Kyle McDonald
Buffalo, NY 10/6/25 – The New England Patriots wanted to make a statement against the NFL’s last undefeated team in Drake Maye’s first primetime game, and they did with a 23-20 win against Josh Allen and the Bills.
The headline heading into Sunday night was Stefon Diggs’ return to Buffalo for the first time since being traded from the Bills to the Houston Texans in 2024. The Patriots signed Diggs to a 3-year, $69 million contract in the 2025 offseason as he was recovering from an ACL tear, slowly easing him into action over the first few weeks. Diggs showed he was back with a 101 yard performance against Carolina and looked to carry that momentum into Buffalo.
The Diggs-Maye connection was on full display, as the two connected on 10 passes for 146 yards, Diggs’ most in a game since 2022. It was a storybook return for Diggs, but Maye and the rest of the New England offense was firing on all cylinders all night long. Maye finished 22-30 for 273 yards with no interceptions. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson punched in 2 TDs on the ground, though his security continued to struggle with his 10th fumble in his last 10 games. Rookie kicker Andy Borregales was perfect, going 2/2 on PATs and nailing the 52-yard game winner with 20 seconds left in the game.
New England’s defense was stout, forcing a sack and an interception out of Josh Allen as Christian Gonzalez had an impressive return to form in his second week of action, stopping a 4th-quarter touchdown from Keon Coleman.
On Buffalo’s front, the offense had an uncharacteristic showing. 2024 MVP Josh Allen’s stats were impressive as usual, finishing 22/31 with 253 yards and 2 passing TDs and 1 interception. Tight end Dalton Kincaid had a solid outing with 108 yards, but the Bills failed to get the running game going, with star back James Cook only rushing for 49 yards on 15 attempts.
This was a statement win for the Patriots, who are looking to reestablish themselves as a competitive team after struggling rebuilding seasons, as new Head Coach Mike Vrabel and his staff continue to improve the team week by week.
