The New England Patriots kicked off the Mike Vrabel era in style on Friday night, putting up quite the showing in their first exhibition game of 2025.
One thing that was notable from start to finish during their 48-18 blowout win was that this is a team that played with great energy, flying around from the time the ball was kicked off all the way until the final whistle. They also played smart football. They were surprisingly disciplined, committing just 2 accepted penalites, while Dan Quinn’s Commanders ended up with 13.
That’s unusual at this time of year, especially given the amount of inexperience there is down the depth chart, as guys normally tend to go a little overboard to try and make some noise and earn a roster spot.
Overall, it was an impressive win but more importantly, it was a look at the type of program Vrabel is building here and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.
Here are some takeaways from this one:
1) TreyVeyon Henderson is as advertised: The former Ohio State standout set the tone early, opening the night with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown on the first play of the game. His sudden change of direction and acceleration was impressive, with Henderson bursting up the middle and making a move outside before he was off to the races. He’s also an incredibly physical player, dropping his shoulder on more than one occasion and punishing any defender who tried to bring him down during the handful of snaps he got on offense.
He finished the evening with 1 carry for 18 yards, along with three receptions for 12 yards.
2) Not a great night for Maye: Drake Maye didn’t have a great debut on Friday night. The opening series ended when Maye faced some pressure on a 3rd-and-7 after Will Campbell and Jared Wilson got crossed up by Washington’s defense, with a defender coming in and wrapping Maye up for what would have been a sack. Instead, Maye tried to keep the play alive and ended up fumbling the ball and the Commanders recovered.
After the game, Vrabel clearly wasn’t pleased, noting that Maye has to be smarter in that situation.
“That’s a bad decision,” said Vrabel. “I think we’re going to need better from him, and I think he knows that, and that’s obvious.”
“So it wasn’t there, and we just have to be able to find a way to get rid of football or take a sack, and punt, and play defense.”
Maye ended up playing just two series and did engineer a scoring drive after getting good field position thanks to the Commanders missing a field goal following his turnover.
He had two scrambles on the drive, one where he picked up 11 yards on a 2nd-and-7 to move the chains, and then he later ran the ball into the end zone on a 3rd-and-5 for a touchdown, which at the time put them up 14-0.
He finished the night just 3-of-5 for 12 yards to go along with his rushing touchdown.
3) Bad luck for Ja’Lynn Polk: Polk played 15 snaps on offense Friday night, and didn’t end up seeing a single ball thrown his way. However, they tried to use him on a running play, and unfortunately for the second-year wideout, things ended badly.
Polk was lined up in the right slot, going in motion, and then taking the toss from Josh Dobbs after the snap as he ran across to the left.
With Efton Chism blocking his man and one guy to beat, Polk tried to stiff-arm cornerback Noah Igbinoghene with his right hand to try and power over him. Unfortunately, Igbinoghene slid underneath him and brought Polk down, with the receiver’s outstretched arm getting caught underneath and hitting the ground awkwardly.
Following the hit, Polk was down on the turf and looked like he was in agony, favoring his right arm, which was the same one he had surgery on this past offseason.
He immediately went into the medical tent before eventually going to the locker room.
“No, no update right now,” said Vrabel after the game when asked about him. “He’ll get more testing and see our doctors, and wasn’t able to finish the game.”
That’s a brutal turn of events for Polk, as he was already facing an uphill battle to earn a spot among their current group of players.
4) Rough Night For Dobbs: Back-up quarterback Josh Dobbs didn’t have a great night, finishing just 5-of-12 for 45 yards and looking erratic during his time on the field.
The most brutal part of the evening was the fact that rookie Kyle Williams made a couple of impressive plays, one where he slipped behind the defensive back for a potential long gain but Dobbs underthrew him, and another on a would-be touchdown after he faked faked out his man down near the goal line and ran a slant but Dobbs threw it behind him.
Overall, Williams ended up finishing 0-for-4, with three of those targets coming from Dobbs.
Dobbs did run one play in for a touchdown, but Vrabel was seen shaking his head on the sideline and there were obviously mistakes on that sequence.
That’s not what you’re hoping for out of a back-up quarterback. In the event Maye was to get hurt, it’s probably safe to say that not many people would feel great about New England’s chances after that performance. Dobbs has otherwise had a decent camp, but he’s definitely going to need to be better the next time we see him than he was Friday night.
5) DJ James’ terrific preseason continues: James showed up again on Friday night, with the undrafted free agent coming up with a turnover late in the first quarter that came deep in Washington territory.
On the play, he read it perfectly, jumping in front of the receiver in stride before taking it up the sideline for 11 yards. The Patriots converted that turnover into points, with rookie kicker Andres Borregales hitting a 22-yard field goal which, at the time, extended their lead to 17-0.
