The Patriots are no strangers to not getting properly recognized for their accomplishments, despite how well they've played throughout the dynasty, and the same can be applied to the early commentary about the 2025 season and their supposedly soft "strength-of-schedule". But the landscape is changing, and top analysts are noticing. One analyst, Bucky Brooks, has them ranked second in the NFL.
The Patriots are the NFL's only 10-win team under their infectiously energetic Head Coach, Mike Vrabel. They are what their record says they are. And when the full 17-game season is history, they want to still be atop the AFC East and AFC standings exactly where they are right now.
Now, Fox Sports analyst Brooks has the Patriots as the NFL's No. 2 team.
Yet, there are still five regular-season games to go in this remarkable season.
No one in the Patriots locker room or anywhere else in Patriot Nation should think anything's settled. It's a great story unfolding, "but it ain't over till it's over" as Yankees' great Yogi Berra was reputed to say. There are more games left to play, and each one is important.
The 2025 Patriots are doing what they have to do
The ultimate goal every week in the NFL is one thing: to win. And that's exactly what the Patriots have done since a rocky start. They've taken down nine teams in a row on their way to a 10-2 record at the top of the AFC East. While some projections had that in mind, it was a tall order.
Yet, a tall Head Coach, Mike Vrabel, and a tall quarterback, Drake Maye, have things well in hand at the moment.
Bucky Brooks got it right about the 2025 Patriots in his recent article. He called the Patriots' most recent win "ugly," and it was all of that. But a win is a win, and that's all that matters, and Brooks likes what he sees in this 2025 Patriots team.
"#2 New England Patriots 10-2
Mike Vrabel & Co. should not apologize for winning ugly against inferior competition. The Patriots do what needs to be done each week to add another "W" to their streak. As the league’s only 10-win team, it’s time to tout the Patriots as legitimate title contenders despite questions about their schedule and competition level."
The Patriots just have to continue doing what they're doing
Few analysts had the Patriots doing very much in 2025, and for good reason. The past two seasons were dreadful, with records of 3-14 and then 4-13. Each season cost the Head Coaches their jobs. But on January 12, 2025, all that changed when Patriots owner Robert Kraft made a great decision and hired Mike Vrabel. It may have been a year late, but it's still made all the difference.
Vrabel shook the soot out of a dusty roster and changed its makeup by about 50 percent in the 2025 offseason. He crushed free agency by bringing in upgrades all over the field, from the woeful offensive line to each level of his lackluster defense. Change was the order of the day, and Vrabel knew exactly what changes had to be made and made them.
Fortunately, the Head Coach had the No. 1 requirement for a winning NFL team in second-year quarterback Drake Maye. A seasoned NFL personnel evaluator as well as a former NFL Coach of the Year, Vrabel knew all he had to do (not that it was an easy chore) was to upgrade the players around Maye on offense and provide a defense that could make stops, and the rest would follow.
It has. In the NFL, you play the teams on your schedule. Any silliness about the strength of schedule is just media blather trying to downplay a surprising team's accomplishments. The Patriots have played whoever is on their schedule and beaten most of them.
The ultimate success or failure of the 2025 season has yet to be determined, and the playoffs will be the ultimate determinant. But don't be shocked if the 2025 team wins it all, as the shocking 2001 team did. It may just be in the cards.