New England turned over more than half its roster from the last season and, notably, cut veterans like Jabrill Peppers and Kendrick Bourne this summer. A lot of new faces were under the flying Elvis silver helmets Sunday.
And yet…in their debut, Mike Vrabel’s Patriots only looked a little more competitive than Jero Mayo’s Patriots. Vrabel and his staff have put in a ton of work this calendar year. They look and sound the part. But the team?
They’re definitely still a work in progress.
The exceedingly average Las Vegas Raiders carved up Vrabel’s highly anticipated defense on the first drive of the game and capped it off with a beautiful touchdown pass from Geno Smith to a wide-open, (checks notes), Tre Turner. The Patriots’ offense responded by going three-and-out.
Drake Maye found Pop Douglas in the endzone later in the quarter for New England’s only touchdown. The offense halted like a ground stop at Logan Airport in the second half – and added just three points, as the Raiders patiently stacked scoring drives. That’s a major problem when the head coach touted his team’s second half philosophy earlier in the week.
This was his communication to his coaches in preseason:
“We actually put a break in there midway through practice where we have two team periods left, and I said, ‘You guys are going to think this is some gimmick, but it's going to be me saying, ‘Hey, coaches, get together, tell them, ‘Listen, this is how practice started, whatever's going on, let's be conscious here to finish strong, win the second half, win the second half.’”
Vrabel called the second half performance "frustrating."
"I'm not surprised by anything. Now we'll see where we're at. We'll see what kind of football team we have, what type of leaders," he said, and challenged the team's culture.
"I think we have a good culture around here and good veteran leadership. That will certainly be put to test after losing opening day," tight end Austin Hooper told WEEI at his locker.
There were notable hangovers from the bad trip that was 2024. Maye threw an interception, and too often, he found himself scrambling/running for his life as his protection broke down in front of him, or his pass catchers failed to separate. Too many times, he threw like his receivers were 7 feet tall.
But there were new problems, too. Will Campbell showed growing pains, as did Jared Wilson. Both offensive linemen on Maye’s blind side collected costly penalties. Jaylinn Hawkins got an unnecessary roughness penalty.
And surely it wasn’t the reality of the game, but didn’t it seem as though every time the Patriots did something great, they blew it on the very next down? Harold Landry sacked Smith for a five-yard loss, but on the next play, Smith found old friend Jakobi Meyers for a 24-yard completion. Stefon Diggs caught a 16-yard pass from Maye for a critical third down conversion, but then Maye took a sack fumble.
"We did some good things, but we can't take one step forward and two steps back, like myself - getting a drive going and the hand was a little bit outside, got called holding, and luckily, Boutte bailed me out to keep the drive going," Hooper said. "It's just things like that, we just can't afford to make mistakes."
"We just weren't able to execute the details and that comes back to bite you at this level," fellow tight end Hunter Henry said.
Of course, it wasn’t all bad. Kayshon Boutte had his best game to date, finishing with more than 100 yards on six catches. Stefon Diggs was the only guy stoking the offense’s firepower in the second half, particularly with the previously noted 3rd-and-5 play. Landry feasted with 2.5 sacks, and Hawkins redeemed himself with an interception. Credit running back Rhamondre Stevenson for his ball security in sloppy conditions, (he had seven fumbles in 2024).
No, it wasn’t all bad, and it was certainly better than last year, (please, revisit the Jacksonville game if there's any doubts). They just weren’t good. The Vrabel Patriots debut was a disappointment, and they have a lot of room to grow.