New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel made some interesting comments on the radio this past week when he talked about the team’s play-calling in a Week 15 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
“I’ve never really tried to second-guess the play-calling,” Vrabel said Monday morning on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show. “I always think that the best plays are ones that are decisive, and that the players know and that they trust. And obviously there’s some better ones, but I don’t think there’s a perfect call. And so we get back and we look at it, and I’m sure there’s always going to be some ones that we’re going to want to have back.”
The comments made it fair to wonder whether he had any issues with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ play-calling. The Patriots offense scored just seven points in the second half of that defeat to the Bills after dominating for much of the first half.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer joined NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots Pregame Live before Sunday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens and explained that “things have been really great” between the two longtime coaches.
Breer also provided some important context.
“Let’s start at a baseline, which is, it’s fair to ask these questions, because this was a little bit of an arranged marriage. I don’t think that Josh McDaniels would have been Mike Vrabel’s offensive coordinator if (Vrabel) had taken the job, say, in Chicago,” Breer said.
“My guess is he would have tried to get Tommy Rees out of Cleveland, and one of the reasons why Cleveland promoted Tommy Rees is because they knew Mike Vrabel liked him and might take him if he had gone to one of the other spots. So there’s that piece of it.
“There’s also some philosophical divide that they had to bridge. Mike Vrabel, of course, in Houston, coached in the New England system and was with Bill O’Brien, who ran the New England system, and he decided to go the other way when he went to Tennessee and hired Matt LaFleur, and then kept the West Coast system with Arthur Smith and Todd Downing as the years went on there.
“And so much of it for Mike is based on simplicity, right? Because he’s an ex-player, he wants his players playing fast and confident, and some of what Josh McDaniels does is rooted in complexity, which, again, would bring a natural divide there.
“But my understanding is these guys have worked all of that out, and it’s obvious the job that Josh has done, where the offense ranks, what Drake Maye looks like as an MVP candidate in his second year.”
McDaniels has done a great job during his third stint in New England. Maye’s development is ahead of schedule. He’s an actual MVP candidate in Year 2. Rookie TreVeyon Henderson is a true difference-maker at running back. The offensive line is miles better than it was the previous two seasons.
The offense is not perfect by any means, but the improvement from 2024 has been remarkable.
Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Eric Canha-Imagn Images Josh McDaniels has been a great OC for Drake Maye.
One of the attributes of a great manager/leader is knowing how to best communicate with the people you work with, and how they’ll respond to feedback in different ways. Vrabel understands this.
“And as for some of the stuff that Mike said, I would just say this — I think Mike’s emotional intelligence is at a very high level among NFL coaches, and I think he knows what people need,” Breer explained.
“And I think he knows that Josh doesn’t need to be coddled, whereas with the defensive coaches, with everything that that side of the staff has been through this year, with Terrell Williams getting sick, and then Zak Kuhr — who’s one of Mike’s guys going all the way back to Ohio State — being thrust into this role as a first-time play-caller without having a spring or a summer to work on it.
“I think he knew that those guys needed the arm around the shoulder a little bit more than Josh did. So I think it’s a confluence of all of those things, but my understanding is things have really been great between Josh and Mike.”
The Patriots are 11-3 and the offense is much better than it’s been in a long time. So it’s safe to say the Vrabel-McDaniels partnership has been a home run to this point.
