Quality teams turn home games against bad opponents into blowout wins. That\u2019s exactly what the Patriots did on Sunday, beating the Panthers 42-13.<\/p>\n
It was New England\u2019s most complementary performance in years, with dominant performances from the offense, defense, and special teams.<\/p>\n
“When we don’t beat ourselves and we take care of the football and we play complementary football and we get stops on third down, the return, the special teams are a factor, and we score touchdowns in the red zone, it can look like something,” Mike Vrabel<\/strong> said postgame. “Again, that’s not guaranteed every week, but certainly we can see the difference in how critical those phases are and putting them all together.”<\/p>\n The Patriots started slow for a second straight week, allowing a 76-yard touchdown drive before going three-and-out. Momentum quickly shifted, as a defensive stop on the next series led to a long punt return score and New England’s first points of the game. Carolina didn’t score again until their final drive, while the Patriots scored touchdowns on three straight 2nd quarter drives before adding another in each of the next two quarters.<\/p>\n “We get back to our fundamentals and kind of back to establishing our identity,” Drake Maye<\/strong> told reporters. “I felt like we did that. Probably didn’t hurt ourselves. A few penalties we’d like to have back and obviously three and outs we could have done a better job on first down. Proud of the defense. They put us in some great spots. Marcus Jones<\/strong>, can’t say enough about him. Shoot, he’s the best in the game at it. I feel it was a full team effort and proud of the guys.”<\/p>\n New England’s offense finished with zero turnovers, 100 rushing yards, and went 4-4 in the red zone. The offensive line was also excellent in protection, with the only sack coming on a Maye scramble attempt. Their defense gave up its first 100-yard rushing performance, but Bryce Young threw for less than 200 yards, and the Panthers went just 5-14 on third downs and 1-3 on fourth downs. Special teams also generated multiple big returns while prevented at least one potential disaster in coverage.<\/p>\n With very little to complain about in such a lopsided victory, here are five Patriots who are trending up after today’s game and one nitpick.<\/p>\n Outside of a near-interception on his first attempt and low passes to start the 2nd half, Maye was dialed in and dangerous against the Panthers.<\/p>\n The sophomore quarterback has shown stretches of impressive decisiveness and accuracy, but he seemed to capitalize on more downfield opportunities than last week. That led to a season-high five explosive completions, two touchdowns through the air, and another on a scramble.<\/p>\n .@DrakeMaye2<\/a> around the outside \ud83d\udc4f<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfa FOX pic.twitter.com\/rtBrd2AjtD<\/a><\/p>\n — New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n5 Up<\/h1>\n
Drake Maye<\/h2>\n
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