Patriots News 02-01, Patriots Are Heading To Santa Clara
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Good morning. Here is your Patriots news, 02-01, and NFL notes this week. The NFL season is now down to just two teams. The Patriots and Seahawks will meet next Sunday night in Super Bowl LX. While Drake Maye didn’t practice on Friday (illness/shoulder), it shouldn’t hold him back at all next Sunday.
The Bill Belichick Hall of Fame candidacy has been discussed nonstop since the news leaked. And rather than rehash everything, we’ll leave it to our readers and podcast listeners to decide how they feel about the decision.
However, if voters’ decision not to vote for him is due to Spygate, they left him off the ballot because of a fine. Belichick was never suspended for that; he was fined, which makes it even crazier. Especially considering the comments of Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, and Mike Shanahan, among others, over the practice of sign-stealing. But it no doubt (at least here) has more to do with sour grapes than anything else. He’ll eventually get in. I look forward to that acceptance speech.
While this is New England’s 12th trip to the Super Bowl, for this current crop of players, it is a new experience. Milton Williams, however, won the Super Bowl with the Eagles last season before signing a huge free agent deal with the Patriots. He probably had no inkling the team would be able to rebuild this quickly.
But the coaching staff is a different matter. Head coach Mike Vrabel won the Super Bowl three times as a member of the Patriots. Now, he’ll go for the first time as a head coach. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has been to eight Super Bowls and was part of all six Super Bowl wins with New England. This will be his ninth trip to the Super Bowl as a coach. All of them with New England.
That experience is invaluable when helping his young team prepare. McDaniels will help balance training, logistics, and scouting to keep players engaged and prepared.
Beyond game-day Xs-and-Os, McDaniels’ presence provides crucial stability to the team’s structure, serving as a steady hand for the staff and having previously guided offenses with Tom Brady in multiple high-stakes matchups.
And the Patriots have come full circle. The 2001 team, with a young McDaniels as an assistant coach, was a significant underdog against the Rams. The 2025 team will probably be the biggest underdog the Patriots have had in the big dance since that team.
ESPN did a Super Bowl preview, and all 11 analysts picked Seattle to win. Seattle has an outstanding team, and they deserve to be the #1 seed and where they are. But there is something about this year’s Patriots’ team. They have been overlooked and discounted (especially the defense) all season.
This is going to be a great game.
Terrell Williams: The Patriots’ defensive coordinator has missed nearly the entire season while dealing with prostate cancer. But prior to the Texans’ game in the divisional round, it was learned he is cancer-free.
His aggressive regimen of chemotherapy has paid off and he will accompany the team to the Super Bowl this week. During his cancer battle, he was a frequently visitor to the locker room whenever he was able, and kept in contact with the players and coaches.
Having him with the team in Santa Clara is going to be a huge boost for the players, who have the utmost respect for him. But the fact that he’s there is already a huge win for him and his family.
Patriots Add Two PS Players: The Patriots have added two players to the practice squad. LB Patrick Johnson, 28, a fifth-year linebacker, who is 6’2, 248 and played for the Eagles. The team also added WR Trent Sherfield, 29, a 6’0, 203 wideout from Vanderbilt, who played for the Cardinals and Broncos this season, with three catches for 21 in Denver.
Bills HC Joe Brady: The Bills have hired offensive coordinator Brady to be Buffalo’s next head coach. Buffalo decided to stay in-house and keep continuity for Josh Allen, where he doesn’t have to learn a new offense in 2026.
A thought about how quickly things change in the NFL: Mike Vrabel is now the longest tenured coach in the AFC East.
However, it will be a difficult first season for Brady, as he’ll be a head coach for the first time at any level. The Bills’ owners, the Pegulas, laid the failure of getting over the playoff hump firmly at Sean McDermott’s feet, and he was fired. Given the struggles Buffalo had defensively in its playoff losses, it isn’t hard to fathom.
However, this year, Buffalo’s offense struggled, and despite having Allen and James Cook, the offense had to work much harder than it did in Allen’s MVP season in 2024. The offensive personnel were considered lacking in many areas. That wasn’t on McDermott, but Brandon Beane who was given a promotion.
Brady’s offense scored less than 20 points in five games (all losses) and the knock that was heard was that their play calling was very simple and that teams could figure out what was coming. But that was covered up by Allen’s ability to pull incredible plays out of his hat. That is on Brady.
Buffalo has 21 unrestricted free agents, including several starters in 2026. The Bills are currently between $7 and $11 million over the salary cap for 2026. Many difficult decisions will have to be made.
Super Bowl Ticket Prices: Super Bowl LX tickets in 2026 are exceptionally high, with the lowest resale prices starting at $ 6,000- $6,600 per seat, often exceeding $10,000 on average, making it one of the most expensive games on record.
Tickets are generally found in the $6,000–$33,000+ range, fueled by limited supply and high demand for the Seahawks-Patriots matchup at Levi’s Stadium.
The NFL is pricing the game right out of the hands of the very fans that support the league and their teams and placing it in the hands of rich corporate types who write off the cost on their taxes.
Matt Chatham posted on his “X” account the following and it needs to be heeded.
“A fair piece of bipartisan legislation that needs to happen is capping Super Bowl prices at a fixed premium percent of regular season ticket values, and reserving those tickets by allotment largely for the two opposing fan bases.
“It’s turned into the country’s biggest annual price gouge. Particularly egregious in that these events typically take place in publicly funded venues. For an operation *supposedly* operating under the guise of federal antitrust laws, this thing has become mostly an exorbitantly priced corporate buddies event inside a tornado, inside a hurricane. Normal fans have largely been written out of the process.
“I was lucky to get to go to more than 10 of these things (through playing and work), but it’s become obvious that regular folks get realistically further & further from that opportunity with each passing year. You shouldn’t have to do a home equity loan to go to a f***ing football game.
“This needs to change. And IMO, whoever pulls it off will be a hero to a wide swath of Americans.” Amen.
Patriots No Huddle Podcast: Mike, Derek, and I recorded our post-game podcast after the Broncos game on Sunday night. The three of us also did our preview podcast for the Super Bowl on Thursday.
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.
The Patriots’ defense hasn’t gotten a lot of love nationally, but they have made an incredible turnaround from 2024. A year ago, the team was 22nd in points allowed and yards allowed. This year, those numbers have improved to fourth in points allowed and eighth in yards allowed.
Mike Vrabel brought in players that fit in with his defensive philosophy, and the unit is hitting its peak at just the right time. Milton Williams, Robert Spillane, Harold Landry, Carlton Davis, K’Lavon Chaisson, Khyiris Tonga, and Jack Gibbens were all added in free agency, and all have at times provided excellent production while fulfilling varying roles for the defense.
Ten of the eleven starters on defense were not on the team or full-time starters in 2024. That is a big change, and the results can be attributed to their coach.
The team’s hit rate for free agents on the defense was a home run; the only free agent they signed defensively that didn’t work out was safety Marcus Epps, who was released at the end of training camp and “landed with a much better team.”
Williams, who signed a big free agent contract last spring, has been immense for the team. During the spring, Vrabel challenged him to be a leader of the defense, and while he isn’t a rah-rah type, his play and leading by example have set the tone.
Against the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, Williams was credited by PFF with eight total pressures, despite being double-teamed on nearly half of his pass rushes.
As per Mike Reiss, when Williams and CB Christian Gonzalez are both on the field, the Patriots are 12-0 and allowing an average of just 14.5 points per game. Seattle led the league, allowing just 17.2 points per game.
In the eight games in which either Williams or Gonzalez was out, the Patriots went 5-3, allowing 21.5 points per game (12th in the NFL).
While the Patriots’ schedule issue continues to be discussed ad nauseam, there are some parallels from this season.
The Patriots and Seahawks faced seven common opponents, each going 6-1. New England outscored them by an average score of 28-18, while the Seahawks outscored them by an average score of 33-19.
While yardage totals can be deceiving at times, the Patriots outgained their common opponents by an average of 62 yards, while the Seahawks outgained them by an average of 80 yards.
