PostGame Thread 2025 OFFICIAL POSTGAME THREAD: Patriots fall 29-13 to the Seahawks

[PatsFan2]

Thats how the media describes it.

Seahawks dominate Patriots.

Made Caleb Williams look like a player: had better numbers than Maye in the playoffs.

 

[PatsFan2]

We need more talent and depth in multiple spots. We have to make smart upgrades anywhere we can and then play around the strengths of whatever results from that. Reaching for needs is how you misallocate resources.

King Tet wouldn't have been a REACH!

WR Tetairoa McMillan named 2025 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of Year​

 

[Real fan 02]

I'm wondering if the shoulder is why Maye's only runs were when a play broke down and things opened up -- that the team didn't call any designed runs because they didn't want to expose the shoulder to more hits.

And some of those passes just didn't look right.

Not trying to make excuses though -- even if Maye was 100% they would have lost with that game "plan".

Seattle was getting home rushing 4 against 6 blockers at times..when Mumford was in.. that right there tells you where the protection was at...

That allowed them to sit on every route and play catch with Drake...

Wich is so disheartening as Stafford carved up the " supposed best defense in the league " 2 weeks prior... I don't buy the notion of Stafford had a better this or better that.. Drake was an MVP candidate all season with lesser offensive skill players and OL... he elevated this team all season.

It all changed starting with the chargers game.. then all DCs did was copy the same formula. When a teams getting pressure just rushing 4 no offense can function.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

If you would like to remove every rookie who had a bad game and assume they can never improve, the NFL would look an awful lot different.

You lack perspective. No-one said remove every rookie. Lots of guys said the situation has to be completely reconsidered including Campbell moving to left guard.

14 pressures is not a bad game. 14 pressures is a complete and total debacle. As Vrabel said after the game, if the coaching staff does not learn from this loss, it will be a complete wasted effort. Pretending 14 pressures is just a bad game would be part of not being honest. There is something really wrong. Either Campbell is badly injured or he is out of position.

 

[condon84]

The reason I wanted King Tet early on then Tarpilo in the Second who played better than Campbell. Campbell played no better than V-Lowe in the end pathetic.

If we’re being honest, Lowe played better when he was starting, and Brown was also better than Wilson when he was called on.

I love what Vrabel has done for the culture. Sticking with Rhamondre through his early struggles paid off big time—he was one of our best offensive players down the stretch.

That said, the same philosophy hurt us in the playoffs. Campbell and Wilson were clearly struggling, and continuing to roll with them may have cost us a Super Bowl. Lowe and Brown should have been on the field.

 

[PatsFan2]

Mike, he could come from anywhere and do better than 14 pressures. You don't seem to appreciate how bad "14 pressures" is.

The kid from BC last year, Ozzy Trapilo, started for the Bears and was drafted in R2, no. 56. Trapilo would have been lights out better than 14 pressures.

Our Brass went to Tarpilo's Pro Day: I guess Chicago did too they got value we got a possible dud. The Fourth Overall shouldn't be leading in any negative category.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

The Bears 2024 OL was a dumpster fire.

Totally the opposite in 2025.

Yup. Vrabel and crew made some great personnel decisions in 2025, but we would have been better off trading a 4th round pick for Thuney to play left guard. Wilson was a 3rd round pick, we would have been much better off with Thuney. Might have helped Campbell too.

 

[PatsFan2]

You lack perspective. No-one said remove every rookie. Lots of guys said the situation has to be completely reconsidered including Campbell moving to left guard.

14 pressures is not a bad game. 14 pressures is a complete and total debacle. As Vrabel said after the game, if the coaching staff does not learn from this loss, it will be a complete wasted effort. Pretending 14 pressures is just a bad game would be part of not being honest. There is something really wrong. Either Campbell is badly injured or he is out of position.

I'll take the latter.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Our Brass went to Tarpilo's Pro Day: I guess Chicago did too they got value we got a possible dud. The Fourth Overall shouldn't be leading in any negative category.

