The Vrabel Way is working

As he stood in a hallway within the New England Patriots’ offices at Gillette Stadium in late August, Mike Vrabel spoke of his expectations. He was approaching his first season coaching the franchise with which he won three Super Bowls as a versatile linebacker, helping to establish the Patriot Way on the “Do Your Job” teams of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

“The expectations are to win the division, to host home playoff games and play for championships,” Vrabel said that day in an interview with The Washington Post. “That’s our goal. … So those aren’t going to change.”

Vrabel was not qualifying his remarks or tempering his expectations for Year 1, even while taking over a team coming off consecutive 4-13 showings in Belichick’s final season and the lone season of successor Jerod Mayo. He was leaning into a 2025 version of the Patriot Way — the “foundational pillars” of accountability and a team-first approach shouldn’t change, he said, “based on whether it’s 2001 or 2025” — and he was not considering this a rebuilding, retooling or rebranding year.

So far, so good. The Patriots improved to 3-2 and sent a message with their 23-20 triumph Sunday night over the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York. As they prepare to play Sunday at New Orleans and move deeper into an unimposing schedule, they have the look of a playoff contender.

“We talked about taking the next step, and they were in the way,” Vrabel told his team in the postgame locker room Sunday night. “And we took the next step. But I’m not surprised.”

The Patriots have missed the playoffs in three straight years and don’t have a postseason victory since the 2018 season, when they won the last of their six Super Bowl titles with Belichick and Brady. The Bills are the new kings of the AFC East, having claimed five straight division crowns. But they looked vulnerable last week. And the Patriots, even if they don’t overtake the Bills in the division this season, appear capable of securing a wild-card playoff spot.

Second-year quarterback Drake Maye is thriving and is the league’s sixth-rated passer. That puts him one spot behind the Bills’ Josh Allen, the NFL’s reigning MVP, and one spot ahead of the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford, who has the 10th-most passing yards in league history. Wide receiver Stefon Diggs, signed as a free agent in March after an injury-shortened season with the Houston Texans, provided a 10-catch, 146-yard performance Sunday night against the most notable of his former teams.

The offensive line is playing better than expected. The defense is improved. The Patriots are playing with toughness and resourcefulness under Vrabel, the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year with the Tennessee Titans. And now the Patriots are doing better without Belichick than Belichick is doing without the Patriots — just as Brady previously did better without Belichick than Belichick did without Brady.

The Atlanta Falcons interviewed Belichick twice but didn’t hire him in early 2024 following his parting with the Patriots and owner Robert Kraft. The Washington Commanders spoke with him but didn’t pursue him. Belichick sat out last season and then returned to coaching in December with a shocking move to the college ranks at North Carolina.

His grudge toward the Patriots endures, as seen in his decision to ban the team’s scouts from the North Carolina facility. But he has been engulfed in controversy, and his team is struggling so badly there has been speculation this week about an in-season parting between him and the school. The school issued a statement Wednesday night in which Belichick said he is “fully committed” to the program and athletic director Bubba Cunningham said Belichick “has the full support” of the university and the athletic department.

It’s unlikely any team that passed on hiring Belichick following his exit from New England regrets that decision now.