Patriots coach Mike Vrabel talks after Sunday's loss vs. Buffalo at Gillette Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It was the biggest question of many the New England Patriots had going into the season:

Depth.

There isn’t a lot on this team, and as the injuries mount up, it’s starting to show for these Patriots as they clearly missed injured defensive lineman Milton Williams and linebacker Robert Spillane in the loss Sunday at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.

Spillane was a game-time, warmup decision; in fact he was on the sidelines in uniform, active, but the Patriots decided not to risk it. Williams is different, on IR and not due back until possibly the playoffs or just before. Spillane would have helped, especially Williams in the run game as Buffalo’s James Cook III had two TDs and 107 yards on the ground. Both would have helped the pass rush and Spillane certainly the mid-range pass defense. He’s a playmaker.

“There’s not a lot of depth there outside of him, and could have had a few guys up, but didn’t think that that was really going to make an impact on the game day roster,” Vrabel said with regard to Spillane. “It felt like, whether it’s the sixth outside linebacker, the sixth receiver, the fourth tight end or whatever it may have been, I just didn’t feel like that that was going to make that much of a difference or a difference at all.”

And Williams’ absence is key for this team. It will be interesting see how it impacts this Sunday night’s game at Baltimore. The Patriots need fellow DL Christian Barmore to make a difference in Williams’ absence, as heavy a load as it is.

“Yeah, I mean, we expect that in this league – we’ve said this – that your best players have to play good for you to win, and we consider him one of our better players, just like our quarterback,” Vrabel said. “We expect the quarterback’s going to have to play good for us to win. Whoever we consider to be our best players, they have to play good in this league. That’s what this thing comes down to. So, we’ll continue to find ways to make production, get production and get stops, and show everybody the good ones and the things that we need to improve on.

The eye-opener for the Patriots is they faced the best team on their schedule, and first time a legitimate contender since the first time they saw the Bills on Oct. 5.That’s a stretch. Baltimore may not be as formidable as one might think; Lamar Jackson is banged up and their second leading tackler Teddye Buchanan, is done with a torn ACL, part of the NFL epidemic that claimed Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons.

The key for the Patriots is to continue to stay the course and rely on their strengths. They had breakdowns in special teams, offense and defense after going up 21-0. They are a team that found out vs. the Bills what playoff football might be like. Beating up on the abysmal Giants and some of the others they’ve manhandled just isn’t the same.

They’ll still win the AFC East, probably in the next two weeks. Will they get the AFC top seed? When it looked good before the Bills rematch, it’s now 50-50 at best because the Denver Broncos know what it’s like to face good teams. Stay tuned.

This week’s rankings:

AFC

1. Denver (12-2). 2. New England (11-3). 2.Denver (11-2). 3. Buffalo (10-4). 4. Jacksonville (10-4). 5. Houston (9-5)

NFC

1.L.A. Rams (11-3). 2. Seattle (11-3). 3. Chicago (10-4). 4.San Francisco (10-4).

5. Green Bay (9-4-1).