The Mike Vrabel era is off to a lukewarm start.
While we can chart some positive moments for the New England Patriots in Sunday’s regular-season opener, there were far more negatives than positives in their 20-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots got torched by 34-year-old quarterback Geno Smith for 362 passing yards and were outclassed at home by an opponent firmly in their wheelhouse. Overall, the performance left plenty to second-guess, from in-game decisions to others made weeks ago on roster cut-down day.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the brutal from New England’s Week 1 setback.
The best and the worst of the Patriots' Week 1 loss to the Raiders
Loser: HC Mike Vrabel
Vrabel’s official debut in front of the Foxboro faithful was underwhelming, at best.
The Patriots committed nine penalties, struggled to run the ball on offense, and couldn’t stop the pass on defense in some critical moments. Trailing by 10 points, Vrabel’s decision to punt on 4th-and-10 from his own 44-yard line with 4:53 remaining was way too conservative and effectively ended the game. Most troubling was the third quarter, as New England was out-coached coming out of the locker room and surrendered 10 unanswered points to swing the game.
There will be better weeks for Vrabel. This just wasn’t one of them.
Loser: QB Drake Maye
Maye’s performance was on par with what we saw throughout training camp and the preseason — good, not great.
Maye struggled yet again with his accuracy, tossing an ugly interception on New England’s opening drive of the third quarter that shifted the momentum Vegas’ way. He put the ball on the ground in the fourth quarter on a play that was probably more the fault of left tackle Will Campbell than him, but his ball security clearly remains a concern. Maye also struggled to get anything going on the ground, limited to four rushes for 11 yards.
Drake Maye throws his first INT of the season with pressure in his face pic.twitter.com/L4yrAbITha
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) September 7, 2025
The Patriots are going to need their 22-year-old franchise quarterback to be a lot better if they’re going to compete in 2025.
Winner: DT Milton Williams
Williams made his presence felt on the defensive line, which was a positive sign for New England’s $104 million offseason investment. Williams finished the game with six QB pressures, per Pro Football Focus, to go with two QB hits and a tackle for loss. PFF charted Williams with 49 snaps, which is a career-high. He held up well against the run as well for a Patriots defense that bottled up star rookie Ashton Jeanty for 38 yards on 19 carries. It was a great start for Williams.
Loser: Special teams
It’s hard to blame kicker Andy Borregales for missing a chip-shot field goal in the first half, because that’s exactly what we saw from the rookie all summer. The Patriots’ brain trust decided he was the better option over the more consistent John Parker Romo, and for now, that decision deserves big-time scrutiny.
More surprising was a bad game from punter Bryce Baringer. Vrabel’s decision to punt on that key fourth-and-10 late in the fourth quarter hinged on Baringer pinning the Raiders deep, but he botched the kick for a net of 21 yards. Baringer had another ugly, 39-yard punt at the end of the second quarter that nearly helped the Raiders close the half with a long field goal.
Kick return coverage remains a work in progress. The Patriots got some nice gains from Antonio Gibson and TreVeyon Henderson, but they also gave up returns of 30-plus yards to the Raiders’ Dylan Laube and Zamir White. Overall, not close to good enough for Jeremy Springer’s crew.
Winner: WR Kayshon Boutte
If Patriots fans can latch on to one positive it’s this: Boutte looks like a legitimate starting wide out who could make some noise this season.
The rapport with Maye was easy to see throughout camp, and it carried over to Sunday’s game with six catches for 103 yards and an average of 17.2 per reception. He was the Patriots’ best player on Sunday and carried a receiving corps that didn’t get much out of Stefon Diggs, DeMario Douglas, or Mack Hollins.
Whoa what a catch by Boutte pic.twitter.com/gBWMIEox5w
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) September 7, 2025
Winner: EDGE Harold Landry
Landry flashed big-time. Per PFF, he was responsible for three sacks and a team-high eight pressures against the Raiders.
Vrabel coveted his former pass rusher with the Tennessee Titans, and it was easy to see why on Sunday. Landry is now in his age-29 season, but he showed plenty of juice in Week 1. The Patriots are going to need him.
Loser: WR DeMario Douglas
Douglas’ touchdown reception in the first quarter was a thing of beauty, but how exactly does the starting slot in Josh McDaniels’ offense finish with negative net yards receiving?
Douglas entered Sunday’s opener as one of Maye’s favorite targets, but he had a drop and just never got going. The McDaniels offense needs a productive slot receiver, and the Patriots' struggles in that area were easy to notice against the Raiders. Douglas deserves the benefit of the doubt, but calls for training camp star Efton Chism III will be booming if things don’t improve quickly.
Loser: EDGE Keion White
White only had one game without recording a single QB pressure in 2024, per PFF. It only took him one game to match that feat in 2025.
White rotated in with the Patriots’ pass rushers and finished with an unimpactful 29 snaps. He failed to record a single pressure or QB hurry, and while the Raiders picked on LB Christian Elliss and safety Jaylinn Hawkins a bit through the air, more consistent pressure off the edge would have helped. White’s stock is trending in the wrong direction as a 2023 second-round draft pick.