Mike Vrabel didn’t sugarcoat Andy Borregales’ preseason opener, but he also wasn’t ready to turn the page on his kicker after a rough night.
Borregales had a shot to lift the New England Patriots past the Indianapolis Colts with 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but the 49-yard try hooked left and drifted wide of the upright, leaving the game tied at 13-13. It was the third miss of the night for the Patriots’ place kicker, who also pushed a 56-yarder and a 55-yarder left in the first and third periods.
Afterward, Vrabel made clear what he expects from the position.
“We expect him to make them,” he said. “That’s pro football.
They’re banging them in from 60 yards. They have two kickers on their roster.
Andy knows we have to make those field goals.”
Still, the Patriots head coach didn’t leave it there. Vrabel said misses are part of the game, and his bigger concern is how players respond when things go sideways.
“We’re going to have misses, we’re going to have mistakes in everything we do. We just need to be able to come back,” he noted.
“We need to be able to bounce back. We need to be able to answer.
Guys are going to drop a pass. Guys are going to miss a block.
We’re going to miss a kick. We just have to not let those things pile up.
“Andy’s been really good with that, and I would anticipate him getting back to work and really start to focus. Maybe it was a footwork thing or trying to over-swing, but I have confidence in Andy.
You want to be able to make those. We got in a position to win the football game, and you got to be able to make them.”
Borregales arrived in New England as a sixth-round pick in last year’s draft and beat out former practice squad member Parker Romo for the job as a rookie. The start wasn’t clean - he missed his first career field goal attempt and then shanked a pair of extra points the next week - but the Patriots stuck with him.
That faith paid off quickly. Borregales drilled a 53-yard game-winner against the Dolphins later that same game, then converted his next 37 combined attempts. He wobbled a bit down the stretch, but still finished his rookie year with 81.6% of his field goals made and 96.8% of his extra points.
In Other News...
Patriots Preseason Tie Exposed The Same Concerns Fans Feared
The Patriots preseason tie with the Colts did what these August games often do for New England: it surfaced a little bit of everything. There were encouraging signs from quarterback Tommy DeVito in the backup battle, and the defense again showed enough depth to suggest the roster has real substance beyond the starters. Even in a game that ended without a winner, the Patriots came away with a clearer view of where the competition is heating up and where the team has enough talent to feel better about the early shape of the roster.
Still, the familiar worries were hard to miss. The kicking unit left questions hanging, the offensive line was dealing with injuries, and coverage against tight ends remains an area that can be attacked. There is also a real fight brewing at backup running back, which only adds to the sense that several roster spots are still unsettled. For a team trying to turn preseason reps into dependable depth, the tie was useful less for the score than for the list of problems it put back in view. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Took A Chance On An Unusual Athlete For One Reason
Mitch Van Vooren took one of the more unusual routes youll find to football, moving from track standout to college gridiron hopeful with the kind of athletic background that can make evaluators stop and look twice. A former All-Big East outdoor hurdler at Marquette, he used an extra year of eligibility from the COVID-19 pandemic to chase football, then transferred to St. Norbert College so he could keep playing the sport while still competing in track.
At St. Norbert, Van Vooren managed to stay elite in both lanes, earning First Team All-American honors in the 400m hurdles even as he pursued football full time enough to keep an NFL dream alive. For a Patriots team willing to take a chance on rare movement skills and developmental upside, his path is the kind of background that at least explains why he got a look in the first place. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Backfield Battle Just Opened The Door For A New Favorite
The Patriots backfield picture got a little clearer, and a little more crowded, before their preseason opener. Terrell Jennings landed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury, opening a roster spot that New England quickly filled by signing JaMycal Hasty. For a running back group already trying to sort out depth behind the top of the chart, it was the kind of move that can quietly change the shape of a competition in August.
It also matters because the battle for the third running back job had already been worth watching, and now Hasty is suddenly part of it. Hassan Haskins, Lan Larison and rookie Jam Miller were among the players in the mix, and the Patriots now have one more experienced option to evaluate as they work through the preseason. For a team that values flexibility in the backfield, the next few weeks should tell us a lot about which runner has the edge when roster decisions get serious. [Read more 🡒]