FOXBOROUGH - When you start the season the way the Patriots have, especially offensively, it can get noisy quickly. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that, nationally and now locally, there are reports (and I use that term loosely) of friction between Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye, or between Maye and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. I haven't been able to verify either, but lo and behold, Vrabel was asked about it this afternoon, with WEEI’s Greg Hill saying he’s heard there are issues between the quarterback and head coach.
“Heard from who?” asked Vrabel, before declaring, “Let me just tell you why I'm here. I'm here because Drake was the quarterback. Believe it or not, I had choices to where I wanted to coach. I wanted to coach here because Drake was the quarterback. So I don't really have much other to add to that about a comment that (came) from an unnamed source. But I'll tell you what I've told numerous people: if they want to ask me why I'm here.”
“Coach Vrabel's been one of the best football coaches I've had in my life,” Maye said. “One of the biggest things why this has been so enjoyable for me is playing for Coach. And I think we all feel that way in the locker room. He pushes us hard. I love playing for him, and it's not going to change, and it hasn't changed, and it won't change.”
I doubt that will put the story to bed, but both men did their best to pour cold water on it. By the way, Vrabel did, indeed, have opportunities elsewhere (Jets in particular), but put on the full-court press here in New England the moment he knew the job could - and did - become available. That worked out well for all involved - the organization, Vrabel himself, and the quarterback - in a magical 2025-26 season that came up short on Super Bowl Sunday.
What’s transpired since hasn’t exactly measured up, between the off-field story involving Vrabel and, after three weeks, the way the team, and in particular, Maye, is playing. So far, the third-year pro appears to be struggling with this adversity, unable to, as he said Sunday, “get out of his own way.”
“I try to tell them the story that - whatever your religious beliefs are - somebody told me that I liked,” Vrabel relayed. “In this case, God wanted David to be king. He didn't hand him a crown, right? He gave him a fight, and so you got to go through a fight. He gave him Goliath, and that was just a little story that we said, like if we want to get where we need to get to, we’re gonna have to go through bumps along the way. This is all a part of the journey.”
As I mentioned in the lede, there's been increasing chatter about the McDaniels offense, with the notion that the game has passed him by or he is slow or unable to adjust. I texted an offensive coordinator who has been in the league for over two decades. He noted that he hasn’t watched any of the Patriots this year because they haven’t shared any common opponents. Still, he views McDaniels (they’ve never worked together) as one of the three best play-callers in football and said, “I can’t imagine he lost it overnight.”
For his part, Vrabel doesn’t think any scheme changes are needed.
“More points. Less negative plays,” he said. “Again, I've been in this a long time. This is about players, not plays, and that means there's no magic formula, right? It's about execution. It's about playing with great speed, with great aggressiveness, being decisive.”
“It's really about us making the plays go,” Maye added. “I don't feel like we're going out there and getting outmatched and not moving the football. There are plays out there to be made. There's throws for me to make, and in the run game there's extra little strain and blocking and holes for the backs to hit that you've seen, we've seen. I feel like we've had the right plan going into it, and I think shrinking it or making it so much changing the whole thing is gonna really benefit us.”
To hammer the point home, Vrabel showed his players the Steelers' opening snap from Sunday’s game against the Bengals. It was an unlikely explosive.
“Did you happen to see it? It was a great play call. They checked it down to (RB Jaylen) Warren for four yards, and DK (Metcalf) and (Pat) Frerimuth turned and knocked the crap out of the guys that were on them, and Warren ran for 30 yards. So, yeah, it's a great scheme.”
In other words, there’s no special formula to get the offense back to its 2025-26 form. All 11 have to work together. So far, that's been the exception, not the rule. Until that flips, the questions will grow more frequent and louder, week after week.
CAN WE STOP WITH THE SHOULDER NOW? MAYBE NOT...
Does Drake Maye have a shoulder injury? Based on how the quarterback answered questions both postgame and again on Monday, speculation has been running rampant.
During his media availability today, I brought it up with Maye again, wondering whether the shoulder was affecting his throwing at all.
“No, it hasn't. It hasn't, and you know, I think it doesn't impact my decision-making, and that's what makes and breaks play for quarterbacks," he said. "I don't feel like we're struggling to move the ball. I think we're - I'm turning the football over, doing things that are preventing us from scoring touchdowns, and I think that's one of the biggest things for me. I think we've had a history when we don't turn the football over of playing good football and finding ourselves on the right side of games. So that's the biggest thing, and I'm looking forward to another good week of practice and felt good out there today.”
Case closed, right?
Well, guess who appeared on Wednesday's injury report? Maye listed with...wait for it...a shoulder. He was, however, a full participant. After seeing the quarterback rip a handful of throws during the game against the Jaguars, I see no real evidence he's hurt. Could it be sore? Sure. It's a contact sport. But as Maye said, his decision-making has been the problem, not the shoulder. That's the story, and I'm sticking to it until or if I'm told otherwise.