Mike Vrabel isn’t shying away from the intrigue. The first-year Patriots coach knows the big talking point ahead of his team’s matchup Sunday against Tennessee is his return to Nashville, where he was the Titans‘ head coach for six seasons before his firing in January 2024.
“There is going to be, probably, a lot to be said about this,” Vrabel said Monday. “I think it would file under the category of, is it interesting or important? I would probably say this would be very interesting.”
But he quickly went back into coach mode.
“I think it’ll be nice to see some people that I haven’t seen in a few years that helped us win, players and staff,” he continued. “But we’ve got a huge job here to do as we prepare for them.”
The Patriots will be doing so as a contender.
Vrabel, a former NFL linebacker who played eight of his 14 seasons in New England, has guided the Patriots (4-2) to the top of the AFC East six weeks into the season. They haven’t been in that lofty position since 2021, which was Bill Belichick’s last winning season in New England.
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The 2025 Patriots are getting MVP-caliber play from second-year quarterback Drake Maye. As a result, in a season with so much parity — no unbeatens and 20 teams that are at least .500 — Vrabel’s squad is shaping up to be a major player in the AFC sooner than expected.
Second-year quarterback Drake Maye is having a breakout season under new Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
New England is riding a three-game winning streak entering Sunday’s game against the reeling Titans (1-5), who fired coach Brian Callahan earlier this week — the fourth head coach or general manager they’ve let go since December 2022. Tennessee’s dysfunction offers a sharp contrast to the leadership Vrabel has quickly brought to the Patriots.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position to play meaningful games,” he said. “I appreciate us not looking too far ahead.”
Since their 1-2 start, the Patriots have been one of the best teams in football.
They scored 42 points in a Week 4 blowout of the Panthers, then went to Buffalo to take down reigning MVP Josh Allen and the Bills with a game-winning drive. The Patriots scored three first-half touchdowns in their victory over the Saints last week. New England has a plus-three turnover differential (four takeaways, one giveaway) over its past three games.
Despite issues with penalties and the running game, the Patriots boast one of the league’s most explosive offenses. They rank sixth in passing, 11th in scoring and 10th in third-down efficiency. They regularly get great field position (11th, own 31.3) and sustain drives (10th in average time per possession at 3:05) as well.
Defensively, New England sits seventh in points allowed and fourth in rushing defense. It’s also tied for 10th in takeaways.
Overall, Maye has been the big story. He’s the fourth player age 23 or younger since the 1970 merger to record at least five consecutive games with 200-plus passing yards and a 100-plus passer rating, according to Next Gen Stats. The former No. 3 pick leads all quarterbacks in expected points added (55.1), and is also second in completion rate (73.2%), fourth in yards per attempt (8.5) and passer rating (112.5) and fifth in passing yards (1,522).
His Year 2 leap, in part, stems from Vrabel’s guidance.
“I think he does a great job of giving me points where I can improve or points where, ‘Hey, maybe do this,’” Maye said during training camp. “I think he’s also kind of let me go and see where I’m at. And I think it’s kind of a challenge for me to lead this football team and lead this offense.”
But it’s not just Maye. Vrabel has cultivated buy-in from players across the roster.
“I don’t know how he does it, man,” wide receiver Stefon Diggs said Wednesday. “I just think that you respect him as a coach. Also, him being a player adds another layer to it. He practices what he preaches. He’s going out there grinding. He’s pushing on guys. He’s preaching maximum effort. He shows you that our success is a direct correlation from our practices and how we grind. When you buy into the process and see the results, it’s like, ‘Damn, it does work.’”
Vrabel has buy-in from players throughout the New England roster, including mercurial veteran receiver Stefon Diggs. (Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
It’s a mentality that permeates throughout the team, starting with Vrabel.
His return to Tennessee won’t change that.
“There’s probably a little bit about Coach Vrabel that’s fired up for [his return to Tennessee]. But he’s such a football coach through and through that, ‘We need to have a good Tuesday, we need to have a good Wednesday, we need to execute on Sunday,’” Patriots center Garrett Bradbury said. “When we start making things bigger than they are or focusing down the road, we have to live in the moment. … That’s kind of the message that Coach Vrabel shares.”
At the moment, Coach Vrabel’s Patriots head to Tennessee as one of the surprise teams of the 2025 NFL season.
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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