FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Patriots are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2021 after rallying from an 11-point, fourth quarter deficit to beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
The game was in many ways was emblematic of the culture that Mike Vrabel said he hoped to cultivate in his first season as coach.
“We said we needed to pack two things: We needed to pack our belief and our identity," Vrabel said. “I feel like we did.”
But the victory could also leave the Patriots shorthanded next week against the New York Jets as they look to secure their first AFC East title since Tom Brady's final season with New England in 2019.
Running back TreVeyon Henderson, who has emerged as a Rookie of the Year candidate with four touchdown runs over 50 yards this season, left Sunday’s victory in the second quarter with a head injury and did not return.
Wide receiver DeMario Douglas also injured his hamstring and defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga hurt his foot. That was all in addition to linebacker Robert Spillane sitting out for the second straight game as he continues to deal with his own foot issue.
At 12-3, New England currently has a one-game lead over the Buffalo Bills (11-4) with two games to play. If the Patriots win this Sunday at the Jets and Buffalo loses when it hosts Philadelphia, New England will win the division crown.
It has left a welcome sense of urgency lingering inside the Patriots’ locker room.
“It was awesome to clinch the playoffs, but we want to win the division,” quarterback Drake Maye said.
After being outscored 28-7 in the second half of their Week 15 loss to Buffalo, the Patriots vowed not to let it happen in two games in a row. They made good on that promise, outscoring the Ravens 18-14 over the final two quarters Sunday.
Special teams. Trailing 17-13 in the third quarter and facing a fourth-and-10 on its own 44, New England lined up to punt. Instead, the Patriots faked, snapping directly to punter protector Marte Mapu. He looked to pass, before being tackled for a loss and fumbling. The Patriots recovered, but the Ravens took over on downs and capitalized by scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry to go up 24-13.
It was a disastrous play for a team that has had multiple highlights on special teams this season.
Maye. He was again serenaded with “MVP!” chants from Patriots fans that made the trip to Baltimore, and his play was worthy of it. He had a bumpy start, throwing an interception in the red zone on the Patriots’ opening possession. But he was steady after that, keeping plays alive in the pocket and finding throwing lanes in the Ravens’ defense. Maye finished with a career-best 380 yards passing yards (his first career 300-yard game). He also had two touchdown tosses, his 10th game this season throwing for at least two TDs.
It marked his first career fourth-quarter comeback victory.
“I care about winning. If that’s what it takes, then hopefully I’ll try to do whatever it takes,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to do for this team. I won’t change that, no matter if it’s 500 yards or 40 yards. Whatever it is to win the game.”
Run defense. Henry carried 18 times for 128 yards against a Patriots defense that came in allowing just 89.5 yards per game on the ground. It could have been worse, but Henry didn’t get another carry after his 2-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. The Ravens still finished with 171 total rushing yards, a season-high allowed by the Patriots.
In addition to Douglas, Spillane and Tonga, DT Joshua Farmer injured his hamstring and CB Charles Woods left with an ankle issue.
3 — The Patriots improved to 7-0 on the road this season, leaving them as the NFL’s only team with an unblemished record away from home. This is only the third time in team history that New England has started a season 7-0 on the road. The others were in 2007 and 2016, when they ended up a perfect 8-0.
The Patriots visit a Jets team on Sunday that has lost three straight and five of six.
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New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs (8) runs in front of Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton (14) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, left, reacts toward down judge Patrick Turner (13) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) is pressured by Baltimore Ravens safety Alohi Gilman (12) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.
“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.
The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.
Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.
Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.
“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”
Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.
“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”
The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting to fly them off the island, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.
Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.
Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.
According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infections diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.
The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.
As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.
Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.
On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.
It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.
Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.
A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
