FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. 'Gauge' game: Mike Vrabel could have fallen back on the old football cliché that the Patriots' game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Highmark Stadium (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) is important because it's the "next one on the schedule." He notably didn't
Vrabel instead embraced the big-picture view of the team's first Sunday night game since Week 2 of the 2023 season, and what it means in the AFC East.
"It's important that we can take the next step, show that we are ready, and that maybe some of our identity has a chance to let itself out," he said.
Vrabel has clearly defined team goals and identity since being hired as the franchise's 16th head coach in January.
Goals: Win the AFC East, host home playoff games and play for championships.
Identity: Effort and finish; ball security and ball disruption; details, technique and fundamentals; and making great decisions.
Achieving the first goal in 2025 would put his rebuilding-but-on-the-rise program ahead of schedule. The Bills have won five straight AFC East titles, and at 4-0 this season, are already distancing themselves from the pack with the Patriots at 2-2, Miami Dolphins 1-3 and New York Jets 0-4.
But Vrabel isn't conceding anything with a roster that has been turned over more than 50% and opened the year as the league's fifth youngest (average age: 26.0). Players have taken his cue this week.
"What Coach Vrabel says is that's where we want to go. Where we want to be at is where the Bills have been the past couple years -- contenders, winning the division and playing well at home," quarterback Drake Maye said. "It's a great gauge for us. We've got a long season ahead, but this is a great checkpoint to see what we've got and what we can handle."
The Patriots, with Maye making his first career prime-time start, enter as 7.5-point underdogs. Having played three of their first four games at home, and with the lone road contest in Miami featuring plenty of Patriots fans, this will easily be the most adverse environment in which they have played.
Meanwhile, the Bills have won 14 straight home games -- one shy of matching their longest streak in franchise history from Week 1 of 1990 to Week 14 of 1991 - and they haven't lost the turnover differential in their last 26 games.
"That's why you play the game, to compete against the best, That's the beauty of this week," cornerback Carlton Davis III said.
And to find out how far along you are in Vrabel's vision.
2. Maye on third down: Through four games, Maye leads all NFL quarterbacks in completing 80.6% of his passes on third down, and is second behind the Colts' Daniel Jones in yards per attempt (9.6), and fourth in passing yards (298).
What has led to the success?
"It starts with protection," Vrabel answered. "Keeping it to third-and-manageable, and not getting out over our skis with the third-and-extra longs, which force us to move the ball down the field potentially into a lot of coverage. We've converted some of those. And ball placement's critical -- if it's man, putting it somewhere out in front; [in] zone, being decisive and getting it to guys and [them] being able to drop step and get the first down."
3. Strength vs. weakness: The Bills have scored an opening-drive touchdown in four straight games to start the season, and look to join the 2024 Arizona Cardinals as the only teams over the last 45 years to score an opening drive touchdown in five straight games to start the season.
Meanwhile, the Patriots have given up an opening-drive touchdown in three of their first four games.
Of starting faster defensively, Vrabel said, "We'll keep working towards that and keep making that a priority."
Mike Reiss reports on Stefon Diggs' return to Buffalo as his Patriots will take on the Bills in Buffalo in Week 5.
4. Campbell & Diggs: When receiver Stefon Diggs was surrounded by reporters during his weekly locker-room interview, rookie left tackle Will Campbell walked by and said, "Unc!" To which Diggs, in the middle of answering a question on his return to Orchard Park, responded back to Campbell by saying, "What's up, little bro?"
Campbell smiled at the exchange when asked later in the week, joking that "if you're over 30, you're Unc" before adding of Diggs: "He's just a cool dude. He cares a lot. He's a great teammate."
Diggs' leadership has been noted by Maye and others as he's worked to return from a torn right ACL sustained last October.
5. Saban on Mac: Former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones' standout performance for the 49ers in their upset win over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday generated headlines across the NFL, and had some reflecting on where it went wrong for Jones in New England. After his promising rookie season under coordinator Josh McDaniels, who left for Las Vegas, Bill Belichick didn't hire a traditional replacement to build on that early success. By Jones' final game in 2023, he was demoted to third string behind Nathan Rourke.
"I'm so happy for Mac. I think Mac was one of those guys who was in bad situations relative to coaching and all that type of stuff, and who was the offensive coordinator and how did he get developed," Nick Saban, who coached Jones at Alabama and won a national title with him as quarterback, said on "The Pat McAfee Show."
"Right now, I think he is a really good circumstance with [Kyle] Shanahan, their offense, the players he has around him. He is a guy who will execute. He's really, really smart, so he's going to do exactly what you tell him to do. And he wants to know exactly what you want him to do. I'm not sure he always got told exactly what was expected of him before going to the 49ers."
6. Rodney's visit: Part of what made Friday unique for Vrabel was having his former Patriots teammate, "Football Night In America" analyst Rodney Harrison, visit team headquarters as part of his prep work for Sunday's broadcast.
That had Vrabel reminiscing about Harrison's influence in New England (2003-2008), where he was a two-time Super Bowl champion (2003, 2004). Specifically, Vrabel watched how Harrison trained and took care of himself in the latter stages of his career.
"I think my career probably started to really take off, the longevity of my career, partly due to Rodney," Vrabel said. "The violence in which he played, the accountability he held me and teammates to, was something I always admired. Any chance I get to be around him is great."
Harrison told Patriots.com that Vrabel called him by his nickname, "Hot Rod," and brought him into his office to watch film together -- just like old times.
7. Underdog mentality: By the end of the week, when players said Vrabel had music blaring at practice that included the Bills' "Shout" song which often has fans in Orchard Park dancing in celebration, there seemed to be a collective embracing of an "us against the world" approach in the locker room.
That led one player to ask a reporter their game prediction. It was a Bills win, which further added to the underdog vibe.
8. Jones' appeal: Cornerback/punt returner Marcus Jones told ESPN that he is appealing the $9,151 fine for a low block in a Week 3 loss to the Steelers.
Jones had been penalized for unnecessary roughness on a play in which he was deemed to have executed a low block on tight end Pat Freiermuth, although Jones' intent wasn't to block as he was committed to a tackle on a 2-yard swing pass to tight end Jonnu Smith before Freiermuth attempted to block him. The appeal date has not yet been scheduled.
9. Jennings' motivation: Outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings has an NFL "Crucial Catch" card, a part of the NFL's efforts to fight cancer, hanging in his locker at Gillette Stadium with his grandmother Roberta Davis' name written on it.
It has been a meaningful week for Jennings and his family, with Davis attending last Sunday's win, celebrating her birthday Tuesday, and reaching the 11-year mark of being cancer-free after a breast cancer diagnosis.
10. Did you know? Maye has a 75-plus completion percentage and thrown at least two touchdown passes in three straight games, so if he completes at least 75% of his passes and throws for at least two touchdowns against the Bills, he will tie Tom Brady for the longest such streak in a single season in NFL history. Brady did it in four straight games in 2007.