FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When Mike Vrabel was introduced last January as the 16th head coach in New England Patriots’ franchise history, he set a clear goal for both himself and the organization as a whole — an objective which some (at the time) believed to be a bit overly ambitious.

“Our goals will be to win the AFC East, to host home playoff games, and to compete for championships,” Vrabel said from his introductory press conference podium at Gillette Stadium. “That’s going to be the expectation, and we’re going to work like crazy.”

Just one year later, Vrabel is about to lead his team to its 16th AFC Championship Game appearance and first since their run to their sixth Super Bowl title under Bill Belichick in the 2018 season. While the ‘HC of the NEP’ is eager to get to work in preparation for the Pats’ showdown with the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High, he did take a minute to reflect on the accomplishments in the wake of his team’s 28-16 Divisional Round win over the Houston Texans.

“I’m always excited for our organization, excited for the players,” Vrabel said. “I am appreciative of their work and their efforts. Everybody’s stepping up. We’re using everybody. Everybody’s making plays. Everybody’s helping us win.

“I’m excited for these guys, but also, they’re not satisfied, and I can tell that … We know we have to go on the road … No. 1 seed in the AFC … it isn’t going to be easy.”

Mike Vrabel Has Brought a New Day to the New England Patriots

To say that New England has thrived under Vrabel’s leadership may be an understatement. After consecutive 4-13 finishes in 2023 and 2024, the 50-year-old has instilled both an aggressive style of football on the field, as well as a culture of accountability throughout the team. Accordingly, the Patriots have become one of the most exciting and fundamentally-sound football teams in the league.

Meticulous in his planning, yet familiar in his style of team management, Vrabel appears to have struck the proper note to ensure cohesion between the players, coaches and the front office. Still, he credits the bulk of his success to remaining focused on the next task — even when celebrating the team’s first division championship since 2019, as well as earning their first conference championship game berth in that span.

Accordingly, Vrabel and the Patriots will soon turn their attention to the Broncos. Like the Pats, Denver also began the season 1-3 before going 13-1 the rest of the way. While the Broncos andPatriots each finished 14-3 in the regular season, Denver was awarded the top seed based on their record over common opponents. Denver’s previous triumph over the Las Vegas Raiders gave them the common opponent tiebreaker — given that the Pats lost to the Raiders in Week 1. The Broncos will present a formidable challenge to either team, having finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in scoring defense in the NFL, allowing 18.3 points per game.

Though his ultimate task has yet to be completed, Vrabel remains cognizant that his most pressing goal for the upcoming week is to keep his team squarely focused on the Broncos — even amid the hype of the highest-profile game most of his players will have experienced in the NFL. Fortunately for the Patriots, their new head coach embodies a philosophy that should be quite familiar to the Foxborough faithful — that of taking one game at a time.

“We know the stadium is going to be loud. So the louder the better,” Vrabel said. “Every opportunity — I think what we’ve done is we’ve asked them to embrace the preparation, embrace the strain and also enjoy every minute of this [victory] … But mostly enjoy the execution. We’ll keep doing that. We’ll come out and be ready to go.”