, so that was also a good adjustment by McDaniels to keep his speed-back on the edges.

- Rookie TE Eli Raridon returned with a 12-yard dig on the Pats opening drive and two plus-blocks on a 3rd-and-1 run (base block) and a heady blitz pickup. However, Raridon was checked out for an ankle injury and was on the scene for 1.5 stuffed runs. Raridon's practice participation this week will be worth monitoring.

- LT Will Campbell struggled against Bills edge rushers Greg Rousseau, Bradley Chubb, and T.J. Parker (strip sack). Campbell allowed six pressures, three of which were tardy anchors vs. bull rushes, the same rush that gave him problems last postseason. Campbell was also called for a false start and a hold, which wiped out a successful third-down scramble by Maye. The Pats didn't help Campbell as much this week, and the results were mixed, but getting the receivers into the pattern rather than loading up the protection improved the pass-game overall.

- LG Alijah Vera-Tucker battled with Bills DT Deone Walker, allowing four total pressures, three of which were to Walker (two bull rushes, one swipe). Campbell and Vera-Tucker also failed to pass off a stunt, forcing Maye to a checkdown on third down. That said, Vera-Tucker had some impressive pulls (trap schemes), zone reaches, and duo blocks. His run-game tape was solid even if the pass pro was a little shaky.

- C Jared Wilson had two aborted snaps with Maye from under center that will need to be cleaned up and was on the scene for 1.5 stuffed runs. But the Pats center only allowed one hurry in pass protection. That's back-to-back solid weeks in pass pro for Wilson.

- RG Ben Brown didn't get any favors from the refs when DT Landon Jackson appeared to have his hands in Brown's face on Maye's strip-sack. Brown allowed three total pressures, including on a swim move by Walker and a stunt pressure where he didn't pick up a looping Rousseau. That said, I'd stick it out with Brown at right guard. He kept his performance on the rails.

- RT Morgan Moses couldn't execute a down block on Walker that led to a 5-yard run TFL and allowed a pressure on a push-pull move, but he had a steady performance besides those two plays. Really, Walker's big run TFL was the only glaring error by Moses, who is playing through a foot injury and drew most of the matchups against Rousseau (17).

- QB Pressures (47.6%) - Campbell (6 - sack, QB hit, four hurries), Vera-Tucker (4 - QB hit, three hurries), Brown (three hurries), Wilson (hurry), Moses (hurry).

Defense

- The Patriots defense did an impressive job limiting Bills TE Dalton Kincaid to one catch for seven yards (17 routes). Allen might've missed him a few times for short gains, especially in the red zone and on Buffalo's failed two-point play. But the Pats were hyper-aware of Kincaid running seams, crossers, and posts. LB Robert Spillane, specifically, had several impressive reps plastering to Kincaid in the middle of the field.

- We ought to start talking about how productive the Patriots edge-rusher trio has been to start the season. On Sunday, the combined stats for Dre'Mont Jones, Elijah Ponder, and Gabe Jacas were: a sack (Ponder), 8 total pressures, two stuffed runs, a drawn illegal hands to the face (Jones), and a drawn hold (Jacas). Edge rusher was a concern coming into the year, but the trio is producing in the first four games.

- Rookie Gabe Jacas's bull rush helped collapse the edge to keep Allen in the pocket several times and gave five-time Pro Bowl LT Dion Dawkins fits. Jacas logged his QB hit by transitioning into a pass-rusher against a play-action pass. His power put Dawkins on skates and eventually on the ground. It was odd that intentional grounding wasn't considered on the Allen throwaway.

- OLB Dre'Mont Jones helped seal the victory with a QB pressure as a looper on a T/E stunt working with DT Milton Williams. Jones came free in the pass rush on the stunt, and although he didn't sack Allen, he helped create the erratic throw on the game-sealing interception.

- DT Milton Williams logged a QB hit on his bull rush, had a hurry with a rip move, and set some good picks to get his teammates free in the pass rush. Williams is still waiting to have that breakout individual performance this season. But you can see him doing the little things on film.

- The nose tackle position continues to be a little leaky in run defense. The Pats are having issues with offenses combo'ing the nose on zone schemes to set up cutback lanes. The linebackers could come downhill a little faster to get the combo blocks off the DTs, but you'd like to see them be sturdier inside.

- LB Robert Spillane forced a fumble by Shakir before halftime, stuffed a run, logged a pressure on a twist blitz, and, as mentioned, was a big part of limiting Kincaid. LB Christian Elliss made a great play to peel off a wheel route in his short zone and stick the shallow crosser for a 5-yard gain, but there was some confusion involving Elliss on the Bills 9-yard completion for a fourth-down conversion. Elliss also had a blitz pressure and had a good rep as a QB spy on Allen.

- CB Carlton Davis III had a busy day with a team-high seven targets. He allowed a 24-yarder to Coleman (mesh crosser), an 11-yard comeback on third down to Moore, and had too much cushion on a 7-yard whip route by Shakir on third down. Davis also stuffed two screens, including one on third down, and stuffed a run when Cook tried to bounce out to his side. Davis's tackling near the line of scrimmage has been impressive. He has an uncanny ability to read WR screens and aggressively set his edge in run support.

- NCB Marcus Jones also had a busy day with six targets in coverage. Jones had a great rep as the curl/flat defender in a cover-three fire zone (shown previously) and mostly limited the damage, allowing only 20 yards in coverage (long of 13 yards). However, Jones's tackling/run defense was shaky. Jones missed two tackles against the run and pinched too far inside on a 17-yard run when Cook bounced a duo scheme.

- CB Charles Woods was shaky in his cover-three zone drops where he allowed a 22-yard completion and a 13-yard completion. In both instances, Woods had the deep third, but either jumped something underneath or gave up too much cushion to cover verticals into his zone. Woods was also the primary man defender on Coleman's 34-yard TD, but he had outside leverage because he likely expected post-safety help.

- S Craig Woodson returned to seal the win with a nice interception as the post-safety in a Cover-1 man scheme. However, Woodson seemed to vacate the post on Coleman's 34-yard TD and busted a coverage on what could've been a deep completion to Coleman earlier in the game. Woodson had the pick and did well coming downhill to fill the run, stick an RPO curl (six yards), or blitz. But the deep zone reps were shaky.

- S Kevin Byard III did a nice job "plastering" to Kincaid on a third-down target early in the game but was involved in Shakir's 50-yard catch (Byard had the deep-half in cover two to that side) and Cook's 8-yard TD run.

- QB Pressures (25% pressure rate): Ponder (3 - sack, QB hit, hurry), Jacas (3 - QB hit, two hurries), Dre. Jones (two hurries), Williams (2 - QB hit, hurry), Durden (QB hit), Farmer (hurry), Spillane (hurry), Elliss (hurry). Run stuffs: one each (Jacas, Ponder, Woodson, Muasau, Durden, Spillane, Davis).

- Coverage: Byard (4/3/61 yards/PBU), Woods (4/3/59 yards/TD), Davis (7/6/52 yards), Vildor (1/1/22 yards), M. Jones (6/4/20 yards), Elliss (2/2/17 yards), Spillane (2/2/13 yards), Ponder (1/1/7 yards), Woodson (3/1/2 yards).

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer