Should we hope that Mike Vrabel’s debut as Patriots coach goes as well as Jerod Mayo’s did? Actually, yes.
It feels like a decade ago with everything that has happened since, but the Patriots opened the 2024 season with a stirring 16-10 victory over the Bengals to begin the Mayo era.
Welcome to Season 14, Episode 1 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious yet lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup . . .
Here’s a weird but true thing to say at the advent of a new Patriots season, one featuring a new coaching staff and a whole lot of new players:
Hopefully, Mike Vrabel’s debut will go as well as Jerod Mayo’s did last year.
It feels like a decade ago now with everything that has happened since, but the Patriots opened the 2024 season with a stirring 16-10 victory over the Bengals to begin the Mayo era. Turned out that it also was the high point of the Mayo era, which ended after four victories and a single season.
The Patriots are in more experienced and capable coaching hands with Vrabel — a three-time Super Bowl champ and franchise Hall of Famer as a player — and his experienced staff, which includes three assistants with NFL head coaching experience.
Vrabel’s debut, with a work-in-progress roster led by second-year quarterback Drake Maye, comes up against a Raiders team that has many similarities with and ties to the Patriots. The Raiders, who also went 4-13 last season, brought in Pete Carroll as coach, and acquired veteran Geno Smith at quarterback. Raiders with Patriots ties include middle linebacker Elandon Roberts, receiver Jakobi Meyers, and of course, minority owner Tom Brady.
Every season, a team or two makes the leap from cellar-dwelling afterthought to playoff contender. Both the Patriots and Raiders begin their quest to be one of this season’s much-improved teams on Sunday.
Kick it off, Borregales, and let’s get this thing started . . .
Three players worth watching other than the quarterbacks
Ashton Jeanty and TreVeyon Henderson: Yes, yes, we’re already copping out here and shoehorning two players into a single spot. But we can justify it by making a prediction that perhaps does not even count as bold:
With apologies to Travis Hunter and Cam Ward, Jeanty and Henderson will take the gold and silver as the most dynamic rookies in the league this season, with Chargers running back Omarion Hampton earning the bronze.
The Raiders took Jeanty with the No. 6 pick in April’s draft, the first running back taken in the top six spots since Saquon Barkley went No. 2 overall to the Giants in 2018. One glance at Jeanty’s stats or wide-eyed look at his highlights should be enough to validate his selection.
At Boise State last season, he had an absurd 374 carries for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns, and his highlights were reminiscent of the Best of Barry Sanders from the Hall of Famer’s time at Oklahoma State. Jeanty finished second to Ward in the Heisman Trophy race. In his NFL debut, Jeanty should prove a challenge for the Patriots’ run defense, which includes newcomers Milton Williams at tackle and former Raider Robert Spillane at middle linebacker.
Henderson, shrewdly selected by the Patriots with the 38th overall selection, starred for a much higher-profile program — The Ohio State University, the 2024 national champion — but with a lighter workload. Henderson shared time with Browns draft pick Quinshon Judkins for the Buckeyes, running 144 times for 1,016 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Henderson was electric in preseason — including returning the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown against the Commanders. The Patriots may use him more selectively than the Raiders will Jeanty, but it seems likely that he will immediately be the most dangerous weapon at offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’s disposal. Pretty cool that running backs of Jeanty and Henderson’s promise are making their NFL debuts in the same game.
Will Campbell: Here we go. Let’s begin to find out, shall we?
After Maye and perhaps Henderson, Campbell is the most intriguing player on the Patriots’ roster. The No. 4 overall pick in the draft out of Louisiana State, the 6-foot-6-inch, 320-pound Campbell looks like a certainty to be a cornerstone of the Patriots’ offensive line for years to come.
But the biggest question can be answered only once the real games begin: Will that be at left tackle, or will his comparably short arms — perhaps you’ve heard about his arm length — force an eventual move to guard?
