Patriots Ups & Downs: Drake Maye, Stefon Diggs sent the NFL a message with upset win over Bills

The New England Patriots sent a message to the NFL on national television Sunday night. A few messages, actually.

In upsetting the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium, defeating the last undefeated team in the league, the Patriots put the rest of the NFL on notice. Drake Maye had his breakout game for the Sunday Night Football crowd, showing the world that he has indeed arrived. Stefon Diggs showed everyone he still has what it takes to be a No. 1 receiver in the league. Mike Vrabel's defense showed it's going to continue to make plays in key moments, and New England's special teams showed it will keep making an impact as well.

The New England Patriots are now 3-2 after becoming the first team to beat the Bills, 23-20, this season. It wasn't perfect, as the Bills came back and made Maye and company make plays in the final minutes of the contest. 

But the Patriots made the plays they had to in those key and clutch moments. They did so on the road, against last year's reigning MVP and a team with a Super Bowl run on its mind. Sunday night is the biggest win for the Patriots since the days of Tom Brady.

The Patriots have now won back-to-back games for the first time in three years, and suddenly look like a team that could make some serious noise the rest of the way. Here are all the Ups -- and just a few Downs -- from Sunday's massive upset victory by New England.  

UP: Drake Maye has arrived

The quarterback was a bit jumpy at times in the first half and only had 89 passing yards at the break, but he was downright surgical in the second half. Sunday was the biggest game of Maye's young career, and he played like a stud.

Maye came out of halftime and completed seven of his eight passes in the third quarter for 94 yards. He connected on deep strikes to both Diggs and tight end Hunter Henry, with a number of his throws coming with the quarterback on the run and avoiding pressure from the Buffalo defense.

He was even better in the fourth quarter, as Maye was a perfect 6-for-6 for 90 yards in the final frame. When he took the field in a tie game with just over two minutes on the clock, Maye shed 320-pound DaQuan Jones with a furious stiff-arm and somehow found Diggs for a 12-yard pickup to start the game-winning drive.  

Maye hit Kayshon Boutte for 19 yards after the two-minute warning to get the team near field goal range, and a few plays later Andy Borregales nailed a 52-yarder for the New England victory. 

Overall in the second half, Maye led the Patriots on two long touchdown drives and the game-winning field goal drive. He did that with Josh Allen making plays on the other side, and ultimately outdueled the quarterback he's almost always compared to in the media.

Drake Maye has arrived, and that could be bad news for the rest of the NFL.

UP: Stefon Diggs has still got it

It helps that Maye now has a No. 1 receiver in Diggs, who was incredible in his return to Buffalo with 10 catches for 146 yards.

Diggs had some absolutely massive receptions for New England, including ones for 32 and 30 yards that set up touchdowns in the third quarter. He also had that game-changing snag as Maye escaped pressure late in the fourth to help set up the game-winning field goal.

Diggs has now racked up back-to-back 100 yards games for the Patriots, which comes less than a year after he tore his ACL as a member of the Texans. The 146 receiving yards were his most in a game since early in the 2022 season (when he was in Buffalo) and it's clear he has a great relationship with Maye, as Diggs has caught 29 of the 34 passes he's seen this season. 

It's not just that Diggs made all of those catches on Sunday, but that he is now Maye's go-to guy when the Patriots need to make a play.

UP: Red Zone defense

The Patriots' defense did a good job holding Allen in check for most of the night Sunday. But the unit was really strong inside the red zone.

The Patriots' D got two stops inside the red area on Sunday, including Marcus Jones' interception of Allen that gave momentum back to New England late in the third quarter. Later in the game, star corner Christian Gonzalez had two pass breakups -- including one in the end zone -- that forced the Bills to settle for a field goal. 

UP: Patriots special teams

There were no kick return touchdowns this weekend, but New England's special teams came through in a big way. Rookie kicker Andy Borregales drilled his 52-yard game-winning kick right down the middle and had plenty of room to spare. 

Punter Bryce Baringer was also great on Sunday, as he pinned Buffalo inside its own 15-yard line three times in the first half. 

DOWN: Rhamondre Stevenson's fumble

Wait, how does a guy who scored two touchdowns in a massive divisional upset land in the downs? Because Stevenson lost his third fumble of the season early Sunday night.

Stevenson has now fumbled 10 times over his last 20 games going back to last season, which would usually earn a player a spot on the bench. Stevenson was relegated to pass-protection plays for a bit, but was thrust back into action when Antonio Gibson was lost for the night.

Vrabel continues to show confidence in Stevenson. But the five-year vet really has to cut out those fumbles, especially if Gibson is lost for an extended period of time with the knee injury that knocked him out of the game. 

Down: Penalties continue for Patriots

The Patriots were hit with eight more penalties on Sunday. Usually that many flags and a fumble would be enough to doom a team on the road against a tough opponent, but the Bills were even worse with 11 penalties and three turnovers. 

But the Patriots really need to clean up their laundry. The biggest infraction was a false start by backup lineman Vederian Lowe on a third-and-1 late in the game, which eventually led to a New England punt and Buffalo kicking a game-tying field goal with 2:17 in the game. 

• National Football League
• New England Patriots