{"id":1017415,"date":"2026-10-03T10:45:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T10:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1017415\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T10:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T10:45:27","slug":"10-things-were-watching-when-patriots-play-bills-in-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1017415\/","title":{"rendered":"10 things we’re watching when Patriots play Bills in Week 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Patriots\u2019 schedule isn\u2019t getting any easier<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

The 3-0 Bills are next on the Patriots\u2019 slate and present their most difficult test of the season.<\/p>\n

The Patriots viewed their Week 5 win over the Bills last season as a watershed moment after beginning the year 2-2. They\u2019re in an even more vulnerable state this season at 1-2 and coming off of an ugly loss to the Jaguars.<\/p>\n

Here are 10 things we\u2019re watching as the Patriots look to turn their fortune around.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Can Drake Maye rebound? It\u2019s the biggest question<\/a> on any Patriots fan\u2019s mind this week. Maye has started his Year 3 campaign with six interceptions and a lost fumble as his mental errors have only snowballed since losing A.J. Brown to a high ankle sprain in Week 1. The season has started so poorly for Maye that it would actually be somewhat surprising at this point for him to return to his 2025 form, when he was the MVP runner-up to Matthew Stafford. There have been some glimmers of hope. While Maye leads the NFL with a 7.5% interception rate, his bad-throw rate is only 9.2% and sixth-lowest in the league. That means that Maye is making far more bad decisions than poor throws. The Bills look formidable on paper. Maye might need a near-flawless performance to lead the Patriots to victory.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Will Maye\u2019s shoulder affect his performance? Maye began the week with strange, evasive answers about the lingering effects of an injury to his throwing shoulder he sustained in the postseason. Then he popped up<\/a> on this week\u2019s injury report with a right shoulder ailment. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said it\u2019s a new injury that occurred in the Patriots\u2019 Week 3 loss to the Jaguars. He did get tackled hard on a few runs.<\/p>\n

So, do we see Maye\u2019s arm strength suffer this week? Maye said Wednesday that his shoudler isn\u2019t affecting his performance. And he acknowledged that his issues have been poor decisions, not throws. Maye might want to play more carefully this week, however, and avoid any hard hits that would mean landing on his right shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Who\u2019s next in line to start at right guard? The Patriots have placed Mike Onwenu and Greg Van Roten on injured reserve in consecutive weeks and now will need a third starting right guard in four games. Head coach Mike Vrabel said he anticipates Ben Brown filling in this week. Walter Rouse struggled in reserve last week against the Jaguars, and the Patriots seemed intent on Brown serving as their backup center. Matt Pryor, when he gets up to speed, is an intriguing option in the future because of his size and experience.<\/p>\n

\u2022 How do the Patriots handle Greg Rousseau? The Bills edge defender has been one of the NFL\u2019s most productive pass rushers through three games. He primarily aligns on the defensive left, meaning he\u2019ll be going against the Patriots\u2019 right tackle. Starter Morgan Moses is banged up and played like it in Week 3. His backup is rookie Caleb Lomu, who didn\u2019t look much better in mop-up duty.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Can the left side of the offensive line keep it up? Left tackle Will Campbell, left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker and center Jared Wilson all played very well in pass protection against the Jaguars. Campbell\u2019s performance, especially, has been a silver lining to the season.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson celebrates his touchdown against the Buffalo Bills during the second half of an NFL game, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar)<\/p>\n

\u2022 How can the Patriots get their run game going? Rhamondre Stevenson is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. TreVeyon Henderson isn\u2019t faring much better at 4.1 yards per carry, and that includes a 39-yard touchdown run. Whether it\u2019s better blocking, breaking more tackles or less predictability, the Patriots need their run game to threaten opposing defenses. If it can\u2019t, then it only makes Maye\u2019s job more difficult.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Can the Patriots pressure and contain Josh Allen? Expect the Patriots to continue to blitz heavily this week. They need to get home, however. The Patriots blitzed Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence on 53.1% of snaps in Week 3, but they only had a 31.3% pressure rate. Allen has been very good when blitzed this season, but he has just a 50% completion percentage while pressured.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Can Milton Williams step up? The high-paid defensive tackle was one of the Patriots\u2019 best players in last year\u2019s Super Bowl run. He has just four pressures and a 45.0 defensive grade through three games this season. He has to step up, especially with defensive tackle Christian Barmore out with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Who\u2019s available in the secondary? Cornerback Christian Gonzalez (shoulder) is out, and safety Craig Woodson (shoulder) is still on the injury report after missing Week 3. That leaves cornerbacks Carlton Davis, Charles Woods, Marcus Jones, Channing Canada and Karon Prunty and safeties Kevin Byard and Jaylen Reed as healthy options on the 53-man roster. The team also has cornerback Kindle Vildor and safeties Mike Brown and Elliott Davison on their practice squad.<\/p>\n

It would be ideal for the Patriots to have Gonzalez available to help cover D.J. Moore, but the Bills like to spread the ball around to tight end Dalton Kincaid and wide receivers Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir and Josh Palmer, so they\u2019ll need all hands on deck.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Patriots will need all of the help they can get this week against the Bills. That means that kicker Andy Borregales will have to be on point. Last week, he was wide right on a 38-yard field goal attempt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Patriots\u2019 schedule isn\u2019t getting any easier this week. The 3-0 Bills are next on the Patriots\u2019 slate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1017416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[4955,833,839,7,838,1167,249,2326,2094,6,15,835,61050,208,107497,43714,112574,19972,112575,834,61051,61052,80497,724,837,505],"class_list":["post-1017415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-drake-maye","tag-eliot-wolf","tag-football","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-nfl-news","tag-nfl-patriots","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-2026","tag-patriots-free-agency","tag-patriots-free-agents","tag-patriots-game","tag-patriots-moves","tag-patriots-news","tag-patriots-schedule","tag-patriots-stats","tag-patriots-trades","tag-pats","tag-robert-kraft","tag-super-bowl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117376576679302680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1017415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1017416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1017415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1017415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1017415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}