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At 8-2, the New England Patriots already have matched their combined win total from the 2023 and 2024 seasons. And while a lot of people deserve credit for that remarkable turnaround, the man they call "Stretch" shouldn't be overlooked. John Streicher's official title with the Patriots is "vice president of football operations and strategy." In practice, Streicher serves as the right-hand man to Mike Vrabel, assisting the Patriots head coach with personnel decisions while also advising Vrabel on in-game strategy decisions from the coach's booth. In many ways, Streicher -- who spent six seasons working with Vrabel on the Tennessee Titans before a one-year stint with the Los Angeles Rams in 2024 -- is to Vrabel what Ernie Adams was to Bill Belichick in New England. And like Adams, Streicher appears to have developed a mythical reputation in league circles. On Monday's episode of Boston Sports Tonight, The Boston Globe's Christopher Gasper shared an interesting nugget about how highly other teams think of Streicher. "At the owners' meetings back in March, I talked to somebody on another NFL team who does what (Streicher) does," Gasper said. "... And this person told me, 'We were as concerned about Stretch (John Streicher) as anybody else on their team.' "I mean, that shows you the amount of respect that he garners in the NFL for what he does with this stuff." That an opposing team would be worried about a game management coordinator (Streicher's title with the Rams last season) as much as, say, Pro Bowl quarterback Matthew Stafford says a lot about the impact Streicher can make behind the scenes. And while it's unclear exactly how much Streicher is influencing decision-making in New England, it's clear the Patriots' game management has gotten drastically better this season. Exhibit A came Sunday against the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, where the Patriots made a bold decision at the end of the first half that paid off. On first down with 1:44 remaining and the ball on the Bucs' 1-yard line, quarterback Drake Maye appeared to intentionally go down to keep the clock running so New England could score without leaving time on the clock for Tampa Bay. The gamble almost backfired when the Patriots were stuffed on the next two plays, but Stefon Diggs' toe-tapping catch on fourth-and-1 with two seconds remaining in the half helped Vrabel's club score a momentum-shifting touchdown. Looking big-picture, here are a few other stats that highlight the Patriots' game-management prowess: New England has been one of the NFL's most aggressive and most successful teams on fourth downs this season, converting 12 fourth downs (fourth-most in the NFL) on 15 attempts for an 80 percent success rate that's tied for third in the NFL. The Patriots also have converted 50 third downs (tied for sixth in the NFL) on 119 attempts for a 42 percent success rate that's tied for seventh in the NFL. Vrabel has won three of his five challenges this season and has won three in a row. He hasn't lost a challenge since Week 3 against the Carolina Panthers. In short, that NFL exec may have been justified with his level of respect for Streicher.
