When the Patriots entered the season, there were hopes that they could at least turn the page and improve on last year’s dismal 4-13 campaign that ended with the team firing head coach Jerdo Mayo.
Still, not even the most optimistic Pats prognosticator could have seen this coming.
With former New England player Mike Vrabel as the team’s new head coach, the Pats posted a 14-3 record, won the AFC East for the first time since the 2019 season and finished with the second seed in the AFC playoffs.
But Vrabel was giving credit to pretty much anyone but himself following the team’s 38-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Sunday’s regular season finale.
“You know, got the right guys in the building at the right time, we’ve got good quarterback play,” Vrabel said. “We figured out how to not beat ourselves, I think we play to an identity and guys make plays, that’s what happens, so.”
Now, they’ll head into the playoffs with legitimate Super Bowl hopes and a quarterback who could win NFL MVP.
Improvement on both sides of the ball
Last year, the Patriots finished with the fewest total passing yards in the NFL in quarterback Drake Maye’s rookie season.
And while there were some flashes of his ability last season, this year has been a full-on lightning storm.
Maye finished with 4,394 passing yards, the fourth most in the league. His 31 passing touchdowns were the third-best in the NFL.
He led an offense that put up the second-most points in the league (490) and the third-most total touchdowns (58). It’s a complete turnaround for a team that had more than twice as many punts (70) than total offensive touchdowns (30) last season.
Defensively, the team has been strong as well, finishing in the top 10 of yards allowed.
All of this has vaulted the Patriots back into contender form. And it’s put Maye into serious conversation for league MVP. If he were to win, he would be just the seventh NFL player to win the award in his second season.
Speaking after the regular season finale against Miami, Maye said the team has come a long way.
“You know, it takes everybody. It took everybody in that locker room, it took every coach. It starts now. It’s what we wanted, one of the goals: host home playoff games,” he said. “And this is what we wanted to. So it’s winner go home and the mentality changes from that standpoint, but really I think we just have to stay playing like us and we’ve built this identity and played to it.”
Legal issues for two key players
Amid all of this, though, the Patriots will have two players facing serious legal charges.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who led the Pats with just over 1,000 receiving yards this season, was charged with felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery over an alleged incident involving his personal chef. And defensive tackle Christian Barmore faces a domestic assault charge from an alleged incident last year involving his girlfriend at the time.
The lawyer for both Diggs and Barmore has denied the allegations.
Both situations sent shockwaves through the local press when they came to light just as the regular season was wrapping up. And they could get an even bigger spotlight the further the Patriots go.
What comes next
The Patriots will host the Los Angeles Charges in the Wild Card round of the playoffs this Sunday.
If they advance, they’d host at least one more home game at Gillette Stadium.
As the second-seed in the AFC, they’ll be on the road if they face the top-seed Denver Broncos in the AFC title game.
But if Denver were to lose before then and the Patriots advance, the conference championship game would run through Foxborough.
