New England Patriots
The 3-2 Patriots received high praise from a longtime football personality.
After a brutal 1-2 start, the New England Patriots looked like a mess.
Quarterback Drake Maye was a turnover machine and couldn’t seem to get the offense moving. Their prized offseason addition, A.J. Brown, landed on injured reserve with an ankle injury in Week 1. Even offensive guard Mike Onwenu went down with a severe ankle ailment of his own, which began a domino effect of O-line woes.
The defense looked solid as it had in 2025, but got shredded against Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars (35 points allowed).
Once the calendar flipped to October, the script completely flipped.
Over his last two games, Maye has thrown for over 600 yards and seven touchdowns with just one interception. The offense looks competent again as several players have stepped up, and then some, amidst injuries. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ play-calling got out of its own September slump. New England handed the Buffalo Bills their first loss and blew out the Las Vegas Raiders with help from a dominant defense despite overwhelming injuries on that side.
Not to mention, Brown could make his long-awaited return to the field in under 48 hours.
The Patriots’ thrilling turnaround has caught the attention of Phil Simms, a NFL analyst and two-time Super Bowl champion at QB.
Simms crowned New England “the best team in the NFL.”
“They’ve got everything,” he told Kay Adams on “Up and Adams.” “They’ve got it all. I mean, the defense…”
Adams asked Simms to explain how the Patriots are better than the 5-0 San Francisco 49ers. He chalked it up to Maye, particularly his 374-yard, four-touchdown, zero-turnover Week 5 performance.
“He kind of had a little hitch in his throwing motion, which was causing him to throw it where he doesn’t want the ball. And he fixed it in one week,” Simms said. “He threw the ball awesome last week for the whole game.
“If he keeps playing like that, then he’s like Brock Purdy. Then, you know, he’s just going to be a guy that can lead his team to the Super Bowl.”
Thanks to his brutal first three weeks of the season, Maye is outside the top-10 in most NFL quarterback statistical rankings, including passing yards and completion percentage. He is, however, No. 5 in QB rating (75.3) behind Purdy, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, and Josh Allen.
Naturally, New England’s offense fares well in a couple of categories, as well. It ranks seventh in net total yards (1,862) and eighth in yards per game (372.4).
The Patriots rank in the bottom half in points (21st: 110) thanks to two low-scoring finishes in Weeks 1 and 3.
Their defense remains elite, as Simms pointed out; the recent success of the offense has overshadowed the unit in recent weeks. It’s allowed the fifth-fewest net total yards (296.2) and the fifth-fewest points (94).
The team is only going to get better on paper with the impending return of Brown and the confirmed return of cornerback Christian Gonzalez on Sunday against the New York Jets.
Simms is pretty much alone on an island with his declaration, though. ESPN’s power rankings through Week 5 have the Patriots at No. 10, while NFL.com tabbed New England at No. 9.
Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who won six Super Bowls with the organization, ranked his ex-team seventh in his latest power rankings.
It’s a stretch to call New England “the best team in the NFL” as Simms did, especially compared with others’ lower, albeit top-10, rankings. But the Patriots are trending positively, which is a win in and of itself considering the state of the franchise just a couple of weeks ago.
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