New England Patriots
“On behalf of the NFL Live Crew. New England Patriots — I would like to apologize. We were not familiar with your game.”
The New England Patriots are just one win away from a Super Bowl championship.
But the Patriots’ run to a potential title has been undercut at times by criticisms doled out by sports pundits regarding New England’s lighter schedule and the fortunate breaks that have played out in front of them.
Former Jets and Bills head coach Rex Ryan is no stranger when it comes to landing punches against his former AFC East nemesis. But the now-ESPN personality was quick to give Mike Vrabel his flowers after taking a four-win Patriots club in 2024 to a Super Bowl appearance.
“Every single play is a pursuit drill,” Ryan said of New England’s defense buy-in during Monday’s taping of “Get Up”. “Look at every single play, it’s a pursuit drill. …. That is coached. And that’s what you don’t see from every team in the league, but you certainly see it from a Mike Vrabel team. And you always have.”
Several factors have played into New England’s run to Super Bowl LX, including Drake Maye’s rise as an MVP candidate and the contributors of a strong free-agent and draft class.
But former Patriots offensive lineman and current ESPN pundit Damien Woody stressed that Vrabel’s influence over this team has also been evident — well beyond the culture-building efforts that he set down from his first days as New England’s head coach.
“When Rex talks about Mike Vrabel and the coaching, it matters. It matters,” Woody said. “From the acquisitions they got in free agency to the guys that were already on that roster before Mike Vrabel got there, just look at the improvement of the guys that were on the roster.
“That’s why, to me, there’s not a finer coaching job in the National Football League than what Mike Vrabel has done with the New England Patriots.”
Ryan agreed with Woody’s comments, noting that New England’s attention to detail and pursuit of the ball were evident on just about every defensive snap during the Patriots’ 10-7 win over the Broncos in the AFC championship game.
“If you run that play one more time, see if anybody can play harder? Every single one of those guys are playing as hard as they possibly can, including those two big dudes that are running and guess what they do? They get their hands up,” Ryan said of New England pressuring Jarrett Stidham on a failed 4th-and-1 play in the second quarter. “Try to make the guy elevate the throw. Watch the effort.
“Look at those two guys. All right, they’re coming, and they’ve got their hands up. Why? We’re going to try to get the guy and don’t make it an easy throw. This is taught, right from the jump. The culture in that building — Mike Vrabel is the guy that said it. But who do I compliment the most? The players. Every single one of them bought into that man, and for good reason.”
Fellow ESPN talking head and former Steelers safety Ryan Clark also tipped his cap to the Patriots later on Monday during “NFL Live”.
Over a week after NFL Live’s five-person panel all predicted that the Patriots were going to lose to the Texans in the AFC divisional round, Clark saluted a New England defense that has allowed just 26 points through three postseason games.
“On behalf of the NFL Live Crew. New England Patriots — I would like to apologize,” Clark said on Monday. “We were not familiar with your game, because I tell you what, I thought they were good, and I knew Milton Williams was banged up and [Robert] Spillane was out. Christian Gonzalez wasn’t healthy the whole season. But they have been historically dominant throughout this playoff run.
“And you want to talk about those teams. We’re talking 2000 Ravens, we’re talking 2002 Buccaneers. We’re talking [“Legion of Boom”] Seahawks. They’re as good or better than all three of those defenses. There has been no defense in the playoffs as tied in on all three levels as this one.”
Through three postseason games, New England’s defense has forced eight turnovers and coughed up just two touchdowns — with the Patriots averaging just 8.6 points allowed over those three matchups.
As noted by NFL Media’s Jack Andrade, the only NFL team to allow fewer points than New England’s 26 over three playoff games before a Super Bowl appearance was the 2000 Ravens (16 points allowed).
“No three people have played that well on the back end as Christian Gonzalez, as Carlton Davis and as Marcus Jones have done in the last three weeks,” Clark said. “And up front, they have been absolutely dominant. On the second level, they run and they hit. And I’m talking about the safeties and the backers.
“[Patriots interim defensive coordinator] Zak Kuhr has had this team in one mindset. ‘Try me deep. We don’t respect you, we don’t trust you, we don’t think you can beat us.’ The safeties are aggressive, the corners are in lockdown coverage, and inside, they are winning at a fast and quick and dynamic rate.”
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Conor Ryan
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