Stefon Diggs Had the Most 'Patriots' Reaction Ever to Finding Out They're Home Underdogs to the Bills

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It's hard to overstate the positive impact Stefon Diggs has had on the Patriots since he was first officially announced on the High Holy Day that is 3-28. Though I tried to describe it just before the regular season began:

It's gone far beyond his team-leading 64 receptions, 705 receiving yards, and catch rate of 81.0%, which is tops among all wideouts. And which put him on pace for an 84-catch, 922-yard season, which would be the franchise high since Julian Edelman, as Tom Brady's only legitimate target, cracked 1,000 in 2019. In a crowded wide receiver room, two solid tight ends and TreVeyon Henderson emerging as a dual-threat running back, those are impressive numbers. Especially for a guy who tore his ACL back in October of 2024. 

But like I said in early September, it's the leadership role that has defined Diggs' time in Foxboro more than anything else:

Next, all he's done is get along with everybody. Been a mentor to a young receiver group. Built the kind of nonpolar covalent bond with his 23-year-old quarterback that makes chemists weak in the knees. Worked hard with his coaches that's set an example for the entire roster.

And that's continued throughout the season. Bringing us to today, when Diggs was asked about the Patriots being +1.5 to the Bills Sunday. At home. Coming off a bye. On an absolute heater of 10-straight wins and a prime time humiliation of the Giants. With an 11-2 record facing a 9-4 Bills team they beat in Buffalo two months ago, before they started playing their best ball. And Diggs had this to say about it:

“Good.” 

He could've left it at that. The way General McAuliffe responded to a German request for formal surrender when he and his men were surrounded at Bastogne and replied, "Nuts." (Note that "Deez nuts" jokes weren't invented until the 2000s. But the sentiment was the same.) Instead, he elaborated:

“Edge. A real edge. That’s why I said it was good. This team is full of guys that were castoffs and people who were cut or people who didn’t necessarily get the opportunity that they wanted. However you dice it up. I feel like that’s good for us.

“Being an underdog, people like us have been an underdog our whole life. We’re going to have something to prove regardless of it. I think the main thing is it gets exciting when you’re an underdog, when you’ve got a lot to prove, when you’re playing with that edge and you’re playing aggressive because nobody believes in us but us. The record is surprising to everybody. All we did is take it one game at a time and I think we’ll do the same thing.”

This proves Diggs, who's already embraced the Patriots ethics of working hard, preparing hard, being situationally aware, putting the team before the individual and winning above all other things, has also mastered one other proud franchise tradition: 

Paranoia. 

Seeing yourself as disrespected by the world goes back at least as far as the 2001 Pats at the AFC championship game in Pittsburgh, seeing the Steelers had their luggage all ready to go to New Orleans for the Super Bowl. Then coming out of the tunnel being introduced as a team as 14.0-point underdogs to the Rams. A couple of years later, Rodney Harrison came along and perfected the art. Regardless of the spread or the predictions, Rodney had a genius for creating some slight and insisting "Nobody believed in us!" Even through back-to-back championships when they went a combined 34-4, he created an underdog status out of thin air. That attitude carried all the way to the 2018 AFC title game at Kansas City, after which Tom Brady said, "Everybody thinks we suck and can't win any games." 

It took a year or so, but eventually that became objectively true. And now that they're being talked about as a Super Bowl contender, with a potential MVP quarterback, a Coach of the Year candidate, and a solid chance to lock up the 1-seed in the conference, the oddsmakers handed the Pats this gift of being home 'dogs. Leave it to a solid, veteran leader like Diggs to know exactly how to refine that crude oil into rocket fuel to give his teammates maximum motivation. 

This disrespect is exactly what an emerging power in the league needs. And with a Hat & T-Shirt game this weekend, it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm not here to dispense wagering advice. But I know where my money is going to be. Thanks, Vegas.