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Patriots Eager For Primetime vs. Bills

Originally posted on New England Patriots on SI
By Jeremy Brener | Last updated Oct 3, 2025 2:00 PM ET

The New England Patriots will be working for the weekend as they take on the Buffalo Bills in their first primetime matchup of the season.

The Pats and the Bills will have a divisional showdown with the world watching as the lone game to cap off the Week 5 Sunday slate, which fires up New England quarterback Drake Maye.

"Yeah, it’s always a little extra juice playing primetime. Everybody’s watching, playing a division opponent," Maye said.

"What Coach [Mike] Vrabel says is that’s where we want to go, where we want to be at is where the Bills have been the past couple years: contenders, winning the division and playing well at home. They’ve won, he said, 14 straight, if that’s right, at home. So, it’s a tough environment, and like I said, they’re a great football team with some great players. So, we’ve got our hands full, but we’re excited. Anytime you’re on primetime, you’re kind of waiting the whole day for the game and under the lights. So, it’ll be pretty sweet."

The Bills are undefeated going into the game, but that adds some motivation for the Patriots going into the matchup. Having the chance to give the Bills their first loss at home in primetime should be an added emphasis for the Pats.

"I think if you want to get to where you want to get to, I think you certainly better enjoy it – better enjoy playing in Primetime games. And that’s something that we’re trying to prepare for right now. And so, I think that certainly it will be a huge challenge. The last time they lost at home was 14 games ago. We’re well aware of that and have to do a lot of really good things to give ourselves a chance. They’re, playing good football, they’re playing clean football, they’re not beating themselves and they’re doing a nice job in all phases," Vrabel said.

Every season ends in a primetime game with the Super Bowl, so the Patriots have to learn how to win when the lights are bright if they want to achieve their goals.

It won't be easy for the Pats to pull out a win, but whether they come out on top or not, they should be in a position to grow.

This article first appeared on New England Patriots on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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