The New England Patriots are now relevant again.

That was clear on Sunday night when they went toe-to-toe, hit-to-hit, big play- to big play with the Buffalo Bills in a stunning 23-20 win in Orchard Park, N.Y.

This was no fluke.

The Patriots were well prepared. They played in the image of their head coach, Mike Vrabel, a fighter throughout his playing career.

But they won because their second year quarterback put them on his back. We saw Drake Maye take his team down the field at the end to set up the game-winning field goal, and we got a play to remember – Maye flipping the ball to veteran receiver Stefon Diggs for a gain while in the grasp of Buffalo’s DaQuan Jones on the first play of the game-winning drive. It should have been a 10-yard sack. It wasn’t because Drake Maye out-Josh Allened Josh Allen.

“I”ve seen a youg quarterback take a step in the right direction,” Diggs, who had a 10-catch night for 146 yards, said. “I was just super proud of him.”

Maye was just like a kid who won a high school game over his team’s big rival on Homecoming Weekend.

“That was fun, that was a tough one,” Maye said. “We came back offensively, got some things going…

“This is a division game, 8:20, Orchard Park, great environment, playing the Buffalo Bills. Where else would you rather be? It was fun.”

Aww shucks. That was his attitude. But now we know why the New York Giants were willing to give Patriots VP Elliot Wolf free New York pizza for life and free New Jersey tolls forever if they could trade up to get the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

And why Wolf said thanks, we’re good.

Maye and Diggs turned Sunday night into a street game. Now the nation knows who Maye is.

They know he can march a team down the field to get the game-winning score.

“Just trusting the guys around me,” Maye said. “I grew up, my Dad and my brothers always said in basketball or baseball, the last play or the last shot, I want the ball in my hands. I’m not going to lose that mindset. Keep that mindset my whole career.”

Oh boy. Be prepared Patriots fans. It’s tne NFL, so anything is possible, but the Patriots could put a streak together before they head down to Tampa Bay on Nov. 9. They’ll be favored in every game between now and then. They’ve beaten one of the NFL’s best teams on the road a week after pounding a bad team at home.

Think that Dec. 14 vs. the Bills at Gillette is going to stay a 1 p.m. affair? No chance. They could become the Prime Time Patriots again.

“This is the next step we needed to take,” Vrabel said, trying to not get too high or too low.

The Patriots, their fans, the media, etc. were all looking at Sunday night as a chance to show the football world they were going to be a player in the game.

Mission accomplished.

And the water cooler conversations at offices this morning are talking about a kid named Maye, not an MVP named Allen.

“That boy’s a playmaker,” Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson said of Maye. ” A playmaker. That’s all I can say, he was out there making plays at incredible times.”

Stevenson scored two TDs because his coach refuses to bench him even after he fumbles again. That was one negative and the other was losing his fellow running back Antonio Gibson to a knee injury.

Things went so well a kicker everyone wanted to lock up atop the Gillette Lighthouse and throw the key away, Andy Borregales, booted the game winner. A kick Maye admitted he couldn’t bear to watch, looking at an ipad instead. Can’t make all this stuff up.

“I didn’t hurt the team, gave us a chance to win,” Maye said.

And changed everything about the New England Patriots for 2025.

Josh who?

Tom King may be reached at X @Telegraph_TomK, or via email at tking@nashuatelegraph.com