During the week, Mike Vrabel said the Patriots had “unfinished business” to take care of.
They’ve punched their ticket to the playoffs, and have two games remaining in the regular season.
With a couple of other accomplishments in sight, including one that could be hugely beneficial during the postseason, Vrabel isn’t about to take his foot off the gas pedal.
He’s not going to put bubble wrap around his star players – the ones that are playing at least – or play them sparingly, and try to keep the injury list manageable for the postseason.
Vrabel is pushing for his team to win out. He wants to win the division. He wants to close out the season with a perfect record on the road. And he’d love to add the cherry on top – the AFC’s top seed.
“I think that it would mean a lot. It’s a division game on the road. A chance to go 8-0, undefeated on the road. We know how difficult that is,” Vrabel said Friday. “That’s something that, again, we are focused on. It won’t be easy, but it’s all the things that we’ve done previously that have helped us win, how you have to play, how you have to take care of the ball, how you have to handle the road environment, and all those things that it takes to be able to win and get some turnovers.
“So, hopefully, we can continue to do that. Again, nothing is guaranteed. You have to go over there, you have to prove it and you have to play.”
Is Vrabel playing with fire? Is he pushing the envelope trying to go beyond just qualifying for the post-season?
He sure is. But he’s not wrong. That’s the best approach. It’s the right mindset to have, and impart on the players ahead of their first post-season appearance since 2021.
Vrabel has been preaching consistency all year. The players have bought into his message. They’ve strived to be consistent. They’ve been focused on the game at hand, winning, and moving on.
Why change now?
It sends the wrong message.
So the Patriots aren’t looking ahead. They’re not coasting the rest of the regular season. They’re looking at the New York Jets. Gang Green is first up. The Patriots, even missing six starters due to injury, want to close out with a pair of wins, and let the chips fall where they may regarding the top seed.
They also want to be hitting the post-season playing their best football. They want to iron out all the kinks, and hopefully, not incur too many more injuries along the way.
Losing wide receiver Mack Hollins with an abdomen injury and having land on IR is a tough break, but that shouldn’t change the mission and approach today at MetLife Stadium with the Jets.
“I think it’s really important (to finish strong),” Drake Maye said. “Coach McDaniels has talked to me about improving and getting better in practice as you reach the end of the season and reach the playoff time. You want to feel like you’re improving in practice and guys are practicing hard.
“That translates to the game . . . it’s really big on continuing a little winning streak these last couple games, heading into the playoffs feeling good about ourselves and feeling like we’ve still got some work to do.”
Center Garrett Bradbury agreed.
“You have to have the mentality that you want to keep getting better,” Bradbury said. “I would say we still haven’t had our best game yet offensively. So, you’re chasing improvement. I think that’s where our focus is.”
Stefon Diggs was even more emphatic about the final two games. He didn’t want to hear about letting up, resting up to prep for January football.
“Don’t let your foot off the gas. Don’t get comfortable. You’re going to the playoffs, cool,” he said. “But you’ll be out of the playoffs faster than you know if you don’t play good ball consistently, week in and week out.
“When you go into the postseason, you want to be hitting on all cylinders. You want to be healthy and you want to be in a good spot. It’s good these last two weeks to be playing good football, something you can be proud of something you can look at on tape, ‘OK, we’re going in the right direction.’’’
Winning out with a chance to grab the AFC’s top seed, with home field and an opening round bye is too important to pass on.
They still might not get it winning out, especially with the LA Chargers losing to Houston, and not having much to play for next week against the Denver Broncos, but at least they’ll give themselves a shot. Surrendering isn’t an option.
Linebacker Jahlani Tavai, who has weathered several losing seasons, offered a familiar refrain from one of the longer standing members of the team.
“We’re tired of losing,” Tavai said. “Our goal is to win, and that’s what we’re chasing. We’re chasing wins. So it doesn’t matter whether we’ve clinched or not. Each game is important.”
