Patriots on a Roll: Vrabel Defends Team’s Success Amid Schedule Critics
In an NFL season full of surprises, the New England Patriots have emerged as one of the league’s most compelling stories. Standing at 7-2, the Patriots are co-owners of the NFL’s best record through nine weeks, riding an impressive six-game win streak after their most recent victory over the Atlanta Falcons. However, this success hasn’t come without skepticism from certain corners of the NFL fanbase, where a narrative has emerged questioning whether the Patriots’ record is more a product of a “soft” schedule than legitimate team quality. This criticism has placed first-year head coach Mike Vrabel in the position of defending his team’s accomplishments while maintaining their focus on the challenges ahead.
When confronted with this narrative during an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” Vrabel’s response revealed both his competitive fire and no-nonsense approach to coaching. When host Chris Curtis characterized the Patriots’ schedule as a “joke” according to national conversation, Vrabel pushed back firmly, questioning the premise itself. “I can only coach one team at a time. I don’t make the schedule,” Vrabel stated, visibly irritated by the implication. He went on to challenge the entire concept of “strength of schedule” in a salary-capped league: “That’s just mind-boggling to me, in the National Football League that there can be strength of schedule. You got a salary cap. Everybody spends the same amount of money.” His response highlighted a fundamental truth about the NFL—parity is built into the system, making any win significant regardless of opponent.
The Patriots’ journey this season has been remarkable considering preseason expectations. After starting 1-2 with losses to the Las Vegas Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers sandwiching a win over the Miami Dolphins, few expected New England to emerge as a legitimate contender. Yet their turnaround began emphatically with a blowout victory over the Carolina Panthers, followed by crucial wins against divisional rival Buffalo Bills, then the New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, and most recently, the Atlanta Falcons. Each victory has demonstrated different strengths of this team, from defensive dominance to clutch performance in close games—their one-point win over Atlanta came down to a missed extra point by the Falcons late in the contest, highlighting the thin margins that often separate winning and losing in the NFL.
The debate around schedule strength misses what makes the NFL uniquely unpredictable. As Vrabel indirectly referenced, the league’s famous mantra “Any Given Sunday” exists for good reason. This season alone has provided numerous examples of heavy favorites falling to supposedly inferior teams—the Green Bay Packers losing at Lambeau Field to the struggling Carolina Panthers serves as just one prominent example. The reality of NFL competition makes every victory significant, regardless of the opponent’s record or reputation. What matters isn’t who you play, but whether you consistently execute at a high level against the teams on your schedule—something the Patriots have undeniably accomplished during their current streak.
Vrabel’s leadership style, characterized by blunt honesty and unwavering focus, has clearly resonated with this Patriots team. His message has remained consistent throughout the season: “We have to put everything that we have into each week, and everybody has to prepare as a starter.” This process-oriented approach has transformed a team many expected to struggle into a legitimate contender in a competitive AFC. The Patriots now sit atop the AFC East, just ahead of the Buffalo Bills (6-2), creating a divisional race few anticipated before the season began. Vrabel’s previous success with the Tennessee Titans demonstrated his ability to maximize roster talent and create a strong team culture, skills that appear to have transferred seamlessly to his new role in New England.
The true test of this Patriots team’s legitimacy will come in the weeks ahead, beginning with their upcoming road matchup against the 6-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who will be well-rested coming off their bye week. This game represents exactly the kind of challenge critics have been waiting to see the Patriots face—a quality opponent with a winning record. Should New England continue their winning ways against stronger competition, it would silence many of the schedule-strength skeptics. Regardless of the outcome, Vrabel has already accomplished something remarkable in his first season at the helm: he’s restored a winning identity to a Patriots franchise that many believed would need years to rebuild after the departure of Tom Brady and later Bill Belichick. The rest of the NFL has been put on notice—these Patriots aren’t just beneficiaries of an easy schedule; they’re a team finding ways to win week after week in a league where that’s never as simple as it might appear.