As a pass blocker in preseason, Campbell’s play was spotty. He was taken to school in joint practices with the Vikings by Pro Bowl outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard, who beat him for two sacks and drew a penalty in one practice. Afterward, Greenard did praise Campbell, saying he’s going to be a “really good” tackle and just needed more practice reps. Seemed like he meant it, too.
At left tackle, Campbell is charged with one of the most important jobs on the team: protecting Maye’s blind side. If Campbell struggles with pass blocking early in his career without steady signs of improvement, there will be talk of moving him to guard, because he already is a hellacious run blocker in the Logan Mankins mold.
But the Patriots drafted Campbell to be a tackle, and he must be given every chance to succeed there. His first test comes in his debut, though he’s catching a bit of a break. Because Raiders pass-rushing force Maxx Crosby — who has 34.5 sacks over the past three seasons — more often lines up over the right tackle, he will likely be Morgan Moses’s problem rather than Campbell’s.
Campbell doesn’t necessarily have an easy assignment in Malcolm Koonce, who missed last season with a knee injury but had eight sacks in 2023. But it’s an easier challenge to navigate in his NFL debut than matching up with one of the league’s premier pass rushers right away. Our eyes will be on Campbell as he begins his quest to become the sturdy left tackle the Patriots need.
Brock Bowers: How dominant was the Raiders’ tight end last season as a rookie? Let’s put it this way: His statistics looked like they came right out of Rob Gronkowski’s or Travis Kelce’s prime.
Bowers, the No. 13 pick in last year’s draft after a sensational career at Georgia, set the league record for receptions by a rookie at any position (112), and posted the most yards ever by a rookie tight end (1,194), joining Mike Ditka (1961) and Kyle Pitts (2001) as the only first-year players at the position to eclipse 1,000 yards. (I know, I’m stunned Pitts is here, too.) Bowers also set the Raiders’ record for receptions, breaking fellow tight end Darren Waller’s 107 set in 2020.
The Patriots had frequent trouble with tight ends a season ago, with Kyle Dugger often struggling in coverage. The Patriots list Jaylinn Hawkins and rookie fourth-rounder Craig Woodson as their starters at safety on their “unofficial” depth chart. It would be wise for new Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to avoid getting cute or overly complex with his scheme, and prioritize testing the Patriots’ revamped defensive backfield with Bowers early and often.
The flashback
Question: Is it possible for someone to help run a football team and haunt that team at the same time? It’s objectively hilarious that Raiders fans have to be reminded of the Snow Bowl and the tuck rule every time they see Brady, minority owner and important voice when it comes to the franchise’s football decisions. Out of respect for those long-suffering, uh, Las Vegas football fans who might stumble upon this preview, we’ll resist one more delightful rehash of the Snow Bowl and instead offer a brief reminder of a Patriots-Raiders season opener from 20 years ago. On Sept. 8, 2005, Corey Dillon rumbled for two touchdowns, Brady threw touchdown passes to Deion Branch and Tim Dwight, and the Patriots defeated the then- (and still should be) Oakland Raiders, 30-20. For Oakland, Randy Moss had five catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. It would not be his last spectacular performance at Gillette Stadium. Also, it did not snow.
Grievance of the week
Vrabel is going to get the benefit of the doubt here, and then some. He’s exactly what the Patriots need as a coach after the franchise’s slow fade into malaise late in the Bill Belichick tenure and failed one-year test run for Mayo, who was neither ready for prime time nor 1 p.m. on Sundays.
But I have to acknowledge being perplexed over Vrabel’s apparent mission to pare so many veterans — including all six captains from the start of the 2024 season — off the roster, especially since their depth chart doesn’t have . . . well, a whole lot of depth.
But the decision to cut safety Jabrill Peppers is the most perplexing move of all. Peppers’s aggressive style seemed an ideal fit for the identity Vrabel wants the Patriots to have. Two weeks ago, no one among us would have thought his spot was endangered. Most of us would have ranked him among, what, the top dozen players on the roster?
Vrabel, who has proven a master of authoritatively and often amusingly saying nothing of substance when he doesn’t want to discuss a certain subject, offered a word salad of vague platitudes