Bedard: After a well-rounded team win against tough Bucs, anything is possible for Vrabel and his Patriots

TAMPA — I went into Sunday's matchup between the Patriots and the Buccaneers hoping to get a better indication of whether the New Englanders were more contenders or pretenders.

I don't know whether it was seeing it in person, or witnessing more of the vibes around the team in the post-game locker room after the Patriots' 28-23 victory that improved them to 8-2 on the season (watching K'Lavon Chaisson loudly chirp DT/FB Khyiris Tonga for playing too much offense and getting into touchdown celebrations was pretty funny) ... but I'm sold. This team is no fluke. Should they win the AFC East, especially after the Bills fell on their face in Miami one week after beating the Chiefs? Yes. Could they go to the Super Bowl? Yes.

There's just something about this team that I'm not going to keep at arm's length anymore. Sure, they have had and will have an easy schedule. Yes, they've had incredible injury luck that continued on Sunday where it seemed like a dozen players went out, only to return a few plays later (they have to lead the league in injury timeouts where the player returns to action). And they beat a Bucs team that was missing a ton of firepower on both sides of the ball, but I don't really give a care. If the Bucs were at full health, I'd still expect the Patriots to beat them in their own house.

Why?

Because this is a good freaking football team. Barely half a season into Mike Vrabel's tenure, and the Patriots have revealed themselves to be incredibly well-coached, they are a smart football team (with the occasional Drake Maye blackout play), and they're physically and mentally tough. Raymond James Stadium is not an easy place to go and win in the middle of November when it's in the high-80s and humid, never mind the rain. Yet the Patriots improved to 5-0 on the road. Todd Bowles is a darn good defensive coach and makes it a 60-minute mental torture test for quarterbacks. Maye passed with flying colors. I mean, look at these plays:

I mean, that's just theater of the absurd.

"Give Vrabel and the Patriots the credit – they did a heck of a job at doing the things they needed to do," Bowles said. "Their players made plays, our players did not.

"(Maye's) a good football player. He’s poised in the pocket, he’s athletic, he has great touch. He’s a heck of a player in this league."

And even when the Patriots tried to hand the Bucs the game with Maye's end-zone interception with 5:17 remaining, the defense rose up.

It was 3rd-and-3 at the New England 27 with two minutes to play. How many times have you seen Baker Mayfield come through in that situation? He's done it like five times just this season. But rookie safety Craig Woodson made a great read and separated Cade Otton from the ball on third down. On fourth down, Zak Kuhr called an all-out blitz the Patriots executed so well that Mayfield didn't get a chance to pick the Patriots apart.

"It was [a] great call, great execution if we stopped them," Vrabel said. "if we don't stop them, it was a bad call."

Oh, and everything definitely seems to be coming up Vrabel and the Patriots these days. We learned that during the sequence before halftime.

The Patriots trailed 10-7 with first and goal at the 1-yard line with 1:44 left before halftime. The Buccaneers were out of timeouts, and the Patriots were going to get the ball to start the second half.

On first down, Maye said he tried to score, but it sure appeared like he was basically taking a knee because that rush attempt looked like something I would do if asked to take one snap in an NFL game.

"I was trying to get in," he said. "[With] big Vita Vea, it [isn’t] easy to get in with Vita standing there. So, I know the clock–I think the clock [became] a thing, so it ended up probably working out for us, but we ended up scoring. That's all that matters."

I asked Vrabel about that sequence and whether Maye was taking a knee. He breezed by the question. Vrabel was asked a direct follow-up, and again didn't answer the question.

"Like I said, we're just really excited that we could end [with] the ball in our hands at the end of the first half and then be able to come out in the second half," he said.

Vrabel's not one to outright lie, so he didn't answer the question. Not trying to advance the ball, while strategically smart, you're starting to get into an area where you might anger the football gods. And that appeared to be the case as the Patriots were stuffed on the next two plays while trying to score from the 1.

At that point, I would say, "Ok, fine, I got too cute, the universe is telling me something, I'm taking the points before I look like a total jackass."

Not Vrabel.

Maybe he wanted to prove his initial instincts were correct — he's not short on ego — but in the end, he pushed all his chips in the middle of the table and doubled down on the final play of the first half. Fourth down. Only 2 seconds left. Screw the field goal, they were going for the touchdown.

Of course, Maye threw a perfect pass, and Stefon Diggs made a ridiculous catch.

And then TreVeyon Henderson went untouched 55 yards on the second play of the second half.

In the span of three plays, the Patriots went from trailing 10-7 to leading 21-10 and grabbing hold of the game.

"It was a huge play for us on fourth down, that confidence in our guys," Vrabel said. "So, to be able to have confidence in them at that moment and then come through, that's about players and not necessarily plays. I was really excited and proud of Stef and Drake for scoring when we were [on fourth down] and being able to end the half with the football in our hands."

That sequence could have gone wrong in so many different ways for Vrabel and the Patriots, kind of like their season to this point.

I'm not fighting it anymore. They're lucky and good. Don't you need to be a bit of both to do anything in this league?

That means they're capable of anything at this point.