Andrew Callahan: Mike Vrabel, Patriots plant seeds of hope in thrilling win over Dolphins

Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald on Sep 14, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The house of horrors we called it. Remember?

Miami, the place where Patriot dreams wilt, wither and die.

Tom Brady had a losing record here. Bill Belichick never beat Tua Tagovailoa here.

Blah, blah, blah.

Welcome to the Mike Vrabel era.

Here, the Patriots needed just two games to do something they hadn’t done in almost three seasons: score 30 points.

Here, the Pats punched back, surviving five lead changes in a 33-27 thriller.

“We’re not front-runners,” Vrabel said. “And that’s a big thing in this league.”

Here, under the merciless South Florida sun, seeds of hope were planted again Sunday with Vrabel’s first win.

What a gift, hope.

The idea that maybe, just maybe, the past is finally behind the Patriots; the dare to dream that the cycle of dysfunction and disappointment has been broken.

Of course, a year ago, we pondered these same things.

In his head-coaching debut, Jerod Mayo led the Patriots to their biggest upset in almost a decade by pulling off a stunner at Cincinnati. Never mind that game had hinged on their long snapper forcing a fumble, and another Bengals fumble bouncing into Patriots hands six feet from the goal line and Cincinnati dropping an easy end-zone interception. Footnotes lost to football history.

Granted, that win was also cleaner than Sunday’s; fewer penalties, fewer missed tackles and fewer fourth-quarter heart attacks. But this victory – this sloppy, soaking and at times downright stupid, victory – felt strangely sustainable.

Start with the quarterback.

Frustrated by his play in last week’s loss to Las Vegas, Drake Maye sparkled over the best start of his young career by a mile. He finished 19 of 23 for 230 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. He rushed for 31 yards and another touchdown.

Maye was, in a word, terrific.

His timely scrambles bailed the Patriots’ offensive line out of the inevitable: missed blocks. They bought his wide receivers more time to separate, even though none finished with more than 40 yards. Best of all, Maye conquered his first-quarter nerves with consecutive touchdown drives.

Confidence restored.

“I try to approach it like that every week. Just try to stay calm and cool in the huddle,” Maye said. “Those guys respond to me and I fire them up. I feel like that’s my mindset every week. It’s my job.”

Not that Vrabel threw his young quarterback any bouquets afterward.

The offense, after all, committed eight penalties and scored just 10 points after halftime.

“When (Maye) feels that lull, that’s when we’ve got to tighten the screws on these guys and get them set faster and get them out of huddle faster and really push them,” Vrabel said. “(Maye)’s a jockey, and he’s got to know what the flow of the team looks like offensively. We had a couple of penalties and false starts. Again, things we really aren’t going to be able to overcome eventually.”

Vrabel’s defense, on the other hand, barely overcame itself. The Dolphins cruised to four straight scoring drives around halftime, alternating Tagovailoa deep balls with paper-cut completions the Patriots simply couldn’t stop.

It took a series of late Miami mistakes – from penalties to a mindless interception and bad sacks – to crack the door open. And Milton Williams, the highest-paid player in Patriots history, barreled right through it.

With less than a minute left, Williams dropped Tagovailoa for a sack on fourth down and Miami’s last offensive snap of the game. He stomped toward midfield in celebration, basking in the moment; a human flag planting itself right on the Dolphins logo.

Victory.

“Your best players have to play (well) if you want to win in this league,” Vrabel said.

Harold Landry had a front seat to it all, from sack to celebration. Like Williams, Landry is a veteran pass-rusher Vrabel is counting on to shape his locker room and sharpen his defense. He signed last March after spending seven seasons in Tennessee, the only NFL home he’d ever known. The Titans went 3-14 last year, decided they were better off without Landry and cut him.

Because Landry’s history is not the Patriots’ history, his pain is not their pain. But he experienced Sunday’s win all the same, from the moment Tagovailoa’s body hit the turf.

Revisiting that exact moment in the visitors locker room, Landry looked to the ceiling and paused. Then, as a little laugh slipped from his lips, joy and relief fell over his face. Because appreciating where you are means knowing where you came from, and just like the Patriots, it’s been three long years since Landry knew a winning season.

“When (Tagovailoa) hit the ground,” Landry said, “I was just like, ‘Thank God.'”

Whether the seeds the Patriots planted Sunday ultimately grow into hope fans can hold will take months, if not years, to learn. Injuries, bad luck or bad play could shut their water off, perhaps as soon as next weekend against Pittsburgh. And it will take a lot more water, and a lot more winning, to develop the championship program Vrabel wants to build.

But for one day, one hot, unforgettable day in their old house of horrors, Dolphin tears will do.

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