By Tiffany Williams –
Folks can say whatever they want about the New England Patriots in the post-Tom Brady era, but they can’t say Mike Vrabel didn’t drag this franchise back into a fight. After years of spiraling seasons, coaching drama, and quarterback chaos, the 2025 Patriots look nothing like the teams that stumbled through the first half-decade without their legendary quarterback.
Brady officially closed the book on Foxborough March 17, 2020, and signed with Tampa Bay three days later. What followed in New England was a parade of unfinished seasons and identity crises. A 7–9 finish in 2020. A brief playoff flicker in 2021 that was extinguished in the Wild Card round. A flat 8–9 stumble in 2022. A miserable 4–13 collapse in 2023 that ended the Belichick dynasty once and for all. Jerod Mayo took over in 2024, but a matching 4–13 implosion ended his reign after one season.
Then came the moment Patriots fans didn’t just expect — they demanded. On January 12, 2025, New England hired Mike Vrabel, a cornerstone of the early 2000s Super Bowl machine and a no-nonsense coach with a Coach of the Year trophy already on his résumé. The Patriots introduced him at Gillette the next day, but nobody in New England needed reminding. Vrabel was family.
His head-coaching debut didn’t start with fireworks. A 20-13 loss to the Raiders on September 7 exposed everything still broken. Outgunned 390-251. Too slow to respond. Too flat to steal momentum. Drake Maye threw his first touchdown but couldn’t carry the offense. But Vrabel didn’t flinch. One week later in Miami, he delivered his first statement win, a 33-27 upset that snapped Tua Tagovailoa’s undefeated streak against New England. Maye threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Milton Williams sacked Tagovailoa on fourth down to close it out.
Back home the following week, reality punched back — a 21-14 loss to Pittsburgh before 64,628 restless fans. It dropped New England to 1-2. The murmurs started. The questions started.
And that’s when the Patriots transformed.
They haven’t lost since.
The streak started with a 42-13 demolition of Carolina on September 28. Marcus Jones ripped the Panthers with a franchise-record 167 punt return yards and an 87-yard touchdown. Maye went 14-for-17 with two touchdowns and a rushing score. Stefon Diggs posted his first 100-yard game as a Patriot. The defense gave up an opening-drive touchdown and then shut the lights off.
Then came the shocker in Buffalo — a 23-20 win over the undefeated Bills on October 5. Rookie Andy Borregales drilled a 52-yard field goal with 15 seconds left. Diggs torched his former team for 146 yards on 10 catches. Rhamondre Stevenson punched in two rushing touchdowns. And suddenly, the national spotlight swung back toward Foxborough.
The wins kept coming. A 25-19 victory in New Orleans powered by three Maye touchdown passes and a hometown showcase from Louisiana native Kayshon Boutte. A 31-13 takedown of Tennessee in Nashville where Vrabel returned to the sideline of the team that fired him. Stevenson gashed the Titans with an 88-yard touchdown run. Maye kept dealing.
On October 26, Cleveland landed the first punch at Gillette — and then failed to land another. New England unloaded a 21-point third quarter and coasted to a 32-13 win. Maye threw three second-half touchdowns. Diggs and Boutte both scored.
A 24-23 nail-biter followed against Atlanta on November 2, sealed only because the Falcons missed the tying extra point in the fourth quarter. Maye threw two touchdowns and two turnovers, but the defense held.
And then there was Tampa Bay — a 28-23 Patriots win on November 9 that pushed the streak to seven. TreVeyon Henderson erupted for 147 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including 55- and 69-yard breakaways. Maye delivered 270 yards and two scoring strikes. The Patriots climbed to 8-2 and took control of the AFC East.
This is the first Patriots team since 2021 to stack seven straight wins. And this version looks even more dangerous.
Vrabel has hammered his identity into every corner of the locker room. Diggs described him as a “perfect parent,” the kind of coach who will tear into you with bad practice tape one moment and lift you up the next. Former players say he holds stars and rookies to the same standard. Because he lived the NFL grind, he knows exactly what buttons to push.
He carried the Belichick DNA into the building but didn’t recreate the old blueprint. His teams are situational assassins. He weaponizes game-management quirks. He disguises fronts, layers pressure packages, and demands precise tackling. And he never forgot the clock-burning loophole he used to beat New England in the 2019 playoffs.
Offensively, this isn’t the Tennessee playbook. Vrabel isn’t recreating the Derrick Henry battering-ram approach. He’s building around Maye’s mobility, accuracy, and rhythm. Protect the quarterback. Stay efficient. Strike when the window opens. The offensive line has responded — especially rookie Will Campbell, who has become a fortress in pass protection.
Ten weeks into the season, Vrabel’s goal to “galvanize” the franchise looks complete. The sideline energy is different. The chemistry is different. The swagger is back. Diggs says the players are “playing for each other.” And it’s real.
But now the Patriots step onto a different kind of stage — prime time, Thursday Night Football, against the New York Jets.
The Jets limp into Foxborough at 2-7 under rookie head coach Aaron Glenn. Their 2025 season hasn’t been a rebuild — it’s been a reset. Aaron Rodgers gone, now with Pittsburgh. Defense regressed from last season. Sauce Gardner traded at the deadline. A unit giving up 330 yards per game and failing to create turnovers.
Justin Fields has taken over at quarterback and flashed why he still draws believers. He can extend plays, punish defenses on the ground, and create out of chaos. But his Achilles heel hasn’t changed — he holds the ball too long. An improved offensive line has opened some run lanes for him, but the sack risk is always there.
The Jets are playing for development, not playoffs. They’re looking for progress, not miracles. And they’ll be without Garrett Wilson tonight. They arrive battered, inconsistent, and under pressure.
New England has its own injuries — Rhamondre Stevenson and Kayshon Boutte are out. But this is still a team riding seven straight wins and a quarterback playing his best football of the season.
So what should fans expect?
From the Patriots: Vrabel’s defense is going to test Fields’ patience from the first snap. Expect simulated pressures, rotating fronts, and disguised blitz looks designed to force Fields to either speed up or break the pocket. If Fields sits in the pocket too long, New England will feast. Offensively, Maye will be asked to play clean without Stevenson’s security blanket in the run game. Expect more short-area timing throws, more involvement from Diggs early, and a steady rotation of backs to replace Stevenson’s touches.
From the Jets: They’ll lean on Fields’ legs to extend drives. Without Garrett Wilson, the passing game shrinks. Fields will need broken-play magic and the ground game to keep the Patriots’ defense honest. The Jets’ defense, depleted and inconsistent, must find a way to prevent Maye from dictating the pace. If they can generate early pressure, they can hang around. If they can’t, it could unravel quickly.
Prediction: The Jets have youth, energy, and desperation. But they don’t have the momentum, stability, or execution that the Patriots have finally rediscovered. New England is rolling, confident, and punishing mistakes — and the Jets make a lot of them. With a prime-time home crowd behind them and a chance to stretch the streak to eight, the Patriots hold every advantage.
Patriots 27, Jets 17.
Sports Insider Daily 