Patriots News 12-07, What Issues Need Fixing After The Bye
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Good morning. Here is your Patriots news, 12-07, and NFL notes this week. The Patriots have won ten in a row, and at 11-2 are sitting on top of the AFC, at least for the time being, depending on how Denver fares today.
However, just like their schedule, they needn’t worry about things they can’t control. And the bye week couldn’t have come at a better time. They had a rash of injuries over the past couple of weeks, and although Milton Williams and Will Campbell will miss the next two games due to being on IR, some of the other players could use the week off to heal up and rest for the stretch run.
The team is actually playing with house money right now; no one, not even their coach, expected them to be in this position heading into Week 14. That doesn’t mean that they will or should take their position lightly, far from it.
But part of the reason Vrabel didn’t make any big moves at the trade deadline was that he preached patience, since, in his estimation, the Patriots were still in the early stages of a multi-year rebuild. Or maybe he just didn’t want to mess with the chemistry of a young team that is just figuring out how to win.
The AFC is a flawed conference this year, and the Patriots, as good as they’ve played all season, have their warts, too. A year ago, they were in the same boat the Giants were on Monday night, already mathematically eliminated from the postseason. My, how things have quickly turned around.
But the AFC in 2025 is wide open. If the playoffs started today, the Kansas City Chiefs would be out. They are currently four games behind Denver and two games behind the Chargers, who are in second place.
As it is, the Baltimore Ravens are 6-6 and tied with the Steelers for the division lead. They play today, and the loser could be out of the playoffs.
A couple of things Mike Vrabel said this week really caught my attention. The head coach is subtly planting the seeds in the players’ heads this week that this could be a year that they make some noise in the playoffs. After the Giants’ game, he said the team “played like champions.”
And during his bye-week press conference, Vrabel told the media, “Champions are never satisfied.”
It should be noted that everything he does or says has meaning, and those two tidbits were an intentional way of telling his team that there is a path for them if they continue to answer the bell and play well.
He did not, however, put a lot of pressure on the team, and simply gave a hint to his team that there is a huge opportunity in front of them.
So, the Patriots have issues to fix, especially with big games against the Bills and Ravens coming up as soon as the bye week ends today. We’ll explore those below.
Drake Maye: Maye and Josh McDaniels have accomplished so much in their first season together. When training camp started we all were hoping to see a big Year 2 jump from Maye, and believed that it may take a bit for the offense to find a rhythm and for Maye to master the offense that McDaniels runs.
The Year 2 jump he’s experienced has been phenomenal. His presnap and postsnap reads have allowed him “the answers to the test” as Tom Brady famously once said. The fact that he’s only 23, and isn’t winning with his arm talent or physical skills (although both have played roles in his success), is an eye-opener.
He’s been able to process everything in front of him so quickly is a testament to his preparation. Phil Perry in his Next Pats Podcast, posted the following stats on how quickly Maye is processing what the defense is showing, both presnap and postsnap.
Since Week 6, Maye’s EPA stats are pretty incredible.
When blitzed: 5th
When not blitzed: 1st
Against zone: 1st
Against man: 8th
Against two-high safety coverage: 1st
Against single-high safety coverage: 1st
Hunter Henry: The Patriots announced that Hunter Henry has been selected as the team’s nominee for the 2025 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award is the league’s most prestigious honor, recognizing players who excel on the field and demonstrate a commitment to making a positive impact beyond the game.
Henry and his wife Parker, have become passionate advocates in the fight against human trafficking and slavery worldwide. He has used his platform to raise awareness and funds for the International Justice Mission’s (IJM) efforts. This year, he wore custom cleats as a part of the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative.
It is a very well-deserved honor for Henry, who is also involved in other charitable organizations such as Special Olympics.
Stefon Diggs: The Patriots’ wide receiver celebrated his 32nd birthday in Miami during the bye week, even though his birthday was on November 29. His girlfriend Cardi B, who just gave birth to their son, sang “Happy Birthday” to him at the lavish bash in his honor.
Diggs is a candidate for the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award after tearing his ACL in October last year. He leads the Patriots with 64 catches for 705 yards while scoring three touchdowns.
Diggs is close to the pace for another 1,000-yard season. He had six straight 1,000-yard seasons until his injury last year, which limited him to just eight games, when he was on pace for another one.
Not only has Diggs upgraded the Patriots’ wide receiver room with his on-field chemistry with Drake Maye, but he’s also provided the team with veteran leadership in a young wide receiver room off the field.
