Don’t look now, but the New England Patriots are on the rise. Drake Maye and Co. put the nation on notice as they went into Highmark Stadium under the “Sunday Night Football” lights and pulled off an upset win over the Buffalo Bills. This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill one-off upset, either. This was the biggest victory of the post-Tom Brady era for the Patriots, and validation that this new regime, led by Maye and first-year head coach Mike Vrabel, has the arrow pointing up. And Sunday’s statement win could prove to be the tip of the iceberg.
New England exits Week 5 at 3-2 on the season, and the road ahead sets the franchise up to go on a significant run. The Patriots possess the easiest remaining strength of schedule in the NFL, with their opponents possessing a combined win percentage of .305. The next easiest schedule (belonging to the Denver Broncos) has an opponents combined win percentage of .411.
Specifically, the next month is a window where the winning should continue, starting in Week 6, where they travel to New Orleans to face the Saints as a 3.5-point favorite. After that, they face the Tennessee Titans on the road before back-to-back home games against the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons. Those opponents currently have a combined record of 5-14 through Week 5.
Patriots remaining 2025 schedule
Week (Date)Opponent
Week 6 (Oct. 12)
at New Orleans Saints
Week 7 (Oct. 19)
at Tennessee Titans
Week 8 (Oct. 26)
vs. Cleveland Browns
Week 9 (Nov. 2)
vs. Atlanta Falcons
Week 10 (Nov. 9)
at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 11 (Nov. 13)
vs. New York Jets
Week 12 (Nov. 23)
at Cincinnati Bengals
Week 13 (Dec. 1)
vs. New York Giants
Week 14
BYE WEEK
Week 15 (Dec. 14)
vs. Buffalo Bills
Week 16 (Dec. 21)
at Baltimore Ravens
Week 17 (Dec. 28)
at New York Jets
Week 18 (TBD)
vs. Miami Dolphins
New England will likely be favored in every game over the next month, meaning it could be looking at a 7-2 record entering Week 10. That’s a remarkable development considering that it would nearly double the Patriots’ win total from each of the previous two seasons (New England went 4-13 in both 2023 and 2024). And that’s not accounting for matchups later in the season against more sub-.500 teams, including two against the currently winless New York Jets.