New England Patriots - NESN.com
By the most important measure, win-loss record, the New England Patriots are showing improvement in the Mike Vrabel era.
Not exactly a high bar to clear, given how the end of the Bill Belichick and woebegone Jerod Mayo eras went. However, the Patriots will wrap up September at 2-2 as opposed to 1-3.
It was expected that the Patriots would take a step forward this year. They handled business against the Miami Dolphins and, on Sunday, the Carolina Panthers — two teams they absolutely should beat if they want to be on the playoff bubble. Their losses came against the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The past two weeks were a fair encapsulation of the 2025 Patriots thus far. The Week 3 loss to the Steelers was filled with mistakes, whereas they buttoned things up in Week 4 against Carolina, especially with turnovers, and won the game going away.
Now, they have a real measuring stick in Week 5 when they face the Bills in Buffalo on Sunday Night Football.
Head coach Mike Vrabel was asked after the win over Carolina where he thinks his team stands as they greater up for the AFC East showdown.
“When we don’t beat ourselves and we take care of the football and we play complementary football and we get stops on third down, the return, the special teams are a factor, and we score touchdowns in the red zone, it can look like something,” Vrabel said, via a team-provided transcript. “Again, that’s not guaranteed every week, but certainly we can see the difference in how critical those phases are and putting them all together.”
The Bills are the class of the division until proven otherwise, and a solid showing from Vrabel’s group would go a long way in inspiring confidence for the rest of the regular season.
