Over the last two decades, the Patriots have been a team that has done things vastly different than the rest of the league, and not just because they were winning more than anyone else. They changed the way they approached the sport in many ways, one of which came during the 2001 season when they chose to be introduced as a team rather than that typical player-by-player introductions.
It has become a part of the New England culture and something the fans have strongly gotten behind, as it exhibits exactly what kind of franchise the Patriots are. That tradition is something they have universally gotten behind, which is not easy to come by, and now that might be changing.
Ahead of Sunday's matchup with the Browns, Mike Vrabel announced that individual introductions were going to be back for the game. As it's known, that hasn't been part of the Patriots' game day structure for 24 years.
Mike Vrabel tells @985TheSportsHub there will be individual introductions for players before today's game.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 26, 2025
"Something we think our players will appreciate and our fans will appreciate," Vrabel says.
Can't recall that happening here since 2001.
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Because of that, fans had an adverse reaction to the news, as seen in Mike Reiss' replies, and it's clear that's not a change that anyone was hoping for.
The Mike Vrabel era looks to be making even bigger changes to the way the Patriots do things this season
Part of what has made the Patriots so great over the last 25 years has been their dedication to emphasizing that football is a team sport. Although individual statistics matter a lot and certainly show how many phenomenal players they have had on their roster over the years, there was never any stress about prioritizing one player over another on the team.
It has allowed the Patriots to avoid a lot of the superstar egos that many other teams deal with, and it's something the fans have really gotten behind since they chose to be a team-first organization.
So seeing that it might be changing, even for one day, has fans in an uproar already.
On the other hand, others, like Patriots.com writer Evan Lazar, are embracing the change and believe it's time to "evolve," as player introductions are something every other team in the league does on a weekly basis.
When we are on the road, pretty much every other team introduces its players individually on offense or defense. It's a great way to get the players some love and get the stadium hyped.
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) October 26, 2025
It's a new era. Time to evolve. https://t.co/tEXDX5JOXr
Perhaps he's right. Maybe it is time to change things up at the start of this new era in Foxboro. And based on what we've seen from Vrabel so far and how the players respond to him and the culture he's hoping to build, individual introductions shouldn't change the team-first mentality.
That's just one aspect of the game that will highlight them on their own, and to be fair, they deserve to have that recognition.
It will be interesting to see how fans react if this is incorporated into every game moving forward, and if it's not a positive response, whether that will dictate whether they continue to do it. But in the meantime, let's give it a chance and see how it goes!
UPDATE:
The Patriots brought most of the team out of the tunnell like usual, then had the offensive starters run out one-by-one as their names were called https://t.co/49m1D9OPxq
— Alex Barth (@RealAlexBarth) October 26, 2025