Mike Vrabel made his goals very clear from the moment he stepped to the podium at his introductory press conference as the new Patriots head coach.
Win the AFC East.
Host home playoff games.
Compete for championships.
Few could have predicted that’s exactly what they would do in Vrabel’s first season. Yet here they are. Their 42-10 win over the Jets on Sunday coupled with Buffalo’s 13-12 loss to the Eagles made the Patriots AFC East champions for the first time since 2019.
They will host a playoff game, if not more than one, and they seem poised to compete with the best of the best in the AFC — a group of which they are a part — to make the Super Bowl.
The Patriots needed only to beat the Jets in Week 17 to claim their first division crown since Tom Brady’s departure. What they did, though, was embarrass them.
How? Why? Because of whom?
Let’s get into the details with What We Learned…
Undefeated on the road
Vrabel has been fond of reminding his players for weeks now that they are “road warriors,” and they made him look prophetic by securing their eighth win away from home on Sunday. They are the only team in the 2025 season to go undefeated on the road this year.
The Jets looked like a three-win team on Sunday. Maybe worse. But to go unbeaten on the road is a rare achievement. They’re the 12th team to do it in league history, with the 2007 and 2016 Patriots — both of whom made the Super Bowl — accomplishing the feat previously for the franchise.
“When they put us on the road,” Vrabel told players in the locker room after the game, “we started in Miami. We finished in New York. It was a great team win and a lot of great efforts, and everybody helped us. But I’m glad we got No. 10 pulling the trigger.”
Maye’s latest oeuvre was historic
Drake Maye was damn near perfect in this one, completing 19 of 21 attempts for 256 yards (12.2 per attempt) and five touchdowns for a nearly-immaculate passer rating of 157.0. An indication of just how effective he was throughout the afternoon? One of his two incompletions was a drop that hit receiver Kyle Williams between the numbers.
The Jets may be one of the most hapless organizations in sports. Sure. Their defense looked checked out. Yup. But the statistics for Maye were staggering. And historic.
Maye became the league’s first quarterback to ever have a 90 percent completion rate, 250 yards passing and five touchdowns in a single game. He also is now the league’s first quarterback to have multiple games with a 90 percent completion rate, 200 yards passing and two touchdowns. Additionally, he recorded a 99.8 QBR — a metric generated by ESPN Stats and Info — in the game, which is the best single-game mark since QBR was created in 2006.
Maye’s passer rating against the Jets gave him his 12th game with a rating of 100.0 or better, tying him with Brady for the most in team history. Brady reached the 100.0 mark 12 times in both 2011 and 2010.
Maye’s intangibles on display
Though this game was out of hand early, Maye reminded onlookers that his value to the team goes beyond his efficiency as a passer or his dynamism as a runner.
On his team’s final drive of the first half, Maye was hit in the head by the left hand of pass-rusher Jermaine Johnson. He remained down on the turf for a moment, and his helmet needed readjusting after it was knocked askew.
Four plays later, he climbed the pocket and found Stefon Diggs for 26 yards and a first down. Three plays later, he absorbed a little contact taking a sneak for a third-and-1 conversion. Two plays later, he stepped up and into the line of scrimmage again to find a wide open Hunter Henry for a touchdown.
That toughness quotient that Maye brings to the field — to be able to remain available, bounce back and perform — has helped earn him the respect of teammates and coaches, and Vrabel rewarded him with a game ball in the locker room after the fact.
Short on WRs, McDaniels gets creative
Give credit to Josh McDaniels for helping the Patriots offense be as efficient as it was, rolling out all manner of heavy-personnel packages with wideouts Kayshon Boutte (concussion) and Mack Hollins (abdomen, injured reserve) unavailable.
McDaniels began the game with a seven-play scoring drive that featured seven different personnel combinations. He used 11 personnel (three wideouts, one back, one tight end) just once, and he deployed a multi-receiver set just three times.
Offensive lineman Thayer Munford Jr. was featured as a “jumbo” tight end. Jack Westover played a role at fullback in some two-back sets. In others, both Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson were on the field simultaneously. On the score to cap the drive, the Patriots used 23 personnel — two backs and three tight ends, including Munford — to free up Austin Hooper for a touchdown.
The Patriots would have preferred to have all the tools in their personnel toolbelt at their disposal. But in being short-handed at receiver, they reminded the football-watching world that they have a play-caller who is comfortable morphing his attack to the players he has in uniform.
The Patriots averaged 11.4 yards per pass play — including Joshua Dobbs going 3-for-4 for 30 yards in relief duty — and 4.3 per rush. They had a whopping 64 percent offensive success rate and recorded a +1.08 EPA per dropback, which put this performance in the 99.9th percentile.
Not a bad day at the office for McDaniels.
Shades of Moss in Diggs’ grab
Stefon Diggs is a very different type of receiver compared to prime Randy Moss. But the contested catch that Diggs made in a scramble-drill situation was Moss-like. On the FOX broadcast, color analyst Drew Brees seemed to agree.
Seeing Diggs go up and over Qwan’tez Stiggers, Brees remarked, “Moss, making him proud. Boy, what a play. These elite receivers, that ball goes in the air, they just go to another place.”
Diggs’ contested catch ability has been one of the most impressive aspects of his game this season. He made a remarkable contested grab early in the Ravens game for an explosive gain. He made one of the highlight touchdown grabs of the season at the end of the first half of a road win in Tampa Bay, climbing the ladder on a goal-line throw for six.
He’s not the biggest wideout. But his hands, his ability to track the football, and his willingness to go up and take it away from the nearest defender has made him a handful defensive backs in those tightly-covered moments.
Diggs finished the game with 101 receiving yards, giving him his fifth 100-yard game of the season. It’s his 41st 100-yard game of his career, which ranks third among active wideouts behind only Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins.
Chism involved… and celebrated
With the Patriots shorthanded in the receiver room, Efton Chism got some real work offensively after seeing the field for only six pass plays all year.
He caught two Maye attempts for 40 yards, shaking free for a 30-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter. He also made a diving catch in the end zone for his first score as a pro, which clearly had his teammates excited.
Led by fellow wideout Kyle Williams and Maye, Chism’s teammates came over to celebrate with him and congratulate the rookie who was lauded by his head coach for his work ethic earlier in the week. The aftermath of his score, and the reaction from his peers, put on display the kind of respect he’s earned at One Patriot Place since signing as an undrafted free agent in the spring.
“He’s always prepared,” Mike Vrabel said on Friday. “There’s hard workers on this team. I would say none that probably work harder than Efton. I’m not going to say that he’s the hardest worker, but you’d be hard pressed to find players that work harder than him, to be prepared, to be ready and take advantage of his opportunity, which it looks, by all accounts, that he’ll get opportunities.”
Jennings gives a lift on the edge
With Harold Landry (knee) out, the Patriots needed help on the edge. They got some from Anfernee Jennings.
He stuffed a run on the first offensive play of the game for the Jets. He hit quarterback Brady Cook and helped force an incompletion on the first play of the second half. He helped stuff a run near the goal line by setting a hard edge in the fourth quarter, then he stuffed a run himself on the very next snap.
He’s not a dynamic speed rusher known for his burst around the edge. But for a team that has struggled to stop the run in the second half of the season, Jennings showed he can provide some value to the Patriots down the stretch and into the postseason.