I think we're learning pretty quickly that Mike Vrabel has his own way of doing things. He'll say things off the cuff, without realizing the ripple effects and that this is Boston, and not Nashville. Stuff doesn't really just slide by. And he certainly has his quirks.
Maybe one of them, similar to one of his predecessors, is holding the quarterback to a very high - maybe impossible - standard?
I mean, how else can you explain Vrabel not giving a game ball to Drake Maye after Sunday's win over the Dolphins?
Inside the locker room for Coach Vrabel’s first win 🏈 pic.twitter.com/988U1O0RJn
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 15, 2025
To recap, Vrabel tossed out game balls to the following players/coaches:
Rhamondre Stevenson. He absolutely deserved one. He was a beast in this game. His 55-yard reception was a phenomenal grab for a receiver, let alone a running back who is not known as Alvin Kamara. And his individual effort picking up 14 yards on a screen pass on 3rd and 13 was something special.
Antonio Gibson. His kickoff return TD won the game. Check.
Milton Williams. Game-winning sack.
Marte Mapu. Tua Tagovailoa threw the ball right to him in quadruple coverage, and he played seven defensive snaps, but OK.
Defensive playcaller Zak Kuhr. Kicker Andy Borregales.
Um, about the last two.
The Dolphins scored on four straight drives in the second and third quarters, racking up 259 yards on 30 plays — 8.6 yards per play — as the Dolphins erased a 12-0 deficit to take a 20-15 lead. Tagovailoa completed 81.3% of his passes, and averaged 9.8 yards per attempt. The Patriots are currently 30th in total defensive DVOA and are 31st in passing DVOA. And the Patriots are 31st in yards allowed per play, and 32nd in passing yards.
Borregales? Seriously? Sure, he had the two missed extra points — and came back to make two field goals, including a big 53-yarder, which is great — but he also failed to make the landing zone with 1:47 left, giving Miami the ball at the 40 and giving them a little more life. That's game ball worthy? Why, because you drafted him?
Meanwhile, Maye can't even get an atta boy from his head coach? Even after the game, Vrabel was asked about Maye's day and ... well, this isn't the way I would have answered it.
"I think there's a lot of good things and a lot of things we'll have to fix," Vrabel said. "The command and the operation, and when he feels that lull, that's when we've got to tighten the screws on these guys and get them set faster and get them out of huddle faster and really push them. He's a jockey, and he's got to know what the flow of the team looks like offensively. We had a couple of penalties and false starts. Again, things we really aren't going to be able to overcome eventually."
Uh, thanks?
Forget about the fact that Maye took a beating all week for a subpar performance against the Raiders, let's just deal with real things. Maye played almost flawlessly, and the Patriots don't win that game without him being nearly perfect. It was, by every measure, the best game of his career. It was his second real victory as the Patriots' starting quarterback (the first was agains a crapbag Bears team when Maye played one of his worst game). It was his first divisional road victory. The last Patriots QB to win there was Tom Brady, and it was just the 17th victory all-time in Miami (17-42). He gave the team a two-score lead to start the game. The defense and special teams coughed up the lead twice. Maye got the Patriots the lead back with a great play to Stevenson, and his own 6-yard touchdown run.
What's a brother got to do to get some love, Vrabes?!
(In his defense, he did clean it up a bit today, as has become another one of customs. "Hugely efficient," Vrabel said Monday. "The ball went where it was supposed to go. He was decisive. I thought he did a great job of transferring up into the pocket, setting his depth, and then transferring up, being really good with the football.")
Don't worry, Drake, we've got you. And Josh McDaniels, too.
The best compliment that I can pay Maye about Sunday is that it was a profoundly professional performance. It wasn't like he was Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson ripping great individual plays left and right — I only had him for a total of five plus plays: his third-down scramble, his decision on a 6-yard scramble, the touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte (extra half-point), his throw under pressure to Stevenson (extra half point) and his touchdown scamper (extra half point) — but he never put the ball in harms way, and his minus plays were few (two) and far between. Maye just operated within the system, made some great decisions to just take a profit in order to get the team back into manageable defense, and when the opportunity allowed, he made winning plays to elevate the team. That's high-level, highly efficient quarterbacking. It's winning football, and that's significant for a younger player who hasn't done much of that yet.
