Ahead of his first training camp as New England Patriots head coach in 2025, Mike Vrabel explained that he was judging his team’s performances by three distinct categories. There is the good, there is the bad, and there is, as he called it, the s—t that gets you beat.
The Patriots’ 13-13 preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts featured a little bit of all three. And if the coach wants to look at his team through his categorizations, who are we to disagree? So, let’s break down Thursday’s game accordingly.
The good: Big plays
After struggling during Tuesday’s joint practice, the Patriots’ defensive machinery shifted into a higher gear on Thursday night. Besides giving up only 13 points and allowing the Colts to go just 1-for-8 on third down and 0-for-1 on fourth down, the group also registered four takeaways on the day — all without playing its regular starters.
Cornerback Kindle Vildor was first to step up, intercepting a bobbled pass to end Indianapolis’ first possession. In the early second quarter, John Saunders Jr. and Dell Pettus teamed up for a fumble recovery to keep the Colts off the board despite being in a 1st-and-goal situation from the 1-yard line. On the very next drive, K.J. Britt showed some good range to knock the ball out of quarterback Anthony Richardson’s hands with teammate Isaiah Iton falling on it for the recovery.
In the third quarter, Saunders Jr. was at it again by picking off a Riley Leonard throw and returning it 26 yards to set up a field goal. At that point in the game, four of the Colts’ seven possessions had ended in turnovers.
“The turnovers are great, and I love us attacking the football and taking advantage of that,” said Mike Vrabel after the game.
While the defensive big plays were one of the biggest takeaways from the contest, the Patriots also managed to make some big plays on offense. Whether it was Tommy DeVito and Kyle Williams connecting on a 25-yard deep ball or 12-yard touchdown, the unit going 2-for-2 on fourth down, or the disallowed chunk plays we will mention shortly, New England did manage to also have a few big as well as some medium-sized plays on offense.
The bad: Untimely penalties
The Patriots were flagged five times on the day, resulting in a loss of 35 total yards. Those numbers are not bad, but the timing of the infractions were.
Caleb Lomu being flagged for an admittedly harsh ineligible man downfield penalty negated a 25-yard pass to Eli Raridon; Efton Chism illegally blocking above the waist took a 16-yard screen pass to Lan Larison off the board; Jordan Hudson also being too far up the field wiped out a 48-yard Cameron Dorner reception; Lorenz Metz holding on a block turned a 13-yard Hassan Haskins run into a 10-yard penalty.
“Unfortunately penalties got a lot of our big plays called back,” said Raridon afterwards.
Four of the five penalties came on offense, but the lone defensive infraction also negated a big play. On what would have been a third-down stop on the eventual game-tying field goal drive, Isaiah Iton was flagged for illegal use of hands.
The s—t that gets you beat: Insufficient finishing
Obviously, Andy Borregales missing three of five field goal attempts including the potential game-winner from 49 yards out is not ideal. In fact, Mike Vrabel stating during his postgame presser that “[w]e expect him to make them” pretty much sums the whole situation up.
However, Borregales’ 40% success rate on Thursday is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Patriots in general had trouble with their finishing when in possession of the football.
Of their 12 total possessions, six ended in punts — a direct result of them going just 5-of-18 of third downs for a 28% conversion rate. Some of that was due to quarterback Tommy DeVito not being fully on target, including on what could have been a 43-yard touchdown to Kyle Williams in the late second quarter. Hitting plays like these, as well as getting the field goal rate back up, would go a long way toward a game like Thursday’s not remaining close despite a plus-four turnover margin.