FOXBOROUGH — It's a bit unfair to evaluate a new regime after just three games, especially in this day and age of the NFL, where training camps are soft and preseason games are a joke. Coaching staffs need about four or five games to figure out just what they have to work with, and go from there.
And I think Mike Vrabel is a good coach, and the Patriots will be fine in the long run, including this season.
But is it wrong to be at least underwhelmed by the job done by the head coach?
The Patriots have played three games so far — all winnable — and they've fallen to 1-2, including both losses at home. They easily could be 3-0. They could also be 0-3, if Devon Achane didn't nip the sidelines in Miami.
There's three things that bother me about the start to this season.
1) They are a mistake-prone team. Through three games, the Patriots have been hit with 27 penalties. They are on pace to have 153 penalties, which would blow away the team record (2014, 120). The league record is 163 by the Raiders in 2011.
The Patriots had a mind-boggling five turnovers on Sunday to bring their season total to 6. They are on pace for 34, which would be the most in team history since 1995 (36).
You might say the turnovers are on the players, and there's some validity to it. But as new Patriots Hall of Famer Bill Parcells used to say, "You're either coaching it, or you're allowing it to happen."
Rhamondre Stevenson's fumbling issues were known entering this season — his nine since the start of the 2024 season are three more than anyone else — and Vrabel didn't exactly crack the whip about it, even after Stevenson fumbled during the in-stadium intrasquad scrimmage.
"And Rhamondre, when you make a great cut and you break through, know that every team in the league, and hopefully ours is one of those teams, that the guys are coming to the ball and they're going to come and hammer it and they're going to play full tilt to the tackle," Vrabel said at the time. "And so, cut, great cut, good job in the open field and, unfortunately we'll have to continue to rep that and take care of football. But that's something that – those things that you mentioned, I think, overshadow a lot of the good stuff that we did in a team setting that had the team split up and different guys working with different guys next to them."
By the way, under Jerod Mayo, the Patriots started 1-2 with 13 penalties and one turnover.
2) Game management hasn't been a strong point, and a factor in losing two games by one score.
On Sunday, the Patriots won the toss and took the ball for the first time in forever. They were down 14-0 in just over a quarter.
There have also been some questionable decisions at the end of each first half, and the end of games — which we'll get to in a minute. But teams often target the Middle Eight — the 4 minutes at the end of the first half, start of the second half — as a critical juncture in each game.
The Patriots are failing in those situations.
The Patriots have gone punt/interception, end-of-half/punt, and interception/fumble in the three games. Zero points and three turnovers.
Their opponents: missed field goal/touchdown, touchdown/field goal, and end-of-half/interception. That's 17 points (and a chance at three more) and one turnover.
3) There hasn't been much public accountability from Vrabel after these games. He could be doing that in private, we just don't know.
It used to be pretty boring to hear Bill Belichick say after each loss, "We need to coach better, play better." But at least he said it. Vrabel? Not so much.
After Sunday's loss, I heard Vrabel complain about the turnovers and penalties, I heard him criticize his quarterback's decision-making, Demario Douglas' decision to not turn up field on the decisive failed 4th and 1, and that the team needs more touchdowns and explosive plays (this is on top of some of the shots he took at the offense in the wake of the Week 1 loss to the Raiders).
And Vrabel wasn't wrong on any of it.
I just wish he had said something along the lines of, "And I'm responsible for it, and I'll get it fixed." Or "we as coaches, and we'll get it fixed."
This isn't a new criticism from me. I said similar things during Jerod Mayo's only season as head coach, especially after he called his team soft, like he didn't have anything to do with it.
Maybe I was wrong, I just expected more at this point from Vrabel.
We all know the Patriots weren't as talented as some of the teams they were going to face this season, but the Raiders, Dolphins and Steelers? The Patriots have been punching at their weight to this point, and they have underachieved.
I figured we'd see a team that would do the little things well, like playing with discipline, making the other teams beat them, while they waited for the teams to take hold and players to improve to the point they could start punching above their weight.
Three games in, the Patriots have done anything but that.
Some coaching things that have surprised me, and not in a good way.
They blitzed the heck out of Geno Smith and repeatedly got burned. Miami largely ripped apart their secondary which was rife with communication issues, and the coaches left Robert Spillane one-on-one with Devon Achane. Against the Steelers, the Patriots' defense came out playing two high safeties, like the Steelers were some high-flying pass offense when all Aaron Rodgers does is throw less than 10 yards. Steelers had 144 net yards, including 48 rushing yards on 10 carries, while scoring touchdowns on their first two drives. Where are the smart gameplans?
The Patriots botched the end of the first half against the Raiders, giving them a chance at a field goal. Vrabel punted on 4th and 10 with 4:53 left in the game, needing two scores.
Patriots allowed a touchdown before halftime against the Dolphins thanks to pass plays of 45 and 29 yards. At the end of the game, the Patriots couldn't finish off the game with their four-minute offense and had to hang on for dear life on the final drive.
Against the Steelers, the Patriots got zero points from the Pittsburgh 2 with 22 seconds left before halftime, trailing 14-7 and the Steelers getting the ball to start the second half. The Patriots allowed a 62-yard go-ahead scoring drive featuring a 4-yard run on 3rd and 2, and a 17-yard touchdown pass on 3rd and 6. And then Maye fumbled at the Pittsburgh 28 with a minute left.
Turnovers. Penalties (the Steelers got five first downs via Patriots infractions). And less than ideal situationally.
Figured Vrabel would have the Patriots a little bit tighter in those situations. If they were, they might be 3-0 at this point.
"There's a lot to clean up," Vrabel said. "A lot of good in there, but unfortunately just not enough to get us to win, to get us to really have any sort of advantage in a football game."
That goes for the coaching, too.