As for the difference between Week 1 and Week 2?
I've already heard some of the discussion, and people really have to stop looking for some sort of secret sauce that unlocked Maye. Just like we told you, last week was more about the newness of everything and people needed to have patience. The reason Maye looked more comfortable this week isn't all that complicated.
For one, the Dolphins' defense is terrible. Daniel Jones and the Colts scored on all of their drives in Week 1. Even the Dolphins' media pointed out after the game to Mike McDaniel that "not including kneel-downs, this defense has allowed points on 13 of its first 15 drives this season." (By the way, the Dolphins are better than the Patriots in defensive DVOA at 27th.)
Yes, the Patriots were under center more and ran the ball better. This was not an adjustment. They were able to do it because the Patriots were able to control their game and run their offense, because they didn't screw up blocking assignments or get whipped at the point of attack. Last week, the Patriots had six run stuffs allowed. This week, they had one (Jared Wilson's hold). The Patriots didn't have one run of 1 yard or less. Plus, the line blocked really well, especially Will Campbell and Wilson.
Staying on schedule allowed McDaniels to use more outside zone, and boot action. This is not a new development. This wasn't an adjustment to help Maye from Week 1, or to take something off his plate (nothing was taken off his plate and, in fact, it looked like he did a great job handling checks and adjusting protection, including on Boutte's touchdown). The Patriots ran outside zone and boots all summer in training camp. Sure, it's a good scheme to make use Maye's athletic ability, but it's also the type of scheme you would use to help protect an offensive line featuring two rookies and an iffy pass-blocking center (Garrett Bradbury).
Aside from those factors, you can't underestimate how much just playing one game against the Raiders helped everyone, not just Maye. The players and coaches had never been in that environment together before. You can't simulate an NFL gameday and opponent through joint practices and preseason games. You have to go through it. You have to watch the film and make corrections. Everyone was going to be better from the experience, and they were.
Plus, there was comfort in the opponent and location. The Patriots had no idea what to expect out of the Raiders, with new coaches and players. And the Raiders got themselves on some things as they had a plan for TreVeyon Henderson and Maye's legs. The Raiders were not going to let them beat them that way. Credit to the Raiders, they won that matchup. Let's just say the Dolphins as a whole, let alone their defense, are not that disciplined.
People forget that Maye started a game in that stadium and against that defensive coordinator (Anthony Weaver), a 35-14 loss in which New England fell behind 31-0. Having that experience is not insignificant. Plus, the Patriots have film of that game, and any changes Weaver made for this season in Week 1. That's at least some comfort for the QB, and it's certainly a matchup tailor-made for an experienced coordinator like McDaniels.
McDaniels decidedly won this matchup. The amount of schemed up plays and easy yards in this game was off the charts (partially because the Dolphins are not good, especially in the secondary and at linebacker). A look at some of those plays:
1-10-MIA 33 (10:46) D.Maye pass deep left to A.Hooper to MIA 11 for 22 yards
2-7-MIA 8 (9:34) D.Maye pass short right to M.Hollins for 8 yards, TOUCHDOWN
3-4-NE 36 (6:22) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass short right to T.Henderson to MIA 49 for 15 yards (M.Fitzpatrick)
Hunter Henry legal pick at line of scrimmage.
2-10-MIA 48 (6:53) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass short left to T.Henderson to MIA 33 for 15 yards (B.Chubb).
Perfect screen call, but he has a better one later.
1-10-MIA 21 (:57) A.Gibson up the middle to MIA 6 for 15 yards (I.Melifonwu).
I think this was the first and only wham play called, and it hit big.
3-13-NE 10 (10:41) (Shotgun) D.Maye pass short left to R.Stevenson to NE 24 for 14 yards (B.Chubb).
Great screen call that only made the first down due to Stevenson's great run after the catch.
