We’ve got some bad news, New England Patriots fans.

Your team has absolutely no shot – zip, zero, nada – of winning next Sunday.

That’s because they’re playing Thursday.

Don’t worry, they’ve got the Jets at Gillette that night. Slam dunk.

This is getting ridiculous. The Bucs were supposed to give the Sons of Mike Vrabel a wakeup call, one of the few good teams on a historically soft schedule. Nope.

It’s the Patriots who are giving the rest of the NFL that wakeup call, labeled “Remember us? We’re back.”

Buffalo’s loss at Miami may give the Patriots the AFC East title already. It’s getting ridculous.

Sunday New England used its speed. If you want a fast team….you know the rest. Rookies TreyVon Henderson and Kyle Williams had that speed and had three TDs between them. As Patriots QB Drake Maye said of the two after the 28-23 win at Tampa, “if they get going, you’re not catching ’em.”

Looks like New England got something out of second and third round picks. Free agents have all contributed. The Jets, Bengals, Giants, Bills, Ravens, Jets and Dolphins are left on the schedule. It’s 12-4 minimum, 14-2 maximum, 13-3 in between. Think about that, in an AFC that has Daniel Jones and the Colts as the other team having overwhelming success and that’s about as fraudulent as it gets.

These Patriots are for real. There are plenty of naysayers out there who cite the weak schedule, etc., but they’ve done what they’ve had to do. There are so many flawed teams out there. We all thought the Bills, Chiefs and Ravens would rule the roost but they are far from perfect and Baltimore and Kansas City aren’t even in the playoffs as of now.

You win seven straight you build up confidence and equity. And it’s the kind of team that plays in Vrabel’s scrappy image.

“Just every week we’re fighting,” Maye said. “Some things aren’t going our way, we’re handling adversity, battling adversity. … I’m trying to play well for this team and this organization. …”

Oh he’s doing that here, for certain. The big thing for the Patriots will be keeping him healthy.

“It’s not always perfect, it’s never going to be perfect,” Vrabel said. “But I love the way that they compete … I’m proud of the guys that battled and competed and laid it on the line.”

They got the double score, end of the first half and to start the second half. Vrabel had Maye go down to keep the clock moving and the ball away from the Bucs for the end of the first half with the ball inside the 5.

“We want to be aggressive, we can’t be reckless,” Vrabel said.

They believe.

“It’s huge to come down to South Florida and get a win,” linebacker Robert Spillane, a Vrabel guy if there ever was one, said. “Against a great football team that’s one a lot of games this year. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, we knew it would take the fourth quarter, we knew Baker (Bucs QB Mayfield) loves to fight back in these games.”

But the Patriots have fight too.

“We’re a young team, we’re a hungry team, we’re a team with a guy with a lot of chip on their shoulders,” Spillane said. “We still feel like we have so much yet to prove.”

“It’s fun out there,” Maye said.

It likely will get even more fun over the next three months. Ever play football in February, Drake?

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