ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was halfway across the field by the time the referees announced the game had ended. He had quickly ditched his headset, thrown it on the sideline behind him, then bolted down the tunnel, out of sight after a brief handshake with Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott.

The visiting locker room at Highmark Stadium is maybe 40 yards down the tunnel. Vrabel ran the whole way.

On the night his team sent a message to the rest of the league with a shocking upset on the road, Vrabel wanted to be the first at the team’s locker room. He stood near the door without going in and waited for each player to come off the field so he could be the first to greet them. Some got hugs, while others received handshakes. Each got a message.

These Patriots have embraced Vrabel’s hard-nosed style, and between that and the roster overhaul, the unthinkable has happened. These Patriots, after two straight 4-13 seasons, are … good.

Forget the rebuild or the idea that some position groups were in such poor shape that even Vrabel was going to need multiple years to turn the Patriots around. Suddenly, the playoffs seem like a possibility.

In Week 5, New England went on the road against the Super Bowl favorites, five games into what was supposed to be the second phase of its rebuild, and beat the Bills 23-20 to improve to 3-2. Drake Maye, the Pats’ promising second-year quarterback, has fully arrived and showcased that with a stellar second half for all the nation to see. Enigmatic wide receiver Stefon Diggs (10 receptions for 146 yards) is playing like he’s still in his prime. Their defense controlled the league’s best running attack (James Cook) and held the defending MVP (Josh Allen) in check.

So, yeah, Vrabel wanted to be the first person players saw when they came off the field.

“Whether they think I’m an a–hole during the week or not, I don’t know,” Vrabel said. “But then when we get to the game, it’s their day to go put all that hard work out there. I’m happy for them. So I want to thank and congratulate each one of them.”

The Patriots have been a mess since Tom Brady left following the 2019 season. That’s why Vrabel is here.

But even his biggest supporters were wise to pump the brakes early this season on the excitement surrounding the team. The roster needs work. Maye, for all his promise, is still just 23. These things take time.

Mike Vrabel is outside the Patriots’ locker room greeting every player coming off the field, including Drake Maye here. pic.twitter.com/DyZSTpVOXE

— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) October 6, 2025

Suddenly, though, it feels like the Patriots are back. Yes, it was just an early October game. But given the buildup and lack of national attention on this team in recent years, this was the Patriots’ biggest win since at least the snow game here in 2021, when they threw the ball just three times and won in a blizzard. It might’ve been their biggest win since Brady fled for Tampa.

Perhaps most impressive is that this was no fluke. The Pats didn’t rely on kismet or crazy bounces to pull off the upset. They just played better than the Bills in a stadium where no one had beaten the Bills in nearly two years.

“Where else would you rather be?” Maye said afterward. “That was fun.”

So much went right for the Patriots on Sunday that it’s hard to highlight just one area. But Maye’s performance was special.

After a slow start during which he seemed jittery in the pocket, Maye was the best quarterback on the field in the second half. He completed 13-of-14 passes for 184 yards in those final 30 minutes.

Allen did Josh Allen things to lead the Bills on a fourth-quarter drive that knotted the game at 20-20 with a little over two minutes left. Then Maye stepped onto the field for the biggest drive of his NFL career. He didn’t wilt.

He threw one of the wildest passes of the season, somehow avoiding a sack while slinging a pass to Diggs for 12 yards. Earlier in the fourth quarter, he made an equally ridiculous pass to Diggs while rolling right and somehow launching the ball 40 yards into the perfect spot near the right sideline.

In New England’s first four games, Maye seemed like a quarterback on the rise, ascending from a raw rookie to a Year 2 QB starting to put it all together. Sunday on national TV, he played like one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

Of course, it helps that the Patriots have Diggs suddenly playing like the No. 1 receiver they’ve lacked for so long. He became the team’s first player with back-to-back 100-yard games since Brady was throwing to Julian Edelman in 2019.

Stefon Diggs is DIALED back in Buffalo. 😤 pic.twitter.com/gxKYVzRTFK

— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) October 6, 2025

It’s also not like the Patriots were perfect (which might make the win even more impressive). Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled once again, his 10th in his last 20 games. After a serious Antonio Gibson knee injury, the Pats didn’t have the option of benching Stevenson. So they kept turning to him, and he bounced back, rushing for two touchdowns in the second half.

“We’ve got to get this corrected,” Vrabel said of Stevenson’s fumbles. “But we also need everybody’s skill set. We want to be aggressive, but we don’t want to be reckless.”

The Patriots still have a long way to go before reaching the ultimate goals Vrabel has set out for them. But his early lessons are taking hold. Talent-wise, they were surely overmatched by the Bills. But on this night, it didn’t matter.

A Patriots team with few expectations entering the season has a winning record after Oct. 1 for the first time in three years. They made that happen by toppling the league’s last unbeaten team on a night when their young quarterback looked like a star for the country to see.

When Maye finally ran off the field, he smiled as he saw Vrabel waiting. Vrabel pumped his fist in excitement. The coach told Maye that he did a great job and hugged him.

Then, as Maye headed into a locker room already bumping music and celebrating a big night, Vrabel waited to congratulate the next player.

(Photo of Marcus Jones, center, with teammates Christian Elliss and Craig Woodson: Mark Konezny / Imagn Images)