If the Patriots keep getting highly efficient play from Maye — we'll see if that happens as the opposing defenses get better — combined with McDaniels doing his thing with his week-to-week game, and the offense on this team is going to do its part, more often than not.
Here are the positional ratings against the Raiders:
OFFENSE
Quarterback (5 out of 5)
Among the career highs Maye set in this game:
- Highest-ever graded game by me, barely over the Cardinals last season
- 82.6 completion percentage, tied with Arizona
- 10.0 yards per attempt
- 11.74 adjusted YPA
- 137.3 rating
- 13.4 Completion percentage over expected, third in NFL this week.
- 0.54 expected points added per dropback
Additionally, this was his second-best differential between big-time throw percentage (4.0) and turnover-worthy plays percentage (0.0), just behind the Cardinals game.
The only quibbles I had in Maye in this game were on his throw to Hunter Henry in the end zone that got deflected (I thought Henderson and Boutte were higher percentage options), and his off-target throw to Stefon Diggs.
Oh, let's also point out that Maye did this facing the lowest pressure rate of his career (30%).
Other than that, he was largely flawless. GAME BALL FOR DRAKE MAYE!
Running backs (3 out of 5)
If this were just Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson, it would be a 5 out of 5. Stevenson was terrific with a huge 21-yard run where he broke two tackles, his 55-yard catch, the run on the two-point conversion with not great blocking, and the screen pass where he converted 3rd and 13 with a phenomenal run. Gibson had the game-winning kickoff return (which we don't count for offensive grading) and made a great jump cut on his 15-yard hard run to goal to go. ... McDaniels used more outside zone in this game, but the power stuff in the middle still hit better.
Receivers (2.5 out of 5)
Some good and some bad for this whole group. ... Hunter Henry had a rough start with a poor run block, sack allowed and I gave him a drop on the pass from Maye with a defender on his back (the pass was there). Tough chance, but he's good. ... Great twisting catch by Austin Hooper for 22 yards. ... Mack Hollins had the touchdown and drew a very iffy holding call on 2nd and 25, but it bailed them out. I did not like his route following the two-minute warning — he faded it and allowed the corner to undercut it, although he was tugged — and he was responsible for the illegal shift late in the game. He needed to let Henry get set before motioning. ... Stefon Diggs had a contested catch, but didn't execute a rub route that would have sprung Stevenson on a swing pass. I wonder if Diggs was like, 'I'm good dawg.' ... Boutte's touchdown catch was phenomenal. However, he did block the wrong player on the ill-fated swing pass to Stevenson right before the back's screen pass for 14 yards. ... With the Patriots looking to establish the run, I just don't think Demario Douglas was in the gameplan all that much.
Offensive line (3 out of 5)
If you take out Bradbury's near-disastrous groundball snap and four false start penalties (three by Morgan Moses), this was a very good performance by this group. ... I thought Will Campbell was excellent with three standout run blocks and zero quarterback pressure. Jared Wilson also had a clean sheet, other than his penalty. Nothing overly outstanding in the run game, but it seems his confidence is growing. ... Garrett Bradbury had a good run block on the two-point conversion, but he had three poor run blocks, which is unusual for him. ... Like last week, Mike Onwenu nearly cost the team in a big spot when he whiffed on the two-point conversion, but Stevenson bailed him out. ... Morgan Moses was solid aside from the penalties, but I worry about his availability for next week. He was limping severely in the locker room, and that may have contributed to his false starts. We may see a situation this season when Moses doesn't practice much during the week and he's questionable every week.
THREE UP
QB Drake Maye: Simply his best start as a pro, in just his second start in a new system. Amazing the difference a week makes (according to some people).
RB Rhamondre Stevenson: Just terrific all-around in this game and got back to being a playmaker.
LT Will Campbell: Outside of a legit false start (he flinched), Campbell was perfect pass blocking and a force in the run game.
THREE DOWN
RB TreVeyon Henderson: Two sacks allowed and another hurry (holding), plus a hold on special teams, is not ideal.
RT Morgan Moses: He's gutting through an ankle injury, but three false starts are not acceptable.
TE Hunter Henry: Had some rough blocking luck on the first drive and a questionable contested drop.
