Drake Maye and Hunter Henry celebrate a touchdown against the Panthers in Week 4.
Drake Maye and Hunter Henry celebrate a touchdown against the Panthers in Week 4.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Coming off a blowout win over the Panthers in Week 4, the Patriots are 2-2 and hoping to ride their momentum into a prime-time matchup with the Bills, the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL.
Led by reigning MVP Josh Allen, the Bills have won the last five division titles and are off to a 4-0 start this season. Averaging 33.3 points per game, Buffalo’s offense ranks second in the league.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, meanwhile, has more passing yards than Allen this season (988 to Allen’s 964) for a Patriots offense averaging 25.5 points per game, seventh in the league.
New England activated Jahlani Tavai for the matchup, and the linebacker will make his season debut Sunday after suffering a calf injury in June. K’Lavon Chaisson was ruled out with a knee injury.
Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium and on NBC. Follow along below for live updates and analysis throughout the Week 5 matchup.
pinned
Catch up on what you may have missed on the Patriots this week.
With roles reversed since end of dynasty, upstart Patriots’ hopes rest on measuring up to Bills on Sunday night
Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai activated, will make season debut against Bills
‘Everybody has to get a Shirley Temple.’ Inside weekly dinners bringing Patriots offensive linemen together.
Patriots already scored biggest victory of 2025: Drake Maye is The Guy at QB, post-Tom Brady
The Bills are 4-0, but they struggle to stop the run, especially mobile quarterbacks
Tight end Hunter Henry is the Patriots’ most dependable player on offense, and everyone on the team knows it
Opportunity exists for Patriots’ running game to help carry offense in matchup against Bills
Patriots defense up against it this week preparing for reigning MVP Josh Allen and ‘huge humans’ in front of Bills QB
Patriots’ hopes rest on measuring up to Bills on Sunday night — 6:00 p.m.
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By Chad Finn
As one may recall with some fondness, for nearly two full and glorious decades, the Patriots set the bar not just in the AFC East, but the entire NFL.
The numbers and feats of the Patriots dynasty become more impressive the further away they get in the rearview mirror: from 2001-19, they won 17 division titles, reached the conference championship game 13 times, reached the Super Bowl nine times, and hoarded six Lombardi Trophies.
The Patriots’ two-decade run of dominance will almost certainly go unmatched in NFL history, though the Chiefs are about halfway there with miles and miles to go.
They were what every other franchise aspired to be. They were the measuring stick for every opponent, every week, for years upon years.
Six seasons, one brief playoff appearance, and a couple of seismic shifts in fortune after Tom Brady’s New England farewell, circumstances around Foxborough are at least getting interesting again.
And now they’re the upstarts hoping to measure up.
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Emma Healy can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @ByEmmaHealy. Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com. Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Nicole Yang can be reached at nicole.yang@globe.com.Follow her @nicolecyang. Christopher Price can be reached at christopher.price@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at christopherprice.bsky.social. Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com.