Drake Maye will try to help the Patriots win the AFC East on Sunday vs. the Bills. (AP photo)

Now we get to the meat and potatoes of the New England Patriots, but it’s more like burgers and fries.

Yes, the Buffalo Bills are a playoff team with a 9-4 record, and the best team the Patriots will have faced in, oh, since the last time they faced the Bills over two months ago, on Oct. 5. But they are far from the feared Bills many thought they’d be and Josh Allen has certainly rescued them multiple times.

Then, on Sunday night Dec. 21 – the game was flexed, the NFL announced Monday, from its original 1 p.m. start to replace the Bengals vs. Miami. And the Dolphins might be a tough foe come the last game of the season as they’re playing better.

But the Ravens don’t look like it. Whatever John Harbaugh is preaching, it’s falling on deaf ears which may mean a big change in Baltimore when the season ends. Lamar Jackson is not playing well, either, banged up as he usually is.

The point? The AFC you thought you knew no longer exists, the Patriots you thought you knew before the season no longer exist, and that all adds up to something good for the Patriots you now know.

Sunday is a hat and T-shirt game, a win giving them the most unlikely AFC East title they’ve had since December of 2001 when at old Foxboro Stadium they beat the Dolphins and, with Bill Belichick included, made the rounds around the front row of the stands with high fives and hugs. Yes, that happened, and the rest is history. Mike Vrabel was there.

“I don’t use the hat and T-shirt,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said, the team back from its bye week. “We’re just trying to play for the championship that we have available this week, and I think it’s a great testament to our players that have put us in this position to be able to do that.

“Again, that’s not going to be easy. This is a very good football team. There’s a reason that they’ve won this division five years in a row. A lot of respect for them. They’re never out of it, never down, and they may be down, and just like last week, it’s a football team that understands that somebody’s going to make a play. And then the quarterback is going to give them a chance to the very end.”

But the landscape has changed. The Chiefs are no longer a viable threat, thanks to a decimated offensive line, a should-have-been retired Travis Kelce and a lack of other playmakers for Patrick Mahomes.

If the Patriots don’t finish the regular season with at least 14 wins, it means the bye screwed things up. Vrabel is not trying to put too much pressure on his team, but the bar has definitely been raised.

“Well, I think that these guys have played well and that’s the most important thing, is focusing on what we can realistically try to improve and kind of enhance the stuff that we’ve been doing okay with,” Vrabel said. “I know these guys got some rest, much needed rest, but we’ve got to crank this thing back up.”

That shouldn’t be too difficult to do, and the competition will try to do the same. But that competition has fallen short. Drake Maye vs. Josh Allen will certainly add more zest to the equation.

“I think they’re both really good at what they do,” Vrabel said. “Josh probably has got a couple lbs on (Maye) and can kind of throws his shoulder in there probably a little bit more than I would want Drake to, but I think they’re both great competitors. I think they’re – a lot of respect for Josh and just his ability to make something out of nothing. I’ve enjoyed watching Drake’s growth here, but I’m not going to say one’s a certain way and one’s the other.

“Just a huge challenge going against a quarterback that’s under control, he’s got command and just doesn’t look panicked or rattled when you rush him, or gets them into the right play call, whatever that may be. Just an excellent, obviously, MVP quarterback.”

Those same words are being used to describe Drake Maye. That’s because it’s no longer your fathers AFC.

It just may be the Patriots’ AFC. They’d like to start with it being their AFC East.

This week’s rankings:

AFC

1. New England (11-2). 2.Denver (11-2). 3. Buffalo (9-4). 4. Jacksonville (9-4). 5. Houston (8-5)

NFC

1.L.A. Rams (10-3). 3. Green Bay (9-3-1). 3. Seattle (10-3). 4.Chicago (9-4). 5.San Francisco (9-4)