Going into Sunday, it had been 83 days since the Patriots (11-3) had lost their last game - a Week 3 loss at home to the Steelers where New England gave the game away late.
Since then, it had been 10 consecutive wins, most of which coming against the dregs of the league, allowing the Patriots to vault themselves into the discussion for potentially securing the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC as the team marches towards its first playoff appearance since 2021.
A win on Sunday would have given the Patriots their first single-season win streak of at least 11 regular season games since 2007, as well as their first AFC East title since 2019.
Neither one of those things happened, as New England fell at home for the third time this season, blowing a 21-0 lead over the Bills (10-4) and losing to the five-time defending division champions 35-31.
That division championship will now have to wait until Week 18, as the Patriots must beat both the Jets (3-11) and Dolphins (6-7) in consecutive weeks to wrap up the AFC East title.
And with a tough Sunday Night Football game in Baltimore (7-7) on the docket in Week 16 before the soft final two weeks of their regular season, every game remaining on the Patriots’ schedule is meaningful down the stretch run of this 2025 campaign.
And if Mike Vrabel’s appearance on Monday’s edition of The Greg Hill Show was any indication, he’ll be looking for a better performance from the officials during these final three regular season games.
“It is a difficult job, they do have a difficult job,” Vrabel said when asked about the officiating from Sunday. “The consistency - sometimes I struggle with it.
“I'll say this - the Bills lead the NFL in offensive holds, and I'll leave it at that. And that would be hard for me to understand how the team that is coming into the game leading, and that's how they play, didn't have one yesterday. That's hard for me to understand.”
“Homer take, but that second drive of the second quarter, you could have called it five times on them,” said WEEI’s Greg Hill.
Hill’s cohosts Chris Curtis and Jermaine Wiggins went on to describe a missed hold call on Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins from the third quarter that the telecast made a point of highlighting, giving Vrabel another opening.
“And they're fine with that,” said Vrabel. “And again - that's how they play. They've been successful, and they've been able to overcome those. And that was just my point was - listen, just if they're there, call them.
“And I'm sure ours are penalties, and we can debate Marcus Jones. I don't think it was a catch, you know what I mean? Whether we think it's a PI, that's, that's their call. So we'll just - again, we have to know what the rules are. We have to know how they are calling it and what the mechanics are. Listen - if you're not playing the football, the margin for error goes way, way, way down. So when you're not playing the football and there's perceived contact, or whatever it may be, the margin for error goes way, way down.”
“But if you intercept a pass, how are you not making a play on the football?” Curtis followed-up.
“Well, because you're not looking back and playing it,” said Vrabel, who then started using his former teammate in Wiggy as an example.
“I'm playing Wiggy. Wiggy gets his arms back through me, and whether he's coming back or we're drifting, that's where, I think, [refs] struggle,” said Vrabel. “You can face guard, you just can't face guard with contact.
“I felt like both players were still drifting away from the football as opposed to going back, and I know that he may - his arms went back, but he continued to drift. And that's where, sometimes, they don't get called. That wasn't the case yesterday.”
Vrabel has been vocal about the refs all season long. This is clearly a tug-and-pull that has been going on for years with him dating back to his time as head coach with the Titans. Whether that heightened pressure from the head coach on the officiating crew is a good thing for the Patriots down the home stretch of this season remains to be seen.
In theory, you would think that’s a good thing for New England, with refs trying to be on their Ps and Qs while officiating Vrabel for fear of constant criticism throughout a game, in addition to what he will say postgame. There’s also a school of thought that says Vrabel’s constant poking at the officials could lead to 50-50 judgement calls going against his team in the future. Like anything in football, there’s a fine line that needs to be walked here.
As we mentioned, Vrabel’s group gets right back at it in Week 16 down in Baltimore, as the Patriots are currently 2.5-point underdogs, per OddsTrader. You can get them at +130 on the moneyline, and the total sits at 47.5.
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.