The Patriots’ lone loss came against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3, a 21-14 defeat, while the Seahawks’ lone loss against common opponents was to Tampa Bay in Week 5, 38-35.
The NFL is down to the two teams in the Super Bowl. While 30 other teams are already preparing for the draft and free agency, the Patriots and Seahawks are preparing for the Super Bowl.
I’ll make my prediction and provide a breakdown of key matchups later this week.
Last Week 2—0
2025 Season 181—90—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
Mike Vrabel was asked, “Mike, you saw Zak Kuhr as an intern, and obviously later in Tennessee as a defensive assistant. How much have you seen him grow as a coach?”
“Well, he’s talented. Being able to do what he did offensively, and then learn what we were doing defensively and kind of learn the game, but also be able to provide assistance with the coaches as maybe why offenses were doing what they were doing or whether some of the zone read elements from college were starting to creep in or we would see more things, more spread formations and RPOs.
“He quickly grew as a coach, and I wanted to continue to work with him and keep him a part of what we were doing.”
Mike Vrabel was asked, “Why have they (Seattle) been so effective in the run game over the course of the year? Why have the Seahawks been so effective in the run game?”
“Well, they commit to it. I mean, they lead the league in attempts, so that’s a good place to start if you want to do good things. They have a good scheme, and they commit to it.
“They’ve been ahead in football games, and therefore allowed them to run the football by volume. But it’s a versatile scheme. They run multiple zone schemes, and then some of your duos, inside zones, and combination blocks.
“So, they had two backs that were a good combination. Now [Kenneth] Walker [III]’s getting the bulk of those carries, but certainly he’s taking advantage of them.”
Drake Maye was asked, “With the “Road Warriors” saying, Mike Vrabel said that he showed you guys that because he ran out of another clip or something. Why do you think it’s been something that this team has embraced so much this season?.”
“I think you embrace it when you try to build an identity, and you carry it on the road with you. I think it started back in Miami. We got our first win on the road, and I think that really kick-started it.
“I think being able to start 1-0, being able to build a trend of winning games on the road, starting a win streak on the road, that’s tough in this league, and it’s tough to do. I think that one last week was kind of the epitome of what this “Road Warriors” is like. It’s not pretty. It’s not going to be everything we wanted. But there are times on the road where we’ve been on fire, and there are times when you’re just trying to do whatever you can to win.
“I think that’s what playoff football is about, and some of the guys are bought into it to the fullest, like Mack [Hollins], and it’s funny to see. So, I hadn’t seen the movie, but I think he killed the reference.”
Maye was asked, “How would you describe Mike Vrabel as a motivational speaker?”
“I think he does a great job of kind of relating to us, being able to talk as a player and now as a coach about his experiences of winning Super Bowls, the experience of making the playoffs his first year with the Steelers, and not making it for four years.
“Just being able to kind of hit home at spots or moments this season that we can relate back to. I remember we talked about it at the beginning of the season, talking about our stories and what hopes we had.
“Our hopes were to win the big game and win the Super Bowl, and look where we’re at now. All those hopes are coming to a reality. So, that’s one of the coolest things I thought I heard this morning from him, him just relaying that to us and knowing what we dreamed of even as a little kid, back when you wanted to watch the Super Bowl at a Super Bowl party, and now we’re the party. (emphasis mine)
So, that’s a pretty cool aspect, and I think Coach does a great job of relating to us and relaying a message that hits home for all of us.”
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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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Great news on Terrell Williams. SEA and the run game…. like most big games, the Pats stopping the run will be key. Make Darnold throw 40 times. Secondly, the Pats DE’s need to keep Darnold in the pocket given he throws off rollouts a ton, and for big play shots (west coast offense). Pressure Darnold from the DTs in the middle. ‘Bear Defense’ alike 2018 vs Rams/Goff? 3rd: Take out JSN with double coverage or Gonzalez. Hard to do all 3 but hey. The Pats offense likely won’t score a ton. So it’s all about holding the score down and… Read more »