TAMPA, Fla. – Mike Vrabel has never been one to pull his punches. An aggressive coach with a tough demeanor, the Patriots coach pushes his players to the limit.
He preaches hard work and demands excellence. It’s not easy, but when players listen, they see the rewards on Sunday. They also see the risks Vrabel’s willing to take. Sunday’s win was another example.
Vrabel’s Patriots went for it on fourth down three times. He may have asked Drake Maye to intentionally not score on the goal line to drain the clock. And much like their head coach, the Patriots never stopped fighting en route to their upset win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Well, I think anything in life, you’re going to have to certainly put some chips in the pot to be able to win something,” Vrabel said. “Can’t sit around and wait and hope that they just hand it to you. Sometimes you can, but most of the time, in life, you’ve got to be able to risk something to get something in return. Can’t win nothing you don’t put in the middle.”
This season, the 2025 Patriots have followed their coach’s lead.
This is a team that has shown fight. That’s been the case this season, and Sunday was a prime example against one of the best teams in the NFC.
For the seventh time in 10 games, the Patriots defense allowed its opponent to score on its first drive. Vrabel’s team started slow and fell behind against a good team in their home stadium. The Patriots trailed for most of the first half on Sunday.
Before arriving in Tampa, Vrabel’s message to his team resonated. He told them to prepare to fight for 60 minutes.
“The courage and the belief that he carries around the building, it definitely bleeds into us,” edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson said. “And everything that we do, regardless of whether it’s football, ping pong, basketball, it don’t matter. There’s a belief that whatever we put our mind to, we’re fully capable of doing.”
To upset the Buccaneers in their own stadium, the Patriots had to take some risks.
They showed that from the start. The Patriots went for it on fourth-and-1 in their first drive after falling behind. Down 10-7, the Patriots were on the goal line with 1:44 left in the half. With Tampa Bay out of timeouts, it appeared as though Maye took a knee for no gain on first down.
Maye said he wanted to score, but admitted it worked out for the Patriots as the clock began to drain. Vrabel wouldn’t comment on whether or not the quarterback was asked not to score.
The plan almost backfired.
The Patriots got stuffed on second and third down, but on fourth-and-1, Vrabel opted to go for the touchdown instead of attempting a game-tying field goal with 2 seconds left in the half.
It took a special catch from Stefon Diggs, but the Patriots scored on fourth-and-1 to enter the half with a 14-10 lead. The veteran said that the team’s identity was built by Vrabel.
“It’s really something that he’s been preaching since April, since OTAs when we were building that identity as a relentless team and a team that’s not going to give up and do things the right way consistently,” Diggs said. “That’s where it started. It started with a foundation with bricks rather than sand. When you start with those bricks, you can lean on and at the end of the day go back to what we were building in the beginning, the foundation, and that’s the identity of the football team.”
As Vrabel predicted, the Buccaneers wouldn’t go away quietly. Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield entered this game leading the NFL in fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives.
The Buccaneers scored, cutting the Patriots lead to five. Vrabel’s offense then went for it on fourth-and-5, but Maye’s pass fell incomplete and Tampa took over with field position near midfield. In turn, the Patriots defense responded by forcing Tampa Bay to punt in their first two drives of the fourth quarter. Even after Maye was intercepted with 5:25 left on the clock, Vrabel’s defense didn’t quit.
The Buccaneers were 27 yards away from taking a lead in their home stadium when Milton Williams hit Mayfield, and Jaylinn Hawkins dropped Rachaad White for a loss of 3 yards on fourth down.
TreVeyon Henderson scored his second touchdown of the game two plays later to put this game out of reach.
“We ain’t going to quit. We’ve got a coach that preaches that,” Williams said. “Our message was to come in and win the NFC South. We beat every team in the NFC South that we played this year. That was our mission coming in, and we got it done.”
In 10 weeks, the Patriots have won eight games – the same amount the franchise won in the last two seasons combined. The team’s seven-game winning streak is the longest in New England since 2021. On Sunday, the Patriots improved to 5-0 on the road.
Vrabel’s team considers themselves road warriors, and much like their coach, fighters.
“He’s a great coach,” right tackle Morgan Moses said. “Everything that he preaches, the DNA that we want to walk out with is definitely what he preaches. The game of football is 60 minutes, and it’s never going to be perfect. If you get back up swinging in the middle of the ring, you’re always going to have an opportunity.”
Vrabel’s team did on Sunday, and once again, they left with a victory.
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