The 2025 New England Patriots are on a roll, to say the least. Led by wonderkind quarterback Drake Maye, an MVP candidate, the team has a 10-game winning streak and is now in a bye week before tackling the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium. They're also setting records. A recent one from 2012 they've tied is scoring at least 23 points in 10 games straight in a single season.
Setting records like that is all well and good, but the obvious singular goal is winning the games in which they score 23 or more points. Otherwise, it makes little difference. The 2025 Patriots have done just that over the last 10 games, and things are trending way up in Foxborough.
So how does a team that could hardly score any touchdowns last season equal a record last set over a decade and a half ago? There are concrete reasons why. It all starts with having that MVP-level quarterback at the helm of your offense. But that's not all of it.
Great teams like the Patriots are built in the offseason
Good and great NFL teams, and bad and awful ones, are assembled in the offseason. The myth that you can't take a truly terrible roster and team and transform it into a good or a better one in one offseason has been completely dispelled. The past two seasons, two teams have ripped that fallacy to shreds.
In 2024, with dynamic rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels at the helm, the 2023, 4-13 Washington Commanders reached the NFL Championship game before bowing out to the eventual Super Bowl kings, the Eagles. In 2025, the 2024, 4-13 Patriots have now reached the precipice of challenging for both the AFC East title and the overall No. 1 AFC seed, and are scoring for fun in the process.
The last time the Patriots scored at least 23 points in 10 straight games in the same season? Way back in 2012. pic.twitter.com/SBzADZItr9
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) December 2, 2025
That myth is history, and in the case of the Patriots, Mike Vrabel's 2025 off-season ranks with the best in team history. Vrabel brought the professionalism required to fashion a massive offensive turnaround. And scoring 23 points in 10 consecutive games is a reflection of how his masterful offseason did just that.
How has Mike Vrabel made this Patriots' transformation possible
When Mike Vrabel took the Patriots' job, he knew he had the one indispensable component of a winning team in hand: quarterback Drake Maye. Some observers dissed the rookie Maye's 2024 season, yet Vrabel and other observers knew better, saw right through the supposed deficiencies, and knew the one reason for the team's poor offense was his supporting cast.
Vrabel began with the essentials. He rebuilt the offensive line, signing three veterans, two of whom start. He added four new wide receivers, including Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins, two professionals. Then he drafted two offensive linemen who immediately started, and drafted two explosive playmakers to boot.
The name of the game is improvement, and Vrabel knew if he just took that approach with Maye slinging the ball all over the field, he could transform a terrible offense (and roster) into a solid one. He's done better than that; they are now contending for all the marbles.
Mike Vrabel hasn't been perfect. He could have added offensive depth at the trade deadline, such as at running back and the offensive line, and didn't. That could hurt in the long run. But overall, he's built an offense that is miles ahead of where it was in 2024, and given linchpin Drake Maye the tools he needed to excel.
It's a model to be emulated. That is, if you can find a Drake Maye to be at the center of it and score 23 points in a row in 10 games. Additionally, you'll also need a Mike Vrabel, with the pedigree of a former NFL Head Coach of the Year and masterful personnel evaluator, to put the rest of the pieces in place. If you have that, you have a chance, just as the 2025 Patriots do, to accomplish astounding things.