The New England Patriots just bagged their third straight W on Sunday, beating the New York Jets 26-19, but head coach Mike Vrabel isn’t exactly throwing a party. In fact, he straight-up called the victory “lucky.” You heard that right. After extending their win streak, Vrabel started his postgame presser with, “We’re lucky to win, is probably where I’d start.” He added, “But we’re happy that we won. We’ll enjoy it for about an hour, and then we’re going to focus on the next task.” It sounds like a win is a win, but for Vrabel, it felt like they barely scraped by.
Winning Isn’t Always Winning, Huh?
What did Vrabel actually mean by “lucky”? He clarified, “Fortunate, whatever , we just didn’t play very well.” He went on to say, “We tried to beat ourselves, but we made enough plays in critical situations to help us get through here today.” This is a wild statement coming off their best performances of the season. The Patriots had been on an upward trajectory, emphatically leaving their 1-2 start in the dust. They took down a tough Bills team on the road with a 29-26 victory, then completely dismantled a Raiders squad that had won three of its first four games. The arrow was clearly pointing up before facing the Jets, but in Vrabel’s eyes, that momentum didn’t carry over into their 26-19 win.
The Coach’s Tough Talk And A Player’s Take
Vrabel made it clear he wasn’t happy with the team’s progression. “You have to be able to continue to improve, and I don’t feel like we did,” he stated. “We won, which is the most important thing. We just , I don’t think we improved from what we had shown the previous two weeks, and I have to figure out why. That’s my job. My job’s to get us to win and also to get us to improve.” Cornerback Christian Gonzalez echoed his coach’s sentiments, admitting there are definitely things they need to clean up. “We’ve got to clean up two-minute drives. We’ve got to clean that up. And in the backend, we’ve got to do what we do as a defense. We’ve got to not let them drive down the field, get down there and get points.” Gonzalez praised the offense for doing an “amazing job” but confessed, “The defense, we didn’t do our part. But we got out with a win and that’s what matters.”
Vrabel made it clear they’ll enjoy the win for an hour, then it’s all about that “next task.” The message is loud and clear: winning isn’t enough if you’re not getting better. They might have gotten out of there with a ‘W’ against the Jets, but if they want to keep that streak alive and truly be a threat, they’ve gotta figure out how to improve, and fast. Vrabel’s on it, and Patriots fans better hope he cracks the code.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pats Pulpit.
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