The Patriots made a statement with their pre-bye prime time performance against the New York Giants.
They took their performance up a notch, adding in a level of physicality we hadn’t seen before.
With a national TV audience looking on during the Monday night win, the Patriots intentions were clear. They wanted to show their rags-to-riches ascension to the NFL’s top tier was no fluke. They were a team to be reckoned with.
And listening to Mike Vrabel, and his message to the players before the break, there’s more to come.
“We’re not done. We’re not satisfied,” Vrabel said Tuesday. “I think champions are never satisfied. I think you can appreciate where you are, but at the same time, never be satisfied or complacent.”
There’s four games remaining in the season, starting with their Week 15 bout with Buffalo at Gillette Stadium.
As a player, Vrabel was a part of Bill Belichick-coached teams that made a point of playing their best football after Thanksgiving, heading into the postseason.
Now as a coach, Vrabel also wants his team to finish strong.
Here’s 5 reasons why they’ll keep the ball rolling:
Drake Maye
The Patriots quarterback has been insanely good to this point. There’s no reason to believe he will all of a sudden morph into a mere mortal.
Why?
Thus far, there hasn’t been anything an opposing defense has thrown at him, that he hasn’t been able to adjust to, and handle.
There’s been no Kryptonite for Maye.
He’s been thrown off a bit, but nothing has lasted, or made him unable to steer the offense toward wins.
If no one has been able to fully neutralize Maye to this point, it’s not likely going to happen Weeks 15-18.
More than that, the players have faith in their quarterback and his ability to lift the team with his efforts.
“It’s awesome to be a part of watching such a young player have so much success, and handle it with such maturity,” center Garrett Bradbury said of his quarterback. “We’ll ride with that guy any day.”
Mike Vrabel/Coaching staff
It’s no secret. The players have completely bought into Vrabel, and whatever he’s selling. That’s not going to change over the final four games.
The players believe in him, and his ability to lead them to victory each and every week.
At this stage, Vrabel isn’t about to allow them to take a step back. If anything, he’ll push them to take it up another notch.
Josh McDaniels, meanwhile, has done a masterful job bringing Maye along, and adapting his offense to fit his quarterback.
And he still hasn’t shown all he has up his sleeve, and all he has in store for Maye and the offense.
There’s more to come.
As for Zak Kuhr, he’s held his own since taking over for defensive coordinator Terrell Williams, who took leave to undergo cancer treatment.
But there’s always room for improvement.
The defense hasn’t fared well stopping teams in the red zone, but even with that, it’s hard to argue with the fact the Patriots are a top-5 defense when it comes to points allowed (18.5) which leads back to the job Kuhr and the defensive staff has done.
Identity
Through the first 13 weeks, the Patriots have built their on-field identity.
First and foremost, Vrabel wanted a team that was good enough to take advantage of the other team’s mistakes. He wanted a team that didn’t beat itself.
He’s got that, and more.
The Patriots do the little things that lead to wins, compete for 60 minutes, and, as we saw against the Giants, will elevate their game, and their physicality as needed.
In the long run, that’s going to be tough to beat.
Bradbury explained why they upped their physicality against the Giants.
“I think it comes from who we want to be, how we want to play the game, how Coach Vrabel wants this team to play the game,” Bradbury said. “Identity can sound cliche. It can sound like coach-speak, but that’s what you saw.
“You saw physicality, you saw aggressiveness. It was awesome. It was fun. I felt the energy. It was about violence. That’s how you play the game.”
Next man up
The Patriots lost Will Campbell and Jared Wilson to injury, and didn’t miss a beat with subs manning the left side of their offensive line against the Giants.
A major issue with the team, one that was thought to be a potential road block to their success – a lack of depth in key spots – hasn’t materialized.
Their world didn’t collapse with Vederian Lowe and Ben Brown manning left tackle and left guard respectively. The Patriots also didn’t go on a losing streak after losing Milton Williams.
They just keep winning. If the respective next men up continue to hold the fort as long as necessary, there’s no reason to believe they’ll collapse over the final four games.
The Competition
All year long, the Patriots seemed to have an asterisk next to their record.
They might have won all of these games, but look who they were playing? Granted, the Patriots haven’t exactly faced a murderer’s row of teams, but it’s well past the point of penalizing them for that.
During their 10-game win streak, they’ve won at home, and have yet to lose on the road. They’ve beaten good teams, and bad teams. And they’ve done so convincingly for the most part.
With the four remaining games, whether it’s facing Buffalo and Baltimore, or the New York Jets and Miami, it really doesn’t matter.
The Patriots have shown they are capable of beating anybody. More important, they’ve proven it to themselves. Having that kind of belief is a powerful tool.
