FOXBOROUGH - During the week, Mike Vrabel talked about the importance of the Patriots getting stronger as the game wore on, and winning the second half in their season opener against Las Vegas.
That was one of Vrabel’s keys to beating the Raiders.
That didn’t happen.
Vrabel’s hope of getting good enough to take advantage of bad football?
Not even close.
What about details, technique and fundamentals? Effort and finish?
The Patriots flunked most of Vrabel’s tenets across the board in the 20-13 loss to Pete Carroll’s Raiders.
And the players knew it.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who was one of the bright spots during his Patriots debut (6 catches, 57 yards), said it felt like failing a parent.
“That’s a guy you wanna run through a wall for. Obviously, he was a player, I got a lot of respect for him. We all do,“ Diggs said of Vrabel following the loss. ”When you come up short, it’s like when you disappoint your parents or disappoint your dad.
“A guy that played this game, he puts a lot of time in pushing us and trying to make this, make sure we’re prepared for the game,” he went on, “so when you don’t, when you fall short in certain areas, obviously you feel like a little bit of a disappointment.”
This wasn’t the kind of debut that was hoped for - and largely expected - from Vrabel’s team.
This was supposed to be different. This was supposed to be a sign of change.
Only it wasn’t.
Win the second half?
After taking a 10-7 lead into the locker room at the half, the Patriots couldn’t have dreamt of a worst start to the third quarter.
They were getting the ball, but were penalized on the kick, forcing them to start on the 12-yard-line. Drake Maye moved the team close to midfield, then threw a killer pick.
The defense? They showed little resistance after Maye threw the pick, with Vegas grabbing the lead five plays later, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The Patriots offense disappeared from that point on. Let’s just say they aren’t going to win many games scoring just 13 points.
During their six second-half possessions, they went: interception, punt, punt, punt punt, field goal.
Drake Maye made some good throws, but he missed far too many easy ones. He wasn’t the type of quarterback the Patriots need him to be Year 2.
Granted, it’s only one game, and one week on the schedule, but the quarterback’s performance wasn’t encouraging.
The Patriots also didn’t help themselves by committing nine penalties. They were sloppy. Rookie Will Campbell struggled with penalties coming at the worst possible times.
Rookie Andy Borregales also missed a 40-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Much to Vrabel’s chagrin, most of the bad football played Sunday in Foxborough belonged to the Patriots.
“It’s frustrating. We have to understand how sometimes these games are going to go. We just didn’t do enough in the second half,” Vrabel said. “We had too many missed opportunities, too many penalties, the turnover .. we didn’t take advantage of bad football.”
Instead, they were too busy trying to survive their own mistakes.
No one ever said it was going to be easy turning a team that’s gone 4-13 the past two seasons around. No one ever said it was going to happen overnight.
From the perspective of Vrabel musts, however, it was disappointing.
At least now, he knows the score, and knows exactly how far his team is from getting where it needs to go to start winning games.
Vrabel said he wasn’t necessarily surprised by the Week 1 performance. He’s just anxious to see the response. Because that will tell him even more about this team.
“Now, we’ll see where we’re at,” he said. “We’ll see what kind of football team we have, what kind of leaders we have, to be able to come back here and get to work. I think that’ll be the true test.”
The plusses?
The defense did hold Ashton Jeanty to just 38 yards rushing. On the flipside, though, the Patriots, with their three-headed monster, couldn’t crack 60 yards between Rhamondre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson and TreVeyon Henderson.
So Vrabel couldn’t even count on one of the team’s perceived strengths to move the needle.
Another plus was Kayshon Boutte’s 6-catch, 103-yard performance. When you don’t score, however, that takes the shine off that effort.
Bottom line, there’s still a lot of work to do to mold the team into the one Vrabel envisioned. This wasn’t a good start, but one game doesn’t tell the tale of a full season.
“Vrabes isn’t going to change. He knows what it takes to win in this league,” said linebacker Harold Landry, “and he knows that the guys just got to come in here ready to work.”
Or else, continue to let the coach down.
“Falling short is not ideal, but it’s a lot to learn from. It’s just the first game and I feel like we are a good team,” Diggs said. “We got to earn the right to win each and every week. We did not win this week. But, 24-hour rule, flush it, and get back to work. We already know what happened out there as far as what we did not do right. So get back in the lab, correct it, and try to get back on track.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.