Will Sunday’s Bills-Patriots game be a snow game?

New England Patriots

Most forecasts project snow on Sunday, but the precipitation might stop before the Bills-Patriots game begins.

By Conor Roche

December 12, 2025 | 3:59 PM

2 minutes to read

If Sunday’s Bills-Patriots game already wasn’t exciting enough, Mother Nature might provide some extra fun to the action at Gillette Stadium.

Most weather projections call for snowfall in Foxborough on Sunday. Foxborough and the surrounding areas are expected to get two to three inches of snow Saturday night into Sunday ahead of the 1 p.m. kickoff, the National Weather Service projects.

AccuWeather projects that there’ll be an 86 percent chance of snow in Foxborough on Sunday. It’s also projecting up to three inches of snow in Foxborough sometime between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

The Weather Channel, meanwhile, is projecting that there will be “light snow” on Sunday morning, which “will give way to some clearing during the afternoon.”

As for the temperature, the projected high is 32 degrees, according to AccuWeather.

If it does snow at Gillette Stadium during Sunday’s game, it’d mark the Patriots’ first snow game since 2023. That was when the Patriots lost to the Jets, 17-3, in the 2023 season finale, which wound up being Bill Belichick’s final game as New England’s head coach.

So, Sunday could mark the first time that Drake Maye will play in the snow in his NFL career. But the North Carolina native has been cognizant of the possibility of playing in the snow this year, as Maye and the Patriots voted to have a practice in November outdoors instead of indoors to get used to the elements.

“I had some cold-weather games last year and this team is up here, playing, and we’re trying to make it hard to play up here in December and late in the season,” Maye told reporters in November. “I think we have the advantage. Just trying to embrace it. I think part of it is just mentality, just getting out there, out of the locker room, and making a choice. What kind of player do I want to be today?

“Good to get used to playing in that weather,” Maye added. “It’s just part of playing up here and making it something that was important for us to get out there and embrace being in this weather. I think it’s good to be able to practice in it. I think it’s an advantage.”

As for the Bills, they played in the snow just last week. Josh Allen was able to thrive in the flurry conditions as well, scoring four total touchdowns in their 39-34 victory over the Bengals. So, the Patriots won’t have much of an advantage if it does snow, or could even be at a disadvantage considering how well the Bills’ offense played last week.

If it does wind up snowing, Sunday’s game has a chance to join the list of memorable snow games in Patriots history. There was the 59-0 win over the Titans in the snow in 2009. Both of the Patriots’ playoff victories over Peyton Manning’s Colts came in a snowy Foxborough (2003, 2004) as well.

There was also the memorable “Snowplow Game,” which took place 43 years ago on Friday. Of course, one of the games that started the Patriots’ dynasty run took place in the snow, too. The snow was front and center in the “Tuck Rule Game,” with the Patriots coming back to beat the Raiders in the 2001 playoff matchup as Adam Vinatieri had to make a pair of clutch kicks in the tough conditions.

Even if it doesn’t snow on Sunday, the Bills-Patriots matchup might be the biggest at Gillette Stadium since Tom Brady’s departure. A victory for the Patriots will secure them their first division title since 2019.