Notes and thoughts on the Patriots’ new head coach, David Andrews’ recovery, Deflategate 10 years later, and more.
While the NFL is in the middle of its divisional playoff round, the New England Patriots are in the early stages of building their team for the 2025 season and beyond. Needless to say, our attention this week was on the hiring of head coach Mike Vrabel and what it means for the organization.
However, Vrabel returning to his old stomping grounds was just one of several Patriots-related stories this week. So, to wrap things up, let’s clean out the notebook. Welcome to the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
Mike Vrabel returns to New England with a clear vision…
Especially late during his one-and-done tenure as head coach, the Jerod Mayo-led Patriots looked like a rudderless ship lacking a plan on how to move the franchise forward. Time will tell whether or not his successor, Mike Vrabel, will be able to provide that, but the early signs are pointing in that direction.
“In the interview process, Mike showed us that he had a very deep understanding of our current team,” said Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Monday. “Most importantly, he had a clear and focused strategy of how to get us back to the championship way that is not only so important to all of us, but also something that I think our fan base really deserves and expects”
“We’re going to work like crazy, we’re going to compete like crazy, we’re going to give the players a plan,” Vrabel said during his introductory presser. “They’re going to form an identity on the field in the way that we’re going to play and play for each other that they’re going to be proud of.”
Talk is admittedly cheap at this time of the year, but Vrabel is an experienced coach who has been part of several successful organizations — including the Tennessee Titans, who he led to the playoffs three times in his six seasons as head coach. Frankly, he knows what it takes for a team to play winning football.
Getting the current Patriots to that point will not be an easy task, but one Vrabel seems better prepared to handle than his predecessor.
…especially on the offensive side of the ball
The 2024 Patriots wanted to play a ball-control game on offense, but for various reasons were unable to establish their presence on a week-to-week or even play-to-play basis on that side of the ball. Whoever will lead the unit into 2025 — so far, two candidates have interviewed for the position — will need to find a way to turn that planned identity into a reality.
What will that identity look like, though? According to Mike Vrabel, it will be based on versatility and getting the most out of the personnel available.
“When we throw it, which will be as many times as we need to, you want to be efficient,” he explained on WEEI.
Vrabel went on to explain in greater detail what he is looking for from the unit, starting with the receiver positions and the offensive line — two definitive issues for New England the last two years.
“Receivers that have great catch radius, that can create separation, that are good against contested catches. Because when you’re contested and PBUs go up in the air, then they get intercepted,” he said.
“We have to focus on the line because I think that the best teams right now in the National Football League are the ones that still have the best offensive lines, that are changing the line of scrimmage, protecting the passer, have versatility in a run game, can run a zone scheme, can run a gap scheme. I don’t think you can just major and just stay in zone, because teams that penetrate and disrupt the zone play — you got to be able to find ways to double and move gaps and change gaps and force them to move positions.”
The Patriots are in the earliest possible stages of (re)building their offense. However, it seems their head coach has a plan in mind what it will look like.
Offensive coordinator search following a familiar pattern?
The Patriots have started the process of interviewing offensive coordinator candidates, meeting with Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Thomas Brown and Los Angeles Chargers passing game coordinator Marcus Brady this week. As a consequence of those interviews, the team appears to have now fulfilled the Rooney Rule.
The approach, meanwhile, looks familiar: the search that ended with Mike Vrabel hired as head coach went similarly, with the Patriots also interviewing a pair of minority candidates — Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich — first before eventually zeroing in on Vrabel.
As opposed to Hamilton and Leftwhich, who both have not coached in the NFL since the 2022 season, Brown and Brady are realistic candidates to be named Patriots offensive coordinator. Still, the team following a similar pattern also is in the realm of possibility.
And, if so, could we see a quick turnaround before the rumored favorite for the open position, Josh McDaniels, gets brought in?
Mike Vrabel will not be Bill Belichick 2.0
Even though he never coached under him, Mike Vrabel’s coaching style seems to be influenced by his former head coach in New England, Bill Belichick. However, the 49-year-old made sure to remind the world this week that he was not trying to be anybody else but himself in his new role as Patriots head coach.
“I’m not Bill, and I’m not Bill Cowher. I’m not anyone other than me,” he explained. “I’ve taken those experiences, and I’ve tried to form what I believe is critical to the success of a football team and an organization. To say what those are going to look like, hopefully just as successful. And our goals will be to win the AFC East, to host home playoff games, and to compete for championships. That’s what it’s going to take.”
Speaking to 98.5 The Sports Hub after his introduction, Vrabel said that he and Belichick would be different personalities. However, he hopes to be finding similar success as his predecessor.
“Hopefully, we’re prepared and we’re ready to execute in critical situations. And hopefully, our special teams can set the table for the offense and defense and be violent and change field position; offensively, take care of football; defensively, be great in the red zone, get off the field on third down, cause turnovers, all the things that I remember. Now, how we get to that may be different than what Bill did. But I also know that there was flexibility there. There was ability to adjust and adapt. That would be a great compliment if some of our teams did those things.”
