Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel says he wants to start a partnership with the Foxboro High School football team after MVP-contending quarterback Drake Maye launched an exchange of friendly banter with the crosstown squad.
Vrabel is no stranger to the lighthearted, playful joke of the Patriots competing against the Foxboro High Warriors, one that he says he’s been around since his NFL playing days with New England in the 2000s.
Decades later, the Patriots’ first-year head coach now wants to explore a partnership with the high school team after the idea sprouted again ahead of New England’s season finale against Miami.
“Anything that we can do to support Foxboro High School football team, I am willing to do,” Vrabel told reporters on Friday. “Maybe next year we can tie in a scrimmage before our stadium scrimmage, or we’ll come up with something creative, I’m sure.”
The Patriots and the town of Foxboro already share a strong relationship through the Patriots Foundation and Partners in Patriotism Fund, a nonprofit that provides grants to town-based groups and annual scholarships to graduating high school seniors.
The Patriots also host an in-stadium practice for Foxboro residents and season ticket holders every preseason, so Vrabel may be onto something with the scrimmage idea.
Vrabel made his comments after Maye was asked last week about criticism that the Patriots had an easy regular season schedule.
Very few NFL insiders and analysts predicted in the preseason that the team would win the AFC East, let alone be a Super Bowl contender. Some also say the strength of schedule should be considered in deciding whether Maye is crowned NFL MVP.
In response, Maye said that every opponent presents a challenge.
“Yeah, we play in the National Football League,” Maye told reporters last Wednesday. “Every team’s got great players. They get paid a lot of money. It’s not like we’re playing, shoot, Foxboro High School down the road. We play who’s on our schedule, and we can’t control that.”
A day later, the Foxboro High football team responded.
“This goes out to Drake Maye,” Foxboro High assistant coach Shawn Buckley said while standing at the team’s home field. “We heard you loud and clear in your comment about the football team … So, our challenge is this: We have an opening Week 1 next year, and all the coaches and I have agreed that we’d be willing to play the Patriots right here in Foxboro at Jack Martinelli Field.”
The Foxboro High football team has experience playing at Gillette, regularly making it to the Division 5 Super Bowl. The Warriors have lost the past two state championships under the bright lights off Route 1, falling to Shawsheen both times.
