Patriots
The revamped Patriots could be in a position to shock some of the naysayers.
It’s been a while since winning football was played in Foxborough.
There’s a reason why the Patriots have gotten back-to-back top-5 picks. They have just eight wins over the last two seasons.
With a new coaching staff in town, more talent around Drake Maye, and a more experienced signal caller under center, former Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork believes that the Patriots could turn some heads this year.
“I think with [Mike] Vrabel coming back, and with his roots, you have to understand what he brings to the table,” Wilfork said during a recent interview with NBC Sports Boston. “He’s done it before in Tennessee. When he became the head coach and left Houston, all he had was [Derrick Henry] and he ran the ball and they got to the AFC championship.
“He put that organization together, and I can see the same thing here. I think he’s going to come in and put us back together. I’m not saying we’re going to win the Super Bowl the first year, but I definitely think we do have 7, 8, 9, 10 wins. I think we’re going to shock a lot of people this year.”
Staying disciplined and cutting down on mistakes are key to winning games, and Vrabel’s arrival should help with that, Wilfork said.
The Patriots have also stocked up on young talent who will need to mold the team into what they want it to be.
Maye’s leadership will be critical as the Patriots strive toward success in their rebuild.
“It’s going to happen, because you’ve got to understand Drake is saying to himself, ‘Hey, I’m still only in my second year in’,” Wilfork said. “I’m still young. But he has a head coach that’s telling him, ‘No, no, no,’ you are the future of this franchise. You are our face, so you have to just because of your position.
“I think he’ll learn that. I don’t think he’ll lack in that area, but it’s learning how to. Once you learn how to to and how to go about it, and once he tells somebody, ‘Hey, you can’t be doing that’ and they respect him and he sees that they respect him and listen to him that’s when he’ll get his roses because he’s afraid to tell a guy that’s been there for ten years ‘you can’t do that’. They’ll be like, who the F are you, Patriots haven’t won anything the past few years … but a championship caliber team don’t think that way.”
Vrabel echoed a similar sentiment on Friday when talking about Maye’s leadership.
“As a quarterback, you have to, when you talk to the players on that team or on the offense specifically, you have to do it in a manner that gets their attention and to clarify that,” Vravel said. “That’s always what I’ve said, not asking you to talk like I do, or anybody else, but the way that you talk to the players on the field, you have to do it in a manner that gets their attention, that, ‘Hey, I need you here. I need you to do this. This is what we have to do.’”
The Patriots have a long way to go and a lot to prove, but they have a promising young quarterback and a familiar head coach who have both helped generate buzz during this preseason.
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