Sunday’s opener against the Raiders had some good moments, but a lot of the concerns new head coach Mike Vrabel had coming into the game ultimately reared their ugly head during a disappointing 20-13 loss at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.One of the key points Vrabel has talked about on multiple occasions was being a team that could take advantage of bad football. But unfortunately, there were multiple issues that stood out that ultimately led to New England dropping the first game of the 2025 season.Here are some thoughts on some of the frustrating aspects of what went down Sunday:1) Too many big plays on defense: After a rough start, the Patriots defense settled down but still gave up too many big plays on Sunday, with Raiders quarterback Geno Smith having his way with New England’s secondary.He finished the game 24-of-34 (70.6%) for 362 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and it was obvious that he and Carroll were on the same page during Vrabel’s first loss as Patriots head coach.For New England, they were definitely undermanned. With Christian Gonzalez sidelined, the Patriots were already thin in the secondary, and Las Vegas certainly came into Sunday’s contest with the intent of attacking the Patriots defense, especially when it came to taking shots downfield. Smith and the offense connected on nine plays of over 20 yards, including two that went for over 30.Five of those came in the second half as the Raiders took control of the game and kept building a lead, putting the pressure on a Patriots offense that never was able to get into much of a rhythm.But the Raiders ended up being somewhat relentless, continuing to take shots, which became a massive problem New England just couldn’t solve. While the Patriots’ defense was able to initially get some pressure in the first half, Las Vegas adjusted, and Smith ended up with far too much time to operate in the second half.That gave him the time he needed to find openings in the defense, which then allowed the Raiders to pull away. It also forced Maye and the offense to spend the afternoon playing on their terms, and they ultimately couldn’t overcome it.
(PHOTO: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
Vrabel admitted that both giving up big plays, as well as penalties in key situations, is something they’re just not good enough to come back from.“We didn’t think that the run game had hurt us. Then they picked us a couple of times, and they hit a couple of long ones when they hit some X plays, which we talked about that being a key,” said Vrabel. “We’ll get back together. I thought we settled down really well defensively. I thought the first drive was not our best. Then I thought we settled down. I thought they played well. I thought they played hard. We just weren’t able to make enough there in the end.”Three of the first five completions by the Raiders went for over 20 yards, with Brock Bowers going for 23 yards on Las Vegas’ first offensive play of the afternoon. Three plays later, Smith hit Tre Trucker from 26 yards out for a touchdown, giving the Raiders a quick 7-0 lead.From there, the defense managed to stymie Las Vegas for the rest of the first half, but in the second half, it was Las Vegas who made the adjustments as Smith missed just two passes the rest of the way, closing out the afternoon 13-of-15 (86.7%) for 222 yards.“Now we’ll see where we’re at,” said Vrabel. “We’ll see what kind of football team we have, what kind of leaders we have, to be able to come back in here and get to work. I think that that’ll be the true test.”“We always talk about culture and everything else. We’ll see where we’re at as a culture and as a team. And if we have guys that want to work and stick together, it’ll be a big challenge to do that.”
(PHOTO: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images)
2) Patience Running Thin Already with Maye: Patriots fans are no strangers to turning on a quarterback one game into their second season, and the honeymoon certainly appears to be over for Drake Maye.Following two straight 4-13 seasons, whatever patience people may have had seems like it’s definitely thin. The overall tenor when it comes to Maye revealed a lot of frustration and doubt from fans who are already wondering if the club should start exploring its options after this season.Needless to say, Maye is likely going to start hearing some of the noise from the people who are already beginning to have their doubts about the 22-year-old.One issue he’s going to need to get a handle on is being too amped up early in the game, which was again the case on Sunday. He was also a little jumpy in the early going, with Maye scrambling to his right on the first play from scrimmage. He clearly felt some pressure, which had him on edge and put him on the move rather than getting the ball out to Stefon Diggs, who was directly in front of him.Instead, Maye scrambled to his right and slid out of bounds. However, two plays later on a 3rd-and-8, he badly overthrew Demario Douglas after he didn’t set his feet and stepped to his right as he released the football.The ball sailed over Douglas, who was near the marker and potentially could have moved the chains.They would go on to punt, and the defense managed to come up with a turnover on Las Vegas’ ensuing drive, which gave them back the football with another shot to get points.Maye then put together a 12-play, 82-yard drive that ended in a 2-yard touchdown to Douglas, knotting the score at 7-7. Maye went 4-of-7 on that drive for 63 yards and his touchdown, and it felt like New England had a bit of momentum.
(PHOTO: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
After forcing a punt, New England put together another good drive, with the offense overcoming an early offensive holding penalty on rookie Jared Wilson. Unfortunately, the drive stalled and rookie kicker Andres Borregales pushed his 40-yard attempt wide right, taking away the Patriots’ shot at grabbing the lead.But Maye went on a pretty good run from there. He put together another drive that went for 9 plays, and 56 yards, with Borregales getting some redemption with a 35 yard field goal. On that drive, Maye was a perfect 4-of-4 for 30 yards.He then found himself in the middle of a pretty good streak after carrying over his late success into their opening drive of the second half, with Maye extending a streak to 10-straight completions. But then disaster struck as he attempted a big throw down the middle of the field to Stefon Diggs, with Maye getting drilled as he released the football.The ball ended up getting picked off, and not only snapped Maye’s streak, but more importantly, it gave Smith and the Raiders offense the momentum for the rest of the game.With the rain coming down, Maye finished just 8-of-14 (57.1%) in the fourth quarter and was sacked twice, with Las Vegas taking control the rest of the way.
(PHOTO: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
Despite a pretty good run, several aspects of the game still appeared. Rather than taking the sack and living to fight another day, or just throwing the ball away when he’s outside the pocket, Maye again was spotted trying to stiff-arm his way out of a tackle as he was going down, and ended up losing a couple of yards on another play where he should have thrown it away.He also got lucky on a near-turnover in this one at one point, after not spotting a defender coming in on him, with the ball getting knocked out of his hand, but they fortunately recovered.Ball security has been a big point of discussion all offseason, and he didn’t do much on Sunday to quell that discussion.“I think I thought I had Diggs on the right,” said Maye on the interception. “Got to look back at it on the film. You don’t have a great look at it. I think I missed it high. I think I got to step into it more.“I think I may have got hit up front, but that’s just part of playing quarterback in this league.You got to step into the throw and take hits and be accurate. It’s just a play I wish I could have back. I can think of three or four for me that can help dictate the game. It’s just a bummer thinking back and looking back at those.”
(PHOTO: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
Vrabel added that while there were plays Maye would probably like to have back, he also added that they need to do a better job of getting him more help while also not playing from behind.“Again, without looking at the tape, I thought there were some good, positive plays and really good command of what we were doing,” said Vrabel. “Then there were times where maybe he missed somebody, and we’ll have to see. It’s a challenge playing quarterback in this league, and we got to help him out. We have to be more balanced. We have to use our run actions and be able to run the football.”“It’s hard to turn it into a drop-back passing game in this league. I mean, that’s just the facts. They’re up two scores, and they’re in their third-down package. We just don’t want to ever live in that world.”3) Rough day for the secondary: There were some tough moments on Sunday in the secondary for the Patriots, which started pretty early on as the Raiders made their way into the end zone.On Smith’s 26-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, Tre Tucker blew past safety Jalynn Hawkins, with Smith dropping the ball into the end zone for the touchdown.Smith would go on to hit six more big plays, connecting on throws of 24, 23, 23, 30, 38, and 28 yards, with the Patriots defense seemingly unable to come up with a solution.One of the toughest plays on Sunday came late in the fourth quarter with the Raiders sitting in a 3rd-and-20 with an opportunity for New England to potentially get the ball back earlier than they eventually did.On the play, wideout Dont’e Thornton, a rookie fourth-round pick out of Oregon, ended up beating Carlton Davis for a 36 yard reception, which got the Raiders down in Patriots territory.Davis wasn’t even close, with the veteran getting beaten badly on the play. He did his best to chase after him while diving as the ball arrived, and he looked visibly upset with himself for the blown coverage.
(PHOTO: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images)
While Las Vegas did end up punting, it took another minute plus off the clock and made an already unlikely comeback bid even more difficult.Vrabel said after the game that the big plays were certainly an issue, but there were other factors involved as they tried coming up with ways to counter. Vrabel also added that while they were able to get a turnover, it wasn’t enough.“I mean, just understanding the coverage, understanding, you know, eyes. I think it all goes into sometimes the call, and they had a good call for what we had on, or a guy made a play,” said Vrabel. “When you look at X plays in general, it’s, offensively, you scheme them up about 35% of the time, and about 65% of the time somebody makes a play. I would say that the same would go defensively.”“Sometimes we’re not in the best call, and they scheme us up, and then other times somebody makes a play. Just like we were able to get our hand on a football, they go 13 personnel. We were pretty adamant that they were going to throw, and they tried to hit 89. We tipped it, and we made a play. But we just have to have more of those, and we have to create some more turnovers.”Either way, it’s something that will likely be a point of emphasis, especially with a trip to Miami up next against a Dolphins team that will be looking for redemption after getting blown out 33-8 in Indianapolis against the Colts on Sunday.
(PHOTO: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images)
4) No big play opportunities for Henderson: One thing that was interesting is that no matter how hard they tried, the Patriots couldn’t quite get rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson out in space on Sunday.The Raiders had clearly keyed in on Henderson, who always seemed to have someone nearby whenever he got the football.When the ball did come his way, those windows closed quickly, including one play where Maye probably shouldn’t have thrown it on a quick pass where the rookie got lit up before being dropped.Henderson finished Sunday’s game with 6 catches for 24 yards, as well as just 5 carries for 27 yards. The rookie did as much as he could when he did get his hands on the football, but they weren’t able to scheme up any opportunities for a big play.5) Boutte Steps Up, Diggs Kept in Check: Receiver Kayshon Boutte stepped up with a big performance on Sunday, leading the offense with 103 yards on six catches.He was Maye’s go-to receiver all afternoon, with five of Boutte’s six receptions moving the chains. He also came up with a 19-yard reception on the team’s final scoring drive, helping get things started as New England drove downfield and put Borregales in position to hit his 44-yard field goal that cut the lead to 20-13 ahead of their unsuccessful onside kick.Meanwhile, Diggs came up with six receptions for 57 yards, but he wasn’t the impact player that many had hoped he might be, at least not in his first outing.He did finish with two receptions on third down, with one of those catches extending the drive. But overall, it was a rough day for the veteran, who wasn’t able to help them come up with more explosive opportunities.Unfortunately, Josh McDaniels couldn’t quite come up with a way to get any more out of this group against a Raiders defense that seemed to have a pretty good handle on what it was they were trying to do.For now, it’s likely going to be a big week for Vrabel’s team as they try and put this one behind them.“We’re never going to accept losing,” said Vrabel. “We have to embrace moving on, and we have to do that quickly and get these things fixed and go on the road in a division opponent.”
About Ian LogueIan Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.View all posts by Ian Logue
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