After the Patriots’ 35-31 loss to the Bills on Sunday - a game that saw New England jump out to a commanding 24-7 lead before unraveling in the second half - head coach Mike Vrabel offered some comments that raised a few eyebrows, particularly around the team’s offensive play-calling.
Speaking Monday morning on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show, Vrabel didn’t directly criticize offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, but he did make some remarks that hinted at possible disconnects in execution.
“I’ve never really tried to second-guess the play-calling,” Vrabel said. “I always think that the best plays are ones that are decisive, and that the players know and that they trust.
And obviously there’s some better ones, but I don’t think there’s a perfect call. And so we get back and we look at it, and I’m sure there’s always going to be some ones that we’re going to want to have back.”
Now, let’s unpack that. When a coach talks about “trust” and “decisiveness” in play-calling - especially after a second-half collapse like the one we saw in Buffalo - it’s natural to wonder if he’s pointing to a deeper issue.
The Patriots managed just three first downs and seven points in the final 30 minutes. They barely held the ball for eight minutes in that stretch.
That’s not just a cold streak - that’s an offense going ice-cold at the worst possible time.
Patriots insider Tom E. Curran picked up on Vrabel’s tone and followed up with the coach later in the week.
Curran initially interpreted Vrabel’s comments as a subtle critique, suggesting that maybe some of the calls weren’t fully trusted - either by the players or the staff. But when pressed, Vrabel clarified that he was speaking more broadly about offensive philosophy, not pointing fingers at Sunday’s game in particular.
“I was speaking as a cardinal rule,” Vrabel told Curran. “We want to have trust and be decisive in every play call we make.” In other words, it wasn’t about that game - at least not explicitly.
Still, the timing of the comment - right after a second-half meltdown - made it hard to ignore. When asked what bogged the offense down, Vrabel brought up trust and decisiveness.
That’s not nothing. But it’s also not a public takedown of McDaniels.
This wasn’t Vrabel throwing his OC under the bus. It was more like a coach acknowledging that, in the NFL, execution and conviction matter - especially when the margin for error is razor-thin.
And to be fair, McDaniels has more than earned the benefit of the doubt this season. After last year’s offensive struggles - the Patriots ranked 30th in scoring - this year’s turnaround has been dramatic.
New England now boasts the NFL’s seventh-ranked scoring offense at 27.3 points per game. Rookie quarterback Drake Maye has flourished under McDaniels’ guidance, emerging as a legitimate MVP candidate.
The offense has been dynamic, creative, and explosive - a far cry from the stagnant units of recent years.
At 11-3 heading into Week 16, the Patriots are firmly in the AFC’s upper tier. But with success comes expectation.
If this team wants to make a serious playoff run - and they’ve shown they’re capable - then lapses like the one in Buffalo can’t become a trend. That second-half stall wasn’t just a bad stretch of football; it was a reminder that even elite offenses can sputter if the rhythm breaks down.
So while Vrabel may not have been calling out McDaniels directly, his message was clear: in crunch time, every play needs to be called - and executed - with confidence and clarity. That’s the standard now in Foxborough. And with the postseason looming, there’s little room for anything less.