FOXBOROUGH — Mike Vrabel, as usual, was honest in his post-game press conference, sometimes brutally so.
“We got our asses kicked. There’s no two ways around it,” Vrabel said after his team was soundly beaten 45-27 by the Packers.
How bad was it? The Packers set a record for points scored by an opponent at Gillette Stadium. Kind of fitting the 2016 World Champion Patriots were being honored along with Rob Gronkowski on Sunday, because the record was set in the 2017 season opener when they unfurled the banner and then the Alex Smith-led Chiefs steamrolled the Patriots 42-27 as Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill dominated.
Those Patriots ended up 13-3 and went to the Super Bowl, where they lost in a shootout to the Eagles.
Could the same thing happen with these Patriots?
It’s certainly possible, if they get healthy for the stretch run. Outside of the Jaguars — the other team to blow out these Patriots in their first nine games — everyone in the AFC is flawed.
But listening to Vrabel on Sunday, that type of talk isn’t even on his radar. And it shouldn’t be.
Probably his most telling remark came after I asked how frustrating it was to preach not playing to the Packers’ biggest strengths — creating turnovers on defense and making big plays in the pass game — only to see his team allow both before halftime.
“I think just frustrating. Losing’s frustrating,” Vrabel said. “Again, whatever the plan is or the thought, yeah, certainly those are the keys.”
Then we got to the crux of the matter.
“We’re in this together. We are,” he said. “I’m going to … we’re going to get them back, and we’re going to get ready to travel and figure out who’s healthy and put 48 guys out there that care and that want to try to exhibit some sort of identity. We’ll see how we respond.”
We’re nine games into this season, and obviously injuries have been a huge factor. All the Patriots’ well-laid offensive plans with A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs in the pass game, and Reggie Gilliam, Julian Hill, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Mike Owenu keying the ground game have gone poof. That’s all true.
But that doesn’t explain a few things.
” … guys out there that care”?
That’s implying that some do not care. That’s … not good. That’s an obvious and very concerning problem.
But I’m more interested in the next part:
“…Guys … that want to try to exhibit some sort of identity.”
Vrabel has brought up identity several times so far this season. Basically, he’s been waiting for the team to declare its identity, and they haven’t.
Actually, they have… it’s just that Vrabel hopes they develop a new one that lets the team succeed to close out this season.
As a team, they haven’t been mentally tough. Vrabel has also mentioned not being frontrunners several times this season.
The Patriots led the Seahawks, but wilted when the game got tighter.
They led the Steelers, but couldn’t put them away offensively until a late defensive score.
The Jaguars led 14-3, and the Patriots couldn’t mount a comeback in a blowout.
The victory over the Bills was a game that went back and forth, thanks to the Bills’ porous defense.
The Patriots led basically wire-to-wire against the talent-deficient Raiders and the Jets.
The Patriots fell behind the Bears 10-0 and 20-7, and made it interesting, but couldn’t make the winning plays to complete the comeback.
The Patriots fell behind the Dolphins 13-3 and won, but there’s a reason why the Dolphins are now 1-7.
At home, the Patriots fell behind the Packers 17-0 and 24-7 before being blown out.
So their team identity is what? I guess you could say they are what their record says they are at 5-4: a slightly above-average team that beats the teams they should, with the Bills in Buffalo the exception to the rule. And they struggled against well-rounded teams.
What’s their identity on offense? The Patriots, to this point, are led by a quarterback in Drake Maye who thrills against bad defenses, and is a turnover machine against good ones (another three in the first half Sunday, and almost a pick-six) — much like he was last season. Injuries are a legitimate factor, but Maye has yet to even prove he can play clean football for 60 minutes against a good defense. That really should not depend on the talent around you, unless you’re in desperation mode trailing in the second half – but that’s not how these games have gone. You can think a rosier health picture could dispel that, but no one knows that yet (for the record, again, it’s just a matter of time for Maye … but will that be six games, or one to two seasons?)
Given all Vrabel’s comments this season about Maye’s decision-making and ball placement, the coach seems to be begging Maye, “I don’t need you to be Superman against the better teams, just stop turning the ball over, especially in the red zone with points on the board.”
Defensively, Vrabel’s concerns are probably even more profound, given that injuries haven’t been a huge factor on that side of the ball. What’s the defense’s identity? Against good play-callers and capable quarterbacks (Jaguars, Bills, Bears and Packers), the Patriots are getting shredded to the tune of 34 points per game against those teams, with the Lions, who entered Sunday as the No. 3 scoring offense, up next.
And the Patriots, despite having
