Patriots QB Drake Maye scores a TD vs. Carolina on Sunday, much to the delight of head coach Mike Vrabel. (AP photo)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It was a telling comment by New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel after Sunday’s big win over Carolina.

“We have to prepare here for a division opponent on the road,” he said, referring to Sunday night’s game at Buffalo. “It’s going to be a great environment and hopefully we’ll see where we’re at.”

There you go. Vrabel knows that a win over the Panthers was something his team was more than capable of, and should have experienced, especially at home.

The Bills at Buffalo? Now that’s a measuring stick.

The Patriots know it. They were able this past weekend to do what Vrabel has been preaching all season: Score points. Remember his words in the preseason when he wanted QB Drake Maye to celebrate touchdowns more with his teammates because the answer to how many they scored last year was “Not enough.”

It will be interesting to see if the Patriots at some point this season decide to incorporate a little Marcus Jones into the offense, giving his ability to make people miss in the open space. That’s what we’re expecting from rookie running bck TreVeyon Henderson, but it hasn’t happened in the regular season yet. Nor has the potential deep threat in rookie Kyle Williams.

But Maye came through Sunday with his promise to get veteran receiver Stefon Diggs more involved. On the game’s first series he tried to force one into Keyshon Boutte, so better choices could sometimes be made.

But New England can’t get into shootouts. Maye said a key in the Carolina win was establishing the run early. “We had some different scheme kind of plays that kind of gave the defense some misdirection that I thought we hit right on the head and turned into explosive plays.”

Yet the Patriots can’t get carried away. It’s one thing to turn a game against the awful Panthers into a track meet at Gillette with the fans singing and cheering. It’s another to go into a place like Buffalo, have the discipline to change it up into a ball control type game. They cannot get into a shootout with the Bills.

But it’s a good sign that the quarterback looks as comfortable as he is.

“When you win, look at the tape and learn from it,” Maye said. “There’ things that are going to show up in this game that matter down the road. Yeah, getting more and more comfortable.I think those guys around me are helping me out.”

Vrabel is a players coach because, lest we forget, he was a player. But he doesn’t want, to his credit, any complacency to set in.

“When you win, we just have to make sure that we’re not allowing for things that we wouild in a loss, and making sure that all of the things that we believe in, that we’re doing,” Vrabel said.

The Patriots have also had some slow starts, including the Carolina game. Against the Panthers, you can overcome it. Against the Bills? Different story.

“We want to start fast, and if we don’t, I mean, there’s a lot of game left,” Vrabel said. “So there’s games where we started fast and gave up some yards after that or whatever it may be. Just being ready to go. …

“Whether we start fast or we don’t, we’re still going to have to be really good for the rest of the three and a half quarters or whatever it ends up being. We’ll keep working towards that and keep making it a priority.”

It should be an interesting week.

“I look forward to the challenge,” Diggs said. “I know the guys look forward to the challenge. It’s going to be good for us, a good test for us.” C

Carolina was just a quiz. Sunday’s game at Buffalo is more of a closed book, all out test that will maybe take 10-15 percent of that final grade.

With the first month and near quarter pole of the season reached, here’s our first set of rankings, top five in each conference:

AFC

1.Buffalo (4-0). 2. Steelers (3-1). 3.L.A. Chargers (3-1). 4. Kansas City (2-2). 5. Indianapolis (3-1).

NFC

1. Philadelphi (4-0). 2. Detroit (3-1). 3. Green Bay (2-1-1). 4.L.A. Rams (3-1). 5. Tampa Bay (3-1).