“I think that it’s always exciting to see players that take advantage of opportunities and since D.J. was one of the players that was here for rookie minicamp, I would say that since that day, and that weekend, he’s continued to improve, and I think he’s taking advantage of that,” said Vrabel after the game. “I’m always for players that get better, take coaching. It’s on them, obviously, to improve. That’s all to D.J.’s credit. And so I’m excited for him that he can put it into work and then start to see it translate onto the field.”
James finished the night as the second-leading tackler for the defense, finishing with three tackles to go along with his interception.
6) Kicking battle continues: Despite missing a kick this week, John Parker-Romo didn’t blink. He ended up drilling an impressive 57-yard field goal early in the second quarter that extended New England’s lead to 20-0.
Andres Borregales also hit his only attempt of the night, kicking a 22-yard field goal near the end of the first quarter prior to Parker-Romo’s attempt to give New England a 17-0 lead. The two each had three extra point attempts, while also splitting the kickoff duties.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
Parker-Romo:
- Field Goals: 1/1 (57-yards)
- Extra Points: 3/3
- 5 kickoffs
- 1 tackle
Borregales:
- Field Goals: 1/1 (22 yards)
- Extra Points: 3/3
- Kickoffs: 4
All in all, it feels like things remain fairly even, and it will be interesting to see how things play out next week in Minnesota.
7) Will Campbell is a nasty player: Campbell played relatively well in the handful of snaps he saw, with his physical play in the running game really standing out. He was known for finishing his blocks in college, and on Friday night, he was spotted downfield on a couple of runs where he devastated his man, playing to the whistle and burying the defender.
He’s a guy who seems to take pride in punishing whoever he’s up against, especially when he’s on the move, and that part of his game was on display and was definitely fun to watch.
Some people might be discussing the hit on Maye that forced the turnover, but that appeared to be a miscommunication. Campbell had his guy locked up, but instead, Jared Wilson got pushed inside, and the defender used Campbell as a pick, with the two not able to catch it on the play. That hit forced the turnover on Maye.
“Those are something that we’ll continue to work hard on,” said Vrabel about that play. “We were able to pick them up in the practice. They ran a few of them over there against us in practice. ”
But after what limited snaps we saw, Campbell is a tone-setter in the ground game, and it’s going to be fun to see how that plays out this season.
8) Chism Steps up: The young wideout made some noise on Friday night, with his quickness and athleticism on display as his strong preseason continues.
He ended up leading all receivers with six receptions on eight targets for 50 yards along with a touchdown, which came from Ben Wooldridge.
That scoring play happened on fourth down, with Chism making a nice grab with a defender on him coming over the middle. After making the catch, he slipped the tackle and then took off up the sideline and into the end zone. He also made another outstanding play on a wide receiver screen that went for 20 yards and set up Jennings’ 1-yard rushing touchdown.
“I think his play strength stood out to me, just from the sideline,” said Vrabel. “I think just the way that he blocks and his ability to catch the ball in traffic. The ball was basically tipped or bobbled coming out of Ben’s hand and ran through a tackle and ran through contact, and then we threw him the screen. So, those are all positive things. I think his play strength to me is what stood out.”
Polk’s loss might end up being Chism’s gain, as he continues to push for a roster spot. That was definitely a nice debut for him, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue building off that heading into next week out in Minnesota.
9) Strong night for Ben Wooldridge: As disappointing as Dobbs ended up being, Wooldridge ended up as the bright spot Friday night.
After a rough start where he was just 1-of-4 for 7 yards, he proceeded to hit his next eight straight throws, going 8-of-8 for 125 yards along with a touchdown pass to Efton Chism, as well as engineering two other scoring drives that ended with touchdown runs by Terrell Jennings and Lan Larison.
“I think Ben settled down,” said Vrabel. “I was excited to see him settle down and hit some passes.”
Wooldridge ended up finishing the evening 9-of-12 for 132 yards along with a touchdown.
He looked confident out there and was certainly better than Dobbs in this one. After more or less being written off, it will be interesting to see if he can keep it going and potentially start pushing Dobbs both in practice and in these final two games.
The Patriots will head to Minnesota next week for another joint practice, with their second preseason game scheduled for an afternoon game next Saturday at 1:00pm.
Support Us: Help Us Compete Against The Corporate Media Giants
We need your help. If you enjoy our content, please help us beat Google's Corporate algorithm by adding us as a preferred source on Google News.
Click the button below and check the box next to "PatsFans.com"
Add as a preferred source on Google News
Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
Polk. If his injury last year was rotator cuff (sound so), that takes time (I had both shoulder done). If he re-injured it, maybe it’s best he goes on IR when cut down time comes. He’s on his rookie deal and cheap. Cutting him makes no sense accept for those that want a lb of flesh. Give him time to come back right. He couldn’t even participate in OTAs this year. IR solves some of the #s game at WR (keep Baker/Chism) and retains Polk with a long term view. WAS had 30 starters sit last night. So I’m sure… Read more »
Wooldridge, not Woolridge
Thank you for pointing that out, Will. Much appreciated! – Ian
Yw, Ian!. Good breakdown.