I don't think Campbell is a dud. But he might not be a left tackle.

 

[Joey007]

I think guard is more likely than LT in free agency. But the question is how does the team feel about Bradbury? If they keep him, what do they do with Wilson, who is obviously the longterm center?

Where I’m at with Bradbury:

He played much better than expected. Really was not a liability.

But if you have a chance at a guy like Linderbaum, you make the upgrade.

 

[Joey007]

I don't think Campbell is a dud. But he might not be a left tackle.

My issue is that besides the Browns game, Campbell played just fine at LT pre injury.

I need to see if it was injury or teams figuring him out. Plus, he was a rookie. A young rookie at that.

 

[UrbanCowboy]

I think a few things happened.

1) He got sped up generally and wasn't able to shake out of it. The offensive line certainly didn't play any better, so there was no ability for him to settle in ever. This is definitely the biggest factor

2) Coaching staff may have overreacted to the Houston and Chargers games and seemed to have reigned in the stallion too much, so to speak. Sometimes you have to live with the bad to get the good...it's a very fine line and I can't completely blame them given how well the defense was playing, but doing that against Seattle vs. doing it against a backup QB in Denver is very different.

3) Maye did have an injured shoulder. I can't say it was the cause of our loss yesterday but his deep throws definitely looked to lack some pop compared to all season. It wasn't why he played badly but it didn't help

I agree with all 3. #2 in particular is interesting ... hard to tell, but it seemed like the "avoid turnovers" mantra completely zapped him. I had a a coach once who took me out every time I made a mistake. I would start heading to the bench each time I did. Played tentative... overthinking. Completely destroyed my confidence. That's what Drake has looked like the last 4 games (along with your #1 and #3). I would totally trade off a few turnovers for the confident guy we saw during regular season.

 

[Rob0729]

Here are some thoughts. Sorry if they are redundant since I didn't read all 28 pages.

- I blame McDaniels, Vrabel, and Marrone the most for this loss. It was clear that Campbell and Wilson were over matched in this game and they did nothing to fix the problem. Did Lowe or Ben Brown even play a snap? I know they think Lowe and Brown aren't as good, but they couldn't have been any worse. Maybe they might have been better in this match up. Where were the designed roll outs to Maye's right? They did it once by my count and did a poor job picking up defenders on that side and allowed one defender to rush free. Where were the quick slants? They put Maye in a position to fail.
- Campbell is a guard. Sorry. You can blame his MCL, but he was getting dominated by the bull rush last night which wouldn't be that affected by a sprained MCL.
- Wilson needs to moved to center or made a back up.
- The Pats need a true #1 WR. The Pats have a lot of good #2/#3/#4 type WRs. But without that true #1, good secondaries able to take away Maye's weapons.
- I think there is more wrong with Maye's shoulder than they are letting on. He just isn't accurate anymore after a season of pin precision accuracy. This year is the longest Maye has ever played in one season since he only started 10 games last year. I wonder if his shoulder just wore out. Part of it is he is rattled because of the o-line is so bad, but I think there might be something wrong.
- He also needs to work on the mental aspect of the game. He did seem to let the
- I am sad that an pretty awesome defensive performance by the Pats was wasted. The Patriots defense shut down JSN. They dominated the line of scrimmage for most of the game. They forced Darnold in a lot of 3rd and longs where he is poor at converting. Yes, they had trouble with Kenneth Walker, but I think that was by design a bit. They wanted to shutdown JSN and the passing game which they did for the most part.
- One thing I didn't like was the poor tackling by the defense. Should have had like four or five more sacks because they kept running by Darnold or not being able to wrap him up.
- Gonzalez earned his contract last night. He is going to be paid big and deserves it.
- The focus of this offseason is to upgrade the offense. As I said, LT and a #1 WR is most important.
- I am massively disappointed in last night. But overall, I am satisfied for the first year of the rebuild. You cannot get too upset losing in he Super Bowl even in a blowout when most people felt that this team winning 10 wins and being a wild card team was the overly optimistic prediction for the season.

