For the rest of NFL nation, however, 20-plus years of the Patriots’ ubiquitous playoff presence was exhausting. Patriot fatigue became a real thing, so by the time the franchise finally crashed back to earth, the schadenfreude during back-to-back four-win seasons in 2023 and ’24 was also real, and widespread.
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Only now the Patriots are back again, winners of the AFC East, winners of a first-round playoff game, hosts of an upcoming divisional-round game, and sudden favorites to represent their conference in the Super Bowl.
And they boast a similarly perfect coach-quarterback partnership that might someday fuel this very same debate. Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye have only been together for a season, but so far, they can’t help but rekindle memories of Brady and Belichick, and feed fantasies that 10 to 20 years down the road, we’ll be wondering which one was more important to the Patriots’ new era of good football feeling.
“Well, if you’re having those conversations and debates then it means that a lot of success is happening,” said Logan Ryan, the two-time Super Bowl-winning Patriot who went on to play for Vrabel in Tennessee and memorably intercepted Brady’s final pass in New England in the Titans’ 2019 wild-card playoff win. “I don’t think anybody cares who gets the credit, because when credit is due it means something good is happening.”
After making his first trip to Foxborough for Sunday’s win over the Chargers since retiring following the 2024 season, Ryan was swept up by the familiar electricity of a home playoff crowd and impressed by the familiar demeanor of a coach he knows can balance the intensity of weeklong preparation with the trust of game-day performance. As he moves into a new career as a contributing analyst with CBS, Ryan already can see what Vrabel and Maye are building in New England.
“I don’t want to make Tom Brady comparisons and all that, but I think this is a beautiful marriage,” he said. “I think they have the perfect quarterback with his personality and Mike to handle whatever the expectation is. Really, it’s the process that handles the external noise, and they have that. I think the fit of the quarterback and the coach should be fruitful for a long time to come.”
Consider: Belichick was 47 when hired by the Patriots, earning a second shot at being an NFL head coach after a five-year stint in Cleveland. By his second year, he was handing the reins of his offense to a second-year quarterback on the rise, and though the initial handoff from incumbent Drew Bledsoe came via injury, the coach stuck by his choice even after Bledsoe returned.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel gives Stefon Diggs a hug during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 16-3 win over the Chargers.Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Vrabel was 49 when the Patriots hired him to replace the one-year failed experiment under Jerod Mayo, giving Vrabel his second shot at being an NFL head coach after six seasons in Tennessee. Unlike Belichick, Vrabel had nothing to do with drafting Maye, but as one of the most coveted coaches on the market prior to this season, he based his choice not simply on his playing experience with the Patriots, but on the presence of the quarterback who’d been drafted third overall the previous year. He wanted to coach Maye, and we can certainly see why.
The two have been in a mutual admiration society since.
This was Vrabel exactly one year ago Tuesday (Jan. 13, 2025), when he said on the day of his introductory news conference: “I think [Drake] is young, talented, willing to learn. I think there’s a toughness to him. There’s an amazing skill set in which to mold and to have him lead our football team and lead our offense. There’s arm talent. There’s athleticism. Certainly, we have to be great around him and we’re going to continue to push him as much as he lets us.”
This was Maye at his first news conference after Vrabel got the job: “It’s been awesome. He’s come in here and seems like he’s been here a while. He’s so comfortable being a head coach. He’s done it before, he’s done it at a high level, won a lot of games. Looking forward to getting things going. You can see he’s trying to install the new identity. I think we’re building toward that. Just working, trusting his ways.”
This was Vrabel by the end of the season, endorsing Maye for MVP: “He’s been everything that we’ve asked and he continues to get better. He’s not satisfied. I know that our success of where we are right now, today, has a lot to do with Drake Maye.”
Here’s Maye on whether Vrabel should be Coach of the Year: “He’s got my vote. He’s got everybody’s vote in this organization and in that locker room.”
Here’s Vrabel Sunday night after Maye shrugged off some early jitters and two turnovers to deliver the win: “He came through when we needed him.”
Here’s Maye giving his coach the game ball after a win in Tennessee: “Coach Vrabel, we love playing for you. Glad you’re our head coach. We love you.”
Ultimately, it was Brady who proved he could win without Belichick, while Belichick floundered on his own. But when they were together, they both deserved the credit, much like Vrabel and Maye do now.
Between Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford, first-team All-Pro should have went to Maye.
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @Globe_Tara.
