Mike Vrabel has plenty to grumble about after a sloppy Patriots win, but the kicker situation is starting to linger in the background.
Vrabel made it clear he wasn’t interested in polishing up the performance after New England’s ugly victory over a divisional opponent. “Fortunate, whatever,” he told Karen Guregian of MassLive.
“We just didn't play very well. We tried to beat ourselves, but we made enough plays in critical situations to help us get through here today.”
He doubled down the next morning on WEEI-FM, calling his team’s 13 giveaways in six games “an embarrassment.”
What hasn’t drawn nearly as much attention, at least from Vrabel, is the uneven work of Andy Borregales. The rookie kicker’s numbers are passable on the surface - 80% on field goals and 93% on extra points - but the bigger question is whether the coach actually trusts him when the game tightens up.
That’s where the Patriots’ recent fourth-down behavior starts to matter.
Since the Buffalo game, New England has gone for it on fourth down nine times. Four of those attempts came in spots where Borregales could have been asked to kick, and the Patriots have clearly leaned more aggressive than they did earlier in the year.
Over their last three games, they’re tied for first in the league with the Lions and Colts in fourth-down aggression. In 2025, they ranked 20th in total fourth-down attempts.
The numbers suggest a team that has either found confidence on offense or is simply less willing to test Borregales in meaningful spots. Maybe both.
Borregales’ recent stretch hasn’t helped his case. He missed a 47-yard try in the third quarter against Pittsburgh, then clanked a 38-yarder early in the second half against Jacksonville, when the Patriots badly needed points and some kind of spark.
After that Jacksonville loss, Vrabel didn’t hide his frustration. “You have to be also prepared to compete and take advantage of the opportunities, not miss kicks, score touchdowns in the red zone, get red zone stops,” he said.
“It just was everything. So, starts with me.
I'll have them better prepared. I'm going to commit to improving this football team and the guys that we have here.”
Since that 35-6 defeat, Borregales has mostly been absent from the conversation - and from the box score. He’s attempted just three field goals in the games against Buffalo, Las Vegas, and the Jets, and none were longer than a modern extra point.
He also missed an extra point in the fourth quarter against New York. That miss would have pushed the Patriots’ lead to 11 points; instead, they were up 23-13 with 14:10 left.
It didn’t end up costing New England, and Vrabel never brought it up in his postgame comments. Still, it was another small jolt in a season that has already featured more than enough uneasy moments for a kicker who has not exactly settled the issue.
The Patriots have not reached crisis mode yet, but the league has already seen teams start looking around. Veterans such as Justin Tucker, Zane Gonzalez, Brandon McManus, Matt Prater, and Jake Moody worked out this week. Baltimore brought in Moody after Tyler Loop - a sixth-round pick in 2025, like Borregales - missed a kick late in Sunday’s 13-10 loss to Cleveland.
New England didn’t really have the luxury of making a move on a short week, but that could change after Thursday night in Chicago. With a 10-day break coming, another shaky showing could force a harder conversation.
For now, Borregales looks like an average NFL kicker at best. He ranks 29th in football in KPA, the advanced efficiency metric created by FanSided’s Adam Fromal, sitting alongside names like Nick Folk, Wil Lutz, and Drew Stevens.
Last year didn’t provide much reassurance either. Borregales had to fend off John Parker Romo in the preseason, and while he did hit a huge kick in the snow during last year’s AFC Championship Game in Denver, that boot came from 23 yards out. He also missed two kicks in that game.
So far this season, he’s already had at least one missed field goal or extra point in half of the Patriots’ games. And while the big, season-defining kick hasn’t really shown up yet, the anxiety is easy to understand. Every time Drake Maye leaves the field, the Patriots are making fans hold their breath.
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