David Andrews shares an injury update
Patriots center David Andrews missed the majority of the 2024 season after suffering a shoulder injury in Week 4 against the San Francisco 49ers. This week, he gave an injury update of sorts on the latest episode of his Quick Snap Podcast.
The team captain said that he had bench-pressed this week for the first time since undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. A small step, but a step in the right direction nonetheless.
Patriots unlikely to go international in 2025
The NFL announced the home teams for its 2025 International Series this week, and there are two games the Patriots could theoretically participate in: their road games against the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets could be played in Madrid and London, respectively.
However, that seems unlikely to happen for two reasons:
1.) Division games are usually played in the United States. Since 2020, only one of 17 international games — San Francisco vs. Arizona in Mexico in 2022 — was a division game.
2.) The Patriots have played internationally in two straight years. Going three straight would go against the rhythm established by the league.
Chiefs closing in on Patriots’ AFC Championship mark
Thanks to a 23-14 win over the Houston Texans on Saturday, the Kansas City Chiefs are off to the AFC title game for a seventh straight year. This puts them one shy of the all-time record established by the Patriots in the 2010: the team, then led by head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, managed to make eight conference championship games in a row between the 2011 and 2018 seasons.
Revisiting Deflategate 10 years later
On January 18, 2015, the Patriots played host to the Indianapolis Colts for the AFC Championship Game. The contest itself was a blowout, with the home team cruising to an uncontested 45-7 victory. What followed later, however, turned into one of the most bizarre scandals in NFL history: Deflategate.
The story about Tom Brady allegedly directing a ball boy to let air out of the footballs before the game turned into a frenzy. Despite evidence supporting Brady and the Patriots’ argument — evidence the NFL reportedly covered up — the league ended up imposing draconian penalties against player and team alike.
The story from that point on is well known. Brady and the Patriots won the Super Bowl immediately after Deflategate, and he then went scorched Earth en route to a second championship after his four-game suspension in 2016.
The main characters — Brady, Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — are well known. What happened to the rest of people involved in the affair, though?
Walt Anderson: The referee for the game, Anderson continued to officiate until the 2019 season. He later got a job in the league office, and was named rules analyst and club communications liaison in 2024.
Richard M. Berman: Berman originally overturned Brady’s four-game suspension. Even at age 76, he continues to work as s senior district judge in Southern New York.
Dave Gardi: In his role as senior vice president of football operations, Gardi gave wrong information to the Patriots early on in the investigation. He left the league office in 2024 and is currently working for the Washington Commanders.
Robyn Glaser: The Patriots’ counsel at the time, Glaser was the main contact point with the NFL office. In 2024, she was named executive vice president of football business and senior advisor to then-head coach Jerod Mayo. Glaser will leave the organization in February after 18 years with the Patriots.
Ryan Grigson: The “Patient Zero” of Deflategate, Colts general manager Grigson was first to accuse the Patriots of tampering with the footballs. He was fired in 2017, and has been working as Minnesota Vikings senior vice president of player personnel since 2022.
Mike Kensil: The NFL’s vice president of game operations at the time, Kensil was notified by Grigson that a ball intercepted by the Colts felt underinflated. He then initiated the hasty measurement session in the locker room. Later, Kensil was identified as a source of some of the erroneous reports coming out after the game. He was reassigned in 2016, before leaving the league in 2019.
Jeffrey Kessler: Kessler served as Brady’s NFLPA-provided counsel. He continued to work for the players union for several years, and has been named one of the most influential people in sports due to his litigation work in cases involving the NFL, MLB, and NCAA.
D’Qwell Jackson: Jackson caught the interception that kickstarted the events. He was released by the Colts in 2017 to effectively end his career. Last year, he was hired as a pro scout by the Cleveland Browns.
John Jastremski and Jim McNally: Jastremski was an equipment assistant for 14 years and McNally a ball boy, and they were the parties accused of tampering with the footballs. They were originally suspended by the NFL, but later reinstated. They left the Patriots at some point thereafter, and based on information available have not been associated with the organization for several years now.
Jeff Pash: Jeff Pash served as the NFL’s counsel during the entire affair, and later reportedly led the charge to expunge the data collected NFL-wide during the 2015 season — data that supposedly would have exonerated the Patriots. He retired in 2024.
Troy Vincent: A former safety in Miami, Philadelphia and Buffalo, Vincent joined the league office in 2010. He was present at the AFC title game, and the apparent ring leader jumping to the conclusion the Patriots had tampered with the football. He later was identified as the source of Chris Mortensen’s wrong report that 11 of 12 footballs were severely underinflated. He still works as NFL executive vice president of football operations.
Ted Wells: The NFL paid more than $2.5 million for Ted Wells to write a report that summed up his findings as “more probable than not” something nefarious had happened. That conclusion was based on scientific analysis that was later heavily criticized. Wells continues to work as a high-profile litigation attorney.
Setting up the week ahead
Not participating in the playoffs, the Patriots will not follow a set schedule this week. That said, there are two areas they will focus on: continuing building their coaching staff and scouting players, most prominently at the National Championship Game between Ohio State — Mike Vrabel’s alma mater — and Notre Dame on Monday.
