FOXBORO, MASS. (WHDH) – It was this time a yr in the past that the New England Patriots have been looking for their third head coach in three seasons, and by bringing again three-time Tremendous Bowl champion Mike Vrabel, the workforce immediately regained credibility that will finally result in 14 wins and a return to the playoffs.
On December 28, 2024, the Los Angeles Chargers got here into Gillette Stadium and delivered a 40-7 beatdown, a sport that’s nonetheless within the entrance of thoughts for holdovers within the Patriots locker room.
“It was robust man, I imply we obtained whooped. You already know, it was robust,” Patriots Security Jaylinn Hawkins stated of the loss.
That loss to the Chargers helped seal former Head Coach Jerod Mayo’s destiny, and he was fired after one season on the job. His firing paved the way in which for Mike Vrabel and a transparent agenda in Foxboro.
“Our targets shall be to win the AFC East, to host house playoff video games, and to compete for championships,” Vrabel stated in January 2025.
His workforce checked all of these containers in yr one, taking the Patriots from a 4 win workforce to a 14 win workforce.
“It’s a blessing to be within the playoffs once more, clearly we’ve had some onerous occasions right here. It’s onerous to get in, it truly is,” stated Patriots Tight Finish Hunter Henry. “It’s a brand new season, and now we have to assault it in that means and be able to go this weekend as a result of they’ll be able to go. They obtained quite a lot of good gamers over there clearly, I do know just a few of them, and , it’ll be an enormous problem.”
Will probably be a full-circle second for the Patriots on Sunday, going through the workforce that helped speed up a rebuild within the first spherical of the playoffs.
Star cornerback Christian Gonzalez stated he’s simply specializing in the sport forward.
“Ain’t no person actually nervous about it, to be sincere,” Gonzalez stated. “It’s a brand new workforce, it’s a brand new yr, and I imply we will’t actually look again at that sport.”
“Entire new workforce, complete new solid of characters, complete new coach, and it’s the playoffs man,” stated Hawkins. “We’re simply stepping into specializing in us, , and what we obtained to do, and execute and , God prepared, come out victorious.”
The sport kicks off at 8 p.m. Sunday night time.
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