The New England Patriots, surprisingly under first-year Head Coach Mike Vrabel, advanced to the AFC Championship game to face the Denver Broncos in Denver. They beat the Houston Texans' best defense in the league but suffered growing pains along the way.
Rookie left tackle Will Campbell, who's had a solid year, had a rough day, surrendering two sacks and five pressures against top edge rushers William Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter.
As in the Chargers' win, the Patriots' offensive line gave up five sacks, bringing their 19-game total to an enormous 57. When Mike Vrabel assembled his stopgap offensive line in the 2025 offseason, he added four new starters. The O-line was a clear improvement over the listless 2024 group, but they're still a work in progress, and it shows in their surrendering sacks at an alarming rate. Vrabel will have to make several additions here in the offseason.
Against Denver, it will be incumbent on Vrabel and his offensive coaches to improve on that if they hope to advance to the Super Bowl. Campbell and his linemates, after being toasted by the Texans, have to up their game in Denver if the Patriots are to beat the Broncos.
The Patriots' offensive line is better, but not where it needs to be
The miracle about the Patriots' season is that they've been able to advance this far in the playoffs at all with a still sub-par offensive line. The elusiveness of Drake Maye helps, but he didn't help his own cause by fumbling four times against the Texans. It was only the five turnovers by the Texans that allowed the Patriots to win.
While the Texans' defense is the best in the NFL and Anderson and Hunter are one of, if not the best, pass-rushing tandems in the league, it was a small consolation since Maye had little time to pass and was strip-sacked all day long. Those mistakes eventually will catch up to them.
It's incumbent on the coaching staff to develop game plans to try to take pressure off the two rookie, left-side offensive linemen, Campbell and Jared Wilson, and the entire unit. Maye will be the beneficiary, as will the entire team. And the way to do that seems crystal clear to everyone but the Patriots.
The offensive game plans are not up to snuff
Part of the problem with the inordinate number of sacks being allowed by the Patriots is the lackluster, predictable offensive scheme. Offensive Coordinator, Josh McDaniels, is still running an offense tailored to the talents of a Tom Brady-style pocket-passer and not to the more mobile Drake Maye.
While that doesn't expunge the O-line's inability to win its one-on-one battles, play-action, gadget plays, and RPO will help. The Patriots hardly use them at all.
McDaniels seldom uses play-action. Ironically, when he does, it works. He also exchews RPOs almost entirely, one of Maye's strengths. Generally, McDaniels' vanilla offense telegraphs its plays. It does little or nothing from play to play to befuddle defenses, giving Maye that vital extra half-second or so to either elude pressure and run or pass.
The success of the offense and Maye in 2025 is due to Maye and the players, not to the offensive scheme, as some have erroneously suggested.
If McDaniels continues to run an offense that is as predictable as rain in London, expect the same results: multiple sacks and fumbles. It's time to get innovative, confuse, and confound defenses with plays aimed at throwing Denver's defense off balance before it's too late.
The ultimate responsibility rests with Mike Vrabel. Maye is adept at executing all types of innovative plays; it's time for Vrabel to step up and allow him to do so.