The Patriots’ ugly 35-6 loss to the Jaguars did more than drop New England to 1-2. It also lit up one more round of fallout from the offseason mess surrounding Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini, with Bill Simmons sharing a text from his father that put the blame squarely on the controversy.
On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast on The Ringer, Simmons said his father fired off a blunt message after watching the blowout. The elder Simmons wrote, “I think Dianna Russini ruined our season.”
That frustration came with the Patriots’ offense sputtering and Drake Maye drawing the kind of reaction that no young quarterback wants. Simmons said his father looked at Maye’s play and said, “It’s like I’m watching Mac Jones again.”
The disappointment ran so deep that he even wondered whether New England should turn to backup Tommy DeVito. And when Simmons reflected on how quickly things had changed, his father summed it up this way: “It was so exciting to have a franchise quarterback, even if it was only for one year.”
The backdrop to all of this was a chaotic offseason that had already put the Patriots under a harsh spotlight. Tabloid photos surfaced showing Vrabel holding hands and embracing Russini at a resort. The scrutiny pushed Russini to resign from her high-profile insider role at The Athletic, and an internal investigation later said her undisclosed relationship with Vrabel clearly broke newsroom standards.
Vrabel also acknowledged that his personal conduct did not meet expectations and later stepped away for family counseling. Since then, the Patriots’ rough start has only fueled more talk that the drama is hanging over the team.
Russini, meanwhile, is expected to land on her feet and keep doing what she loves most: covering sports.
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