Pats Pulpit
When Mike Vrabel was introduced as New England Patriots head coach in January 2025, he set some goals that seemed quite lofty for a team coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons. Among them was winning the division and hosting home playoff games.
Almost to the day one year later, the Patriots will do just that. On Sunday night, the AFC East champions will welcome the Los Angeles Chargers to Gillette Stadium in the NFL wild card round. It will be the first postseason game in Foxborough since January 2020, and a chance for the organization to win its first playoff contest since Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.
Naturally, most of our attention this week was on that particular game. For everything we did not yet touch on, let’s clean out the notebook. Welcome to the first playoff edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
The Patriots’ rebuilding process and recent lack of success have contributed to the team entering this year’s playoffs with limited experience. Looking at their current roster, 34 of 53 players have never appeared in a postseason game (and neither have the two practice squad elevations).
Among those 34 are some of the biggest names on the team, including quarterback Drake Maye and cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
“I think the natural thing is to get a little more amped. I guess that’s just natural, as a human, for a big game,” Maye told reporters this week. “Just trust what you’ve been doing. I told these guys at the end of the season, before the playoffs came, to put some extra work in, to stay after practice. Some guys have been running extra routes and little things like that that can go a long way, but don’t do anything out of the ordinary.
“That’s the biggest thing. Trust what you’ve been doing. Trust the preparation you’ve been doing all season. Trust your coaches and your teammates around you, and just go out there and have fun. It’s playoff football, so you’ve got to bring your best, and everybody knows that. That’s the expectation. Just trying to live up to that and just trying to be myself.”
The Patriots have preached sticking to their usual preparation throughout the week, and, as wide receiver Stefon Diggs put it, are not trying to “go and make new macaroni.” In terms of playoff experience, Diggs is on the opposite side of the spectrum to Maye and company: his 14 postseason games top the team ahead of defensive tackle Milton Williams’ and cornerback Carlton Davis’ nine.
The veteran leadership on the team that has been in that position, therefore plays a vital role getting their lesser-experienced teammates ready. Linebacker Robert Spillane summed up the message like this:
“Trust yourselves. You put in the work your whole life for these moments. They are fleeting moments and you never know when you’re going to be back and given an opportunity like this. Go out there, trust yourself, have fun and do what you’ve...
