It's Hard to Imagine the Patriots Being in a Better Position Than They Are Right Now

"We're never, ever going to get to the point where we're not going to celebrate fucking wins." - Mike Vrabel, 10.12.25

Truer, wiser words have perhaps never been spoken. That goes for Vrabel's team, but it's just as true for it's long-suffering fans. (In this area, five years is an eternity to go with only one championship.) The Patriots have had four wins in each of the last two seasons, and now they have that many before some of us have had our first Pumpkin beer or fired up the leaf blower. That is a thing to be celebrated. 

So is the fact that a year ago, being in first place in the AFC East felt as likely as peace in the Middle East. And yet here we find ourselves.

Which brings us to this coming week and beyond. It's a situation where the Patriots find themselves with a long runway ahead of them, almost perfectly laid out for a season beyond even the wildest expectations of the most shamelessly optimistic fanboy in the region. (Wait. Why is everyone looking at me like that?) 

Before we get to the rest of the season, let's talk about next week. Because the schedule makers could not have timed this better. Up next is a Tennessee team that is in total freefall and reaching terminal velocity:

The Titans are now being coached on an interim basis by Mike McCoy, who we last saw turning the Chargers from 9-win seasons to 4- and 5-win seasons before being fired himself. They've scored 83 points in six games, which is one more point than the worst offense in the league. They're also next-to-last in total yards. Their passer rating is a league-worst 67.3. Which to put that in perspective, if a quarterback had that rating last year, he would've been 36th in a 32-team league. And defensively, they've given up the sixth most points. Giving them the league's second-worst point differential of -78. Which is actually 31 points worse than the 0-6 Jets.

And in case you find yourself defaulting to "Well they have to watch out; this could be a trap game," consider what's riding on this for the head coach these players respect so much:

Two years ago, Vrabel got fired because in his 2023 acceptance speech into the Patriots Hall of Fame, he said nice things about the organization and referred to the team using first person plural pronouns. Which offended Tennessee's ownership. 

Now, I don't wish to stereotype anyone. It would be wrong to assume that just because a billionaire sports team owner belongs to one gender as opposed to the other gender, that he or she would be more likely to make decisions based on emotions as opposed to what's good for business. That would be terribly misogynist, and I won't be accused of that. I'm sure Amy Adams Strunk:

Lachlan Cunningham. Getty Images.

… didn't let hurt feelings factor into her decision-making any more than regular Amy Adams did in say, Leap Year or Moonlight Serenade. She simply let one of the most respected figures in the NFL go for logical, rational reasons. And it's merely a coincidence she finds herself two years later with the worst team in a quarter of a century. 

The larger point being, that this business trip to Nashville is as personal for Vrabel as Buffalo was for Stefon Diggs:

… and a return to Louisiana was for Kayshon Boutte:

This is how 2025 is playing out for this Pats team. Every week it seems someone has unfinished business. Scores to settle. It didn't work out for Josh McDaniels against the Raiders in Week 1 for a lot of reasons. But this team has been cobbled together with a lot of players and coaches who have been around the league and hold grudges. And even if an opponent doesn't appear on anybody's Kill Bill list of targets to get revenge on, they still know the inner workings of the organization. Like the the Pats next victim opponent, Cleveland, where Vrabel spent all of 2024. 

Which brings us around to the remaining schedule:

--The Titans and Browns join the Ravens and Dolphins as teams with just one win. 

--The Jets have no wins and the Pats play them twice. 

--The Giants and Bengals each have two, but Cincy is 0-4 without Joe Burrow. And happen to be the one team with a worse point differential (-80) than the Titans.

--So out of 11 games left, that makes eight against teams with two or fewer wins, and six against teams with zero or one. 

--Atlanta is 3-2, but they're coming to Gillette. And they not only get Buffalo at home, they have them after the bye. 

--So you can easily make a case that the only game left where the Pats won't be favored is at Tampa in Week 10. 

--And it's not at all out of the realm that they could go 6-0 in the AFC East, which they rarely ever did, even in the best of the Dynasty seasons. They already took care of business in the two toughest stadiums over the last five seasons, Miami and Buffalo. 

So that's where it stands. Obviously they can't just walk out of the tunnel expect to win. They're simply not talented enough to beat anybody unless they play clean. Reduce the unforced errors and hold onto the ball like they have been. But in the first month and a half, they've put themselves in position to have the biggest year-to-year turnaround in franchise history since they turned 3-11 into 11-3 and a Wild Card spot from 1975-76, and of course when they went from 5-11 to Super Bowl champions in 2000-01. 

All this and Peace in Our Time. I don't think anyone was expecting this.