Patriots lead the AFC East following Bills loss to Falcons on ‘Monday Night Football’
In one of the biggest surprises of the 2025 NFL season, the New England Patriots hold the lead in the AFC East after six weeks. New England sits in first place in its division for the first time since 2019, the last time the franchise won an AFC East crown.
The Patriots moved ahead of the five-time defending division champion Bills for first place in the division following Buffalo’s 24-14 loss to the Falcons on Monday night. While both teams are 4-2, New England has the tiebreaker against Buffalo thanks to its 23-20 win over the Bills in Week 5.
Although it’s new territory for these Patriots, New England owned the AFC East from 2001 to 2019. During that span, the Patriots won 17 division titles en route to six Super Bowls and nine AFC championships.
Since 2019, however, the Patriots have been supplanted by the Bills as the Beasts of the East. But even though Buffalo dominated the East, it didn’t turn that dominance into a trip to the Super Bowl. The Bills, for all their success in the Josh Allen-Sean McDermott era, are still looking for their first Super Bowl berth since 1993, when the franchise lost in the big game for a fourth straight year.
New England was one of the biggest surprises of the first half of the 2025 regular season. After a 1-2 start, the Patriots have won three straight games, including their very emotional victory in Buffalo. The Patriots followed up with a 25-19 victory against the Saints in New Orleans last Sunday.
Based on their remaining schedule, the Patriots should remain in the thick of things when it comes to competing for a playoff spot as well as the AFC East title. Eight of New England’s final 11 games will be against teams that currently have a losing record. The Patriots have two games coming up against the winless Jets and two more games against teams (the Titans this week and the Ravens in Week 16) that currently have one win each.
The Patriots’ success is the result of an efficient passing attack and a defense that is currently seventh in the NFL in fewest points allowed. In many ways, the Patriots’ current formula for success is similar to the one they used to earn the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory 24 years ago.
Like that team, the Patriots have a second-year quarterback at the helm, Drake Maye. Like Tom Brady back in the day, Maye makes the big plays needed while largely taking care of the football and not putting his defense in too many bad spots.
It was a complete team effort on defense, once again reminiscent of how the Patriots won the 2001 Super Bowl. The unit, which was one of the best in the NFL against the run, recorded a season-high three turnovers that proved to be a big difference in their upset victory in Buffalo.
A direct link to that 2001 team is Mike Vrabel, the Patriots’ first-year coach who played linebacker for New England in their first three Super Bowl victories. Although it’s still early, Vrabel should be considered an early favorite for NFL Coach of the Year, an award he won in 2021 while coaching the Titans.
Speaking of the Titans, Vrabel will return to Nashville on Sunday when the Patriots face a Titans team that fired coach Brian Callahan on Monday.