Head coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels have both raved about Diggs’ leadership role. He’s helped transform a moribund passing game in 2024 to one of the most productive units in 2025.
Patriots No Huddle Podcast: Mike and I broke down the win against the Giants on our postgame podcast. Derek has been out of town for a bit, and we hope to get him back as soon as possible. But our podcast will return this week with a preview of the Bills game, in what is shaping up as the biggest game of the season so far.
Please check it out. And be sure to like, share, and leave us a review.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed how teams used the tight end position.
This will be displayed in our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t even in the team’s HOF.
So, here we are at the bye, and the Patriots are rolling along at 11-2. If they are to be successful down the stretch and make a deep playoff run, the team needs to address some issues.
With four games remaining in the season, the Patriots are virtually a lock for the postseason. But the big games right out of the bye week, at home against Buffalo and on the road against Baltimore, loom large as they may see one of them again in the playoffs.
With a win over Buffalo next Sunday, the Patriots would clinch the AFC East crown, something the Bills have owned for the past five years. They’ve already beaten the Bills back earlier this season, but now is when things get more intense. Here are some issues that Mike Vrabel is sure to bring up.
Red Zone Inefficiencies-
Here is an issue on both offense and defense. Offensively, as good as the Patriots’ offense has been, once they get into the red zone, they sputter badly, especially inside the 10-yard line.
The Patriots rank just 24th in the NFL in red-zone scoring percentage, scoring touchdowns on just 51.06 percent of their drives in the red zone. Over the last three games, that number falls to just 33.3 percent. Settling for three instead of scoring a touchdown is not a winning formula in the playoffs.
They haven’t been able to generate much in the running game inside the 10, and that inconsistency is something they have to fix. Perhaps having Drake Maye dial up a few designed runs could help.
Defensively, although teams aren’t getting a lot of red zone opportunities against them, when they do, they’re scoring touchdowns at a 73 percent rate, last in the NFL. This is an intriguing stat given that the team is fifth in the league in scoring, allowing just 18.5 points per game.
Running Game Inconsistencies-
The Patriots are a middle-of-the-pack team at rushing yardage (13th), but only three teams average fewer yards per carry, 3.9, than the Patriots (Las Vegas, San Francisco, and New Orleans).
That tells you that despite their struggles, they’re sticking with the running game trying to keep their balance offensively. Plus, it sets up play action passing which has been a staple of this offense.
The stats vary from week to week as to the yards before contact and the yards after contact, so the issue is both the offensive line and the running backs.
Rhamondre Stevenson is back to being healthy again, which should help, but it has been tough sledding for the Patriots’ running game, especially in the red zone. They have been more successful running with motion, so they could utilize more of that moving forward.
The run defense has trended downward over the past month, and part of the reason is that Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga have been banged up. But even before they were injured, the run defense numbers were taking a dip.
Williams will miss the Buffalo and Baltimore games but could be back for the final two games against the Dolphins and Jets before the playoffs begin. Their scheme was working well early in the year so that it may need some tweaking, but getting their players back is so vital for them.
Pass Rush-
The Patriots just aren’t getting enough pressure on their opposing quarterbacks. They are tied with Buffalo for 18th in the league with just 27 sacks. The Patriots’ pass rush win rate of 36 percent is 21st in the league.
This goes hand-in-hand with generating turnovers. The Patriots are a bottom-third team in generating fumbles and a bottom-half team in getting interceptions.
Nothing will get a secondary more interceptions than pressure on the quarterback, and the more sacks, the better the chances of getting more forced fumbles. Their pass defense (minus the team’s opening drives) has been excellent. If they can get more pressure on opposing QBs, it will be even better.
Of course, none of this means that they don’t have a shot come January. They’ve been winning quite nicely all season by playing well in all three phases of the game. But with a few tweaks to the system, their chances of winning a home playoff game will increase.
The Lions have won after a loss every time this year, so watching their offensive explosion was not a surprise. That loss really hurt Dallas’ playoff chances. As far as a rooting guide, Denver is playing the Raiders, so the Patriots will probably revert to the #2 seed later today.
Cincinnati and Joe Burrow are 2-0 against Buffalo in a limited sample size. But Buffalo’s running game should be the difference in a close game. Miami goes for its fourth win in a row against the Jets. But in reality, their winning now, is only hurting their draft position.
A really big game between Indy and Jacksonville today is for the division lead, which will bear watching. The Colts have dropped two in a row. KC and Houston is another game with playoff implications, although I like KC in this one, that Texans’ defense is legit.
