Mike Vrabel Takes Shot At Patriots Over 2024 Offensive Woes

The New England Patriots believe they found their quarterback of the future, Drake Maye, in 2024 when they turned over the offense to him. And yet, that doesn’t mean the team’s offense was good by any stretch of the imagination last season, which is something new head coach Mike Vrabel made clear early in training camp.

The Patriots scored just 29 offensive touchdowns in 17 games last season, which simply is not going to lead to many wins in the NFL. Maye did his best to help usher in some changes on that side of the ball, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of talent around him.

Over the offseason, the front office worked hard on upgrading the roster around Maye, and the early results in training camp have been encouraging. However, Vrabel doesn’t want Maye to take anything he and his squad accomplishes for granted.

Maye’s poise as a rookie was clear from the get-go, as he was generally level-headed, even after scoring a touchdown. Early in training camp, Maye adopted a similar approach, only to get lambasted by Vrabel, who quickly reminded him just how difficult it was for New England to score touchdowns last season.

“If we’ve got a play, go get in there,” Vrabel said to Maye during a practice after he appeared to link up for a touchdown with Kyle Williams. “It’s (expletive) hard. How many touchdowns did you guys score last year? The answer is not enough.”

Since taking over as the Patriots’ new head coach, Vrabel has made it clear he wants to change the culture in the building. That involves celebrating your wins, because they are difficult to come by, as Maye and company found out last year.

That may be a bit of a foreign concept for Maye, as he’s preferred to keep his head down and focus on making the right play for his team every chance he gets. Vrabel wants the offense to get in the end zone more in 2025, though, and if that happens, Maye could end up breaking out some celebrations along the way.