One of the biggest surprise teams in the NFL during the 2025 campaign so far has been the New England Patriots, who have far exceeded expectations heading into Week 14's divisional clash with the Buffalo Bills.
Although no one expected much from the rebuilding Patriots during the 2025 NFL season, New England has been one of the hottest teams in the league, boasting an 11-2 record. The Patriots, with veteran head coach Mike Vrabel leading the way in the post-Bill Belichick era, are tied with the Denver Broncos for the best record in the NFL and will be competing for the top seed in the AFC in the final stretch of the regular season.
Despite sporting the best record in the league, winning 10 straight games and quarterback Drake Maye being a legitimate NFL MVP candidate, the Patriots are considered underdogs heading into Sunday's game at Gillette Stadium against Josh Allen's Bills.
Heading into this crucial AFC East clash in New England, the Patriots will host the Bills in an attempt to secure the season sweep and maintain their grip on first place in the division.
Ahead of this matchup against Buffalo, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addressed the fact that his team is an underdog, despite all the accomplishments the squad has made leading up to this divisional showdown.
"Every week, you see, in this league, records really don't mean anything," Vrabel said during media availability on Wednesday. "The point spreads and Survivor pools get blown up every week, and all that other stuff, so we're just trying to focus on our preparation here and getting back into it."
Along with Vrabel sharing his thoughts on the Patriots being underdogs against the Bills, Maye also chimed in on the subject.
"Any time you're at home and you're an underdog it gives you something to play for a little bit," Maye said. "Really, we're [not] worried about all the, whatever the underdog, whatever they set the line at. It's us vs. them regardless. When they put the ball down it's gonna be 0-0 [and] for 60 minutes we know we have to play a full game."
Even though some continue to wait for the Patriots to come back down to earth this season, Maye remains confident and is a realist when it comes to the reasoning for being an underdog Sunday.
"They've won the division for five years. So we have something we need to go take. It's going to be hard to do, but we're up for it."
In the end, something has to give, with the winner of this game potentially being the team to beat in the AFC.