Now we’ll see how the rest of the schedule goes.
Thursday Night Football:
Detroit over Dallas 1-0
Sunday Day Games:
Seattle over Atlanta
Buffalo over Cincinnati
Cleveland over Tennessee
Washington over Minnesota
Miami over NYJ
Tampa Bay over New Orleans
Indianapolis over Jacksonville
Baltimore over Pittsburgh
Denver over Las Vegas
Green Bay over Chicago
LA Rams over Arizona
Sunday Night Football:
Kansas City over Houston
Monday Night Football:
Philadelphia over LA Chargers
FINAL BYE WEEK OF 2025:
Carolina, New England, NYG, San Francisco
Last Week 10—6
2025 Season 132—61—1
2024 Season 204—68
2023 Season 178—94
2022 Season: 178—92—2
2021 Season: 183—88—1
2020 Season: 169—86—1
2019 Season: 162—93—1
“[Yeah], and I just felt like it had been a long week. And with these home night games, we have a, let’s say, Sunday, and then we are done with them, they go to the hotel, then Monday morning meetings, then they leave, they go home and they get some rest or whatever it is that they’re going to do to prepare themselves for the game.
“I just felt like I wanted to remind them that it was important to have an attacking mindset, an aggressive mindset, to continue to find the joy throughout our team with each other, playing, watching each other, feeding off of each other, all three units.
“I think they appreciate it. I think that they – I’ve said this after the game, the strength of our wide receiver unit is in the unit. I know that that’s hard for a position, especially that position, but everybody’s catching passes, everybody’s catching touchdowns, they’re trying to block when they don’t have the ball.
“And I understand and I appreciate that. And so, I remind them of that. And it can’t – it’s not going to be just one guy getting 15 or 16 targets every week. I just don’t think that that’s what this is. I appreciate their unselfishness, and I think that that is just a small microcosm of what I want our football team to look like and feel, and be excited when Kyle [Williams] catches a touchdown, when Kayshon [Boutte] catches a touchdown or whoever it may be that gets a big third down conversion for us.
“So, that’s all we’re trying to do, and Christian Elliss, I think, embodies that. He’s a great teammate. His teammates care deeply about him. He cares about this football team. He’s got great relationships throughout the building with his coaches and obviously with his teammates. That’s another special group, the linebacker group.
“Christian got us going. And, again, there’s nothing illegal about anything that he did. There’s nothing dirty. It’s him playing football. Whether it’s covering kicks, and he takes a lot of pride in that unit, and also on defense.”
Mike Vrabel was asked about Christian Elliss, and how his physicality set the tone for the team.
“That we’re not done. We’re not satisfied. I think champions are never satisfied. I think you can appreciate where you are, but at the same time, never be satisfied or complacent.
“The fine line between rest and recovery, and just being sedentary. So, there’s a fine line of what we have to do to be able to come back in here, understand that just because you have a bye, that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed some victory the next week in this league.
“Teams are 16-12 coming off a bye this year, so obviously the bye doesn’t guarantee anything other than we should get some guys back that we didn’t have last night, and we’ll see where that goes throughout the week. Give them some time to reconnect with people that they care about, and then also be ready to focus on football and us finishing this thing.”
Mike Vrabel was asked about what the message was going into the bye week.
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“Somebody asked me what success looks like, and I said, ‘Yeah, you can judge it by wins and losses during the season, but success for me in the offseason is going to be that the players believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in the message, they believe in the teaching, and they believe in the connections that we’re making.’” — Mike Vrabel
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I don’t see the AFC or NFC as being flawed at all. Wide open yes. The two conferences are more rich in terms of solid teams in the 7 playoff spots. Typically it’s been 2-3 mega powers (KC etc) and the rest of the wild card lot is semi weak. Wild card weekend this year will likely have the 7th team that can beat the #2 and the 6th can beat the #3 etc. That has not often been the case for years. It’s been snoozer matchups at times in prior years. And those teams like: HOU, BILLS, DEN, NE,… Read more »
The Pats key issue of not being able to bang out short yardage scenarios on the ground (red zone or otherwise) is a tough flaw to have when you play in a playoff intensity vs solid teams. The Pats are a passing team. They mix it up to keep some run/pass balance, but that’s what they are – a passing team. They are not well balanced. That’s tough to win with in the playoffs. And if the weather gets bad, it’s tougher. I thought the o-line would get better at running by this time in the season, but it hasn’t… Read more »