As he has each and every Monday during the football season, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel joined WEEI’s Patriots Monday coverage during Super Week in advance of his team’s biggest game of the year - Super Bowl LX against the NFC’s No. 1 seed in the Seattle Seahawks (14-3).
With the Patriots (14-3) in the midst of a dream season in which they went from four wins under Jerod Mayo in 2024 to now on the precipice of winning the franchise its record-setting seventh Lombardi Trophy, you would think the conversation around the team would mostly revolve around this amazing storybook narrative in-progress.
Instead, it’s all about Drake Maye’s right shoulder.
The 23-year-old quarterback missed practice on Friday after being listed as limited the two days prior. All of this comes in the wake of an AFC Championship Game in which “internet doctors” diagnosed Maye with a shoulder injury after a hit he took against the Broncos (14-3) in the second half at Mile High.
When Vrabel spoke with the media on Friday, he made it clear that part of the reason why Maye missed practice was because of an illness he was battling, going so far as to say that if Maye wasn’t ill, he would have been on the practice field in a limited capacity. It should also be pointed out that Maye missing practice on Friday comes one day after a practice session in which Maye did not throw in front of the media - something that hasn’t happened during non-walkthrough practices that we’re allowed to attend all season.
Whether Vrabel and the Patriots (14-3) want to admit it or not, Maye’s shoulder injury has a real chance to have a real impact on how the MVP candidate performs on football’s biggest stage. For a player that has thrived throwing the ball downfield all season long, he’s now in a position where his greatest strength could be hampered against yet another top five defense.
But when Vrabel hopped on the phone with Greg Hill, Jermaine Wiggins and Ted Johnson, he made it clear that passive football wasn’t going to cut it against Seattle.
“We have to be aggressive with the football,” said Vrabel. “We can’t - it's like playing golf or swinging a baseball bat. You can't try to choke the life out of the club and be so tense. It's just not going to work. Sports aren't played that way.
“We have to be aggressive, we have to attack, but we can't be reckless. And so that's what I want us to be. That's what I want the guys with the football in their hands to do. And then if we have to reserve the right to punt, then we have to do that as well. We look at just some of these Super Bowls and the impact that turnovers can make. Looking at last year, how that game got out of hand. That was because of the turnovers, and we just have to ramp it [up], attack, but we also have to be smart.”
After a season in which New England’s offense helped carry them to the AFC”s No. 2 seed, the Patriots have gone from averaging 379.4 yards per game (third-best in the NFL) to 278.3 (fourth-worst among all playoff teams). They’ve gone from averaging the second-most points in the league at 28.8 across 17 games to 18.0, again good for fourth-worst among all teams in the playoff field.
A lot of this has to do with the uptick in competition, especially on the defensive side of the football. A lot of it also has to do with the weather conditions this team has played in across the last three games. Those aren’t excuses, they’re just facts.
But with weather less likely to be a factor on Sunday in Santa Clara, Maye’s throwing ability should be an aspect of his game that re-enters the fold of importance for this New England offense.
If you believe Vrabel on Monday, that’s clearly part of the game plan.
Whether his shoulder will be healthy enough to allow New England to utilize this weapon to their advantage remains to be seen.
“We'll work through these things through the week, just like everybody else does,” said Vrabel. “But we're confident that the preparation that's required for each position on our football team will be there by the end of the week, and everybody will be available.”
You can hear Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner on the national radio call of Super Bowl LX on Westwood One. We’ll have that broadcast for you right here on 93.7 WEEI-FM in Boston, and across the WEEI Sports Radio Network in New England.
Tune in each and every Monday throughout the football season to Patriots Monday on WEEI. Head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show at 6:30 a.m. ET, and quarterback Drake Maye joins WEEI Afternoons.