Patriots lead AFC East for first time since 2019 following Bills loss to Falcons on ‘Monday Night Football’

In one of the biggest early surprises of the 2025 NFL season, the New England Patriots sit atop the AFC East after six weeks. New England is in first place in its division for the first time since 2019, the last time the franchise captured an AFC East crown. 

The Patriots leapfrogged the five-time defending division champion Bills for the top spot in the division following Buffalo’s 24-14 loss to the Falcons on Monday night. While both teams have 4-2 records, New England has the tiebreaker over Buffalo by virtue of its 23-20 win over the Bills in Week 5. 

While it’s new ground for these Patriots, New England owned the AFC East from 2001-19. Over that span, the Patriots won 17 division titles en route to capturing six Super Bowls and nine AFC championships. 

Since 2019, however, the Patriots have been supplanted by the Bills as the beasts of the East. But while Buffalo has dominated the East, it hasn’t parlayed that dominance into a trip to the Super Bowl. The Bills, despite all of their success during the Josh Allen-Sean McDermott era, are still in pursuit of their first Super Bowl berth since 1993, when the franchise lost in the big game for a fourth straight year. 

New England has been one of the biggest surprise stories during the first half of the 2025 regular season. After a 1-2 start, the Patriots have won three straight games that includes their highly-emotional win at Buffalo. The Patriots followed that performance up with a gritty, 25-19 win over the Saints in New Orleans last Sunday. 

Based on their remaining schedule, the Patriots should remain in the thick of things as far as competing for a playoff spot as well as the AFC East title. Eight of New England’s final 11 games are against teams that currently have a losing record. The Patriots have two upcoming games against the winless Jets and two other games against teams (the Titans this week and the Ravens in Week 16) that currently have one win apiece. 

The Patriots’ success has been the byproduct of an efficient passing attack and a defense that is currently seventh in the NFL in fewest points allowed. In several ways, the Patriots’ current formula for success is similar to the one they parlayed into the franchise’s first Super Bowl win 24 years ago. 

Like that team, the Patriots have a second-year quarterback at the helm in Drake Maye. Like Tom Brady back then, Maye is making the necessary big plays while largely taking care of the football and not putting his defense in too many bad spots. 

It’s been a full team effort on defense, which again harkens back to how the Patriots won the 2001 Super Bowl. The unit, which has been one of the NFL’s best against the run, came up with a season-high three turnovers that proved to be a big difference in their upset win in Buffalo. 

A direct connection to that 2001 squad is Mike Vrabel, the Patriots’ first-year coach who starred at linebacker for New England during their first three Super Bowl wins. While it’s still early, Vrabel should be considered as a early front-runner for NFL Coach of the Year, an award he won back in 2021 while coaching the Titans. 

Speaking of the Titans, Vrabel will make his return to Nashville on Sunday when the Patriots face a Titans team that fired their coach, Brian Callahan, on Monday.