Pats Pulpit
Mike Vrabel set the tone from his first official day at the job. Speaking to the media at his introductory presser on January 13, the New England Patriots’ new head coach explained the play style he is looking for from his team.
“Aggressive but not reckless,” was the key phrase at the time. On Friday night, in his team’s preseason opener against the Washington Commanders, the Patriots will get a first real chance to put Vrabel’s words to the test.
The Patriots will do so against a familiar opponent, at least to a degree. The Commanders already visited the Gillette Stadium facility earlier this week, for a two-hour joint practice that already saw Vrabel’s team tests in limits as far as the controlled aggression he is looking for is concerned.
Things between the two teams got feisty on multiple occasions. At one point, Vrabel himself got involved — getting his face bloody while trying to break up a skirmish between running back TreVeyon Henderson and Commanders outside linebacker Von Miller. His involvement served as a reminder to his players that the head coach is setting the tone, and that he does not tolerate behavior that is potentially hurting his team.
“That’s what we’re trying to build, and it starts with the head coach,” quarterback Drake Maye said at the time. “The intensity, bringing it every day, taking no crap when you’re out there on the field. But also, there comes a comes time with our guys offensively when getting over there and getting some tussles, having some penalties after the whistle could get us in trouble. But for mentality I like it. That’s what you want.”
For all of the issues they had in 2024 under one-and-done head coach Jerod Mayo, penalties was not near the top of the list for the Patriots. While they did make their fair share of avoidable mistakes, they ended up getting flagged only 111 times — 18th in the NFL on a per-game basis.
There is natural room for improvement relative to that ranking, but it still was a lot better than most numbers posted by the team during its underwhelming 4-13 campaign last year. Still, Vrabel and company are looking to bring that penalty count down while still allowing the team to play with aggression and physicality on every down.
The players will be walking a tightrope trying to achieve that goal, but Vrabel has set expectation time and again. He did so on January 13; he did so throughout the offseason; he did so again ahead of the joint practice with the Commanders.
Now, it is time for his players to follow through.