 

[SVN]

 

[PatsFan2]

I don't think Campbell is a dud. But he might not be a left tackle.

Move him to RT or LG we're not Stout at either spot.

 

[SVN]

3. But when Maye got too sped up, he never slowed down with enough consistency. That led to unforced errors when there were plays to be made. That'll improve with more help around Maye, but he's got to take ownership of slowing down his process in chaotic moments. It's rarely going to be perfect, especially on the biggest stages.

This is what bothers me. Yes the line ,playcalling etc all were issues but Maye couldnt slow down himself.his interception in the middle of the field was catastropic
I felt josh and maye both missed a kevin faulk, james white, edelman type player to get quick throwsout. but i am not sure that is may's game either.

 

[lancerman]

If we’re being honest, Lowe played better when he was starting, and Brown was also better than Wilson when he was called on.

I love what Vrabel has done for the culture. Sticking with Rhamondre through his early struggles paid off big time—he was one of our best offensive players down the stretch.

That said, the same philosophy hurt us in the playoffs. Campbell and Wilson were clearly struggling, and continuing to roll with them may have cost us a Super Bowl. Lowe and Brown should have been on the field.

Campbell played better than Lowe pre injury, but Lowe when he subbed in was better than Campbell since he came back.

Tough to judge though because Lowe played some pretty trash teams and we **** on Lowe all season last year.

 

[NE_Zealot]

Would not be surprised if Maye's shoulder was worse than let on and he needs treatment.

Doesn't really explain the hesitation though. There were times where I thought I was watching Bledsoe do his statue thing. I think he was legit confused by that defense. Oh well. The whole playoffs was a good learning experience and he'll be better for it. Experience like they got this season can't be coached.

Credit to the Seahawks defense. IMHO Drake got shook early and never recovered. It’s hard to process when the majority of plays involve the LT and G getting blown back into your lap most snaps. They rushed 4 and clogged up the passing lanes all night. Hopefully facing all these elite D fronts will teach him something, he desperately needs to learn to check it down/take what the defense gives him.

 

[Real fan 02]

If we’re being honest, Lowe played better when he was starting, and Brown was also better than Wilson when he was called on.

I love what Vrabel has done for the culture. Sticking with Rhamondre through his early struggles paid off big time—he was one of our best offensive players down the stretch.

That said, the same philosophy hurt us in the playoffs. Campbell and Wilson were clearly struggling, and continuing to roll with them may have cost us a Super Bowl. Lowe and Brown should have been on the field.

I was laughed at when I said the very same things.. Lowe Played better when he was starting.. you have to go with the guy's your getting the most pproductivity from.. Campbell had a solid rookie season and looked the part.. youthfulness and his love for Vrabel is why I believe he chose to play less than 100%... allowing Campbell to play is probably the only thing I can question Vrabel on.. Wilson had what 2 concussions? And that ankle can't be 100%? They were direct reasons why Drake had no time and the left side was a revolving door all night with just rushing 4..

 

[jal]

The biggest coaching mistake of the playoffs was sticking with Campbell and Wilson when we saw Lowe and Brown do a very competent job when filling in. Campbell is both not healthy AND maybe better off at LG than LT. Wilson just isn't good enough right now, and who knows if ever. We simply needed to make a change to see if it gave us a chance, and it's shocking that we never even tried. The protection we rolled out was simply untenable - there isn't a QB that's ever played in the NFL that could've looked good behind that protection.

But that's life in the NFL. Many a postseason run has been ruined by injuries. Brighter side - we have a very good head coach and a young star QB, plus some cornerstones on defense. That's about as solid a foundation as you can ask for....we are certainly out of the dark times. Whether we will end up in the promised land again (as in, a single Super Bowl victory, not asking for another dynasty) is unknown but it's a hell of a lot better being here than where we were when the season started.