Andy Borregales’ latest miss didn’t shake Mike Vrabel’s confidence.
After the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins in Week 8 on Sunday, Borregales finished 1-for-2 on field goals, with the miss coming from 40 yards out. It was his third missed field goal this season from inside 50 yards, and through eight games the second-year kicker is 10-of-13 on field goals and 20-of-21 on extra points.
Vrabel made it clear Monday that the Patriots want cleaner execution, but he isn’t ready to waver on Borregales.
“That needs to get corrected,” Vrabel said Monday. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in Andy.
I think when you see the timing and when the approach is in rhythm, it looks really good. We have to make our kicks.
Everybody has a job here. There’s no real message.
It’s, ‘Hey, we’ve got to make them.’ But I’ve got a lot of confidence.
“I thought he did a really nice job on the kickoff with the ball placement. Hopefully, he’s making a lot of extra points and not having to kick a lot of field goals.”
The Patriots took Borregales in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft out of the University of Miami. His first season in the league started slowly, including two missed extra points in Miami in Week 2, but he settled in after that and missed only three kicks the rest of the regular season.
Vrabel also used his weekly appearance on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show to take a light jab at how fast people are to call for a player to be benched or cut after one bad moment, pointing to Drake Maye and Rhamondre Stevenson as examples.
For now, New England has not brought in any internal competition for Borregales since his rookie year, when John Parker Romo pushed him during training camp. The message from Vrabel is simple: the Patriots want better kicks, but they’re sticking with the kicker they have.
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