Copyright MassLive
As he sat at the table for his postgame press conference, Baker Mayfield talked about what the Buccaneers had lacked in their loss to the Patriots. “You have to have some pride about you. You got to have the fear of failure and messing up for your teammates. You got to have better responsibility for the guys around you,” he said. “In tight ball games like this, when you play a good team like the Patriots, little things will get you beat.” Mayfield is an MVP candidate and the Buccaneers have been to the playoffs in five straight seasons and have won four consecutive NFC South Division titles. They’re among the NFL’s best-run franchises right now and arrived for the game in first place. But on Sunday at home, they didn’t take care of their details well enough to beat “a good team like the Patriots.” All wins and losses land on the head coach’s ledger, whether he’s micromanaging every decision or playing a podcast through those headphones during the game. But this win, as much as any the Patriots have earned this year, had Mike Vrabel’s fingerprints all over it. Voters will note it when they cast ballots for coach of the year. Vrabel’s game-planning. His guts. His culture. The traits that Mayfield said the Buccaneers needed are the ones the Patriots have been displaying throughout this improbable run. Vrabel obviously isn’t solely responsible for the success, but he’s been a huge reason why everything feels different in New England. This team reflects his coaching style more and more every week. Robert Spillane recognizes Vrabel’s approach as well as anyone. The linebacker, who played for him in Tennessee as a rookie, jumped at the chance to play for him again as a free agent this summer. “Authentic, original, true to himself, hard-nosed, intense. You know what you’re going to get from Vrabel,” Spillane said. “You know he’s going to expect a lot out of you as a playmaker. And it’s our job as players to go out there and compete.” In a season full of progress, Sunday was a big step. Maybe the Patriots caught the Bills by surprise on Oct. 5. Maybe Buffalo had an off night. But the Buccaneers saw the Patriots coming. Tampa was coming off a bye week and was playing at home. New England was missing their best deep-threat receiver and No. 1 running back. Still, the Patriots were better. They weren’t perfect. But their game plan created explosive plays on offense and slowed the Buccaneers’ offense on defense. Vrabel’s guts led to a huge touchdown on fourth down at the end of the first half. “You’re gonna have to certainly put some chips in the pot to be able to win something. Can’t sit around and wait and hope that they just hand it to you,” he said. “You have to be able to risk something to get something in return. So, you can’t win nothing you don’t put in the middle.” Vrabel’s culture has created an atmosphere where the players believe their coach wants what’s best for them and the team. Last week, Pop Douglas talked about how he believed in what the Patriots are doing, even though he’s seeing the ball less. This week, Kyle Williams, who has barely seen the field, much less the ball, revealed similar faith. For most of the year, it was easy to lump the rookie receiver in with N’Keal Harry, Tyquan Thornton. Ja’Lynn Polk, Javon Baker and every other overhyped, underperforming wideout the Patriots drafted too high, who were never ready. But with Kayshon Boutte out, Williams was ready. He turned his one catch into a critical 72-yard touchdown. Afterward, he was overwhelmed not just by the emotion stemming from completing one of his life’s goals, but by the way it was received. “You could tell how much the team really cares about things like that,” he said. “It was my first touchdown, and to them, they had the same excitement that I had.” It’s not just in good times. Vrabel, who suspended Christian Barmore for a quarter last month, was on one knee next to him, clutching his hand when Barmore was laying on the field injured in the third quarter. The team’s cohesion was evident again with just under two minutes left. Tampa had a fourth and three trailing 21-16 at the Patriots’ 27-yard line. Mayfield, who has authored four fourth-quarter comebacks already this year, was poised for a fifth. But unlike the Falcons, Texans, Jets and Seahawks, the Patriots held on. They swarmed Mayfield, who appeared to be sacked, but managed to flip the ball to a receiver for a harmless three-yard loss. “Everyone is picturing themselves making the play to win the game. I know I sure do. I sure see myself making the play to help our team win,” Spillane said. “When you got 11 guys out there with that mindset, playing within the scheme of the defense, but going out there to win the game, good things are going to happen.” Ten weeks into Vrabel’s first season in New England, that seems certain to end in the playoffs, more and more people are agreeing with Mayfield. After back-to-back years of four wins and top-five draft picks, the Patriots are a good team. “I always love the fight, that’s why I love coaching them,” Vrabel said. “They fight and they compete. It’s not always perfect, it’s never going to be perfect, but I love the way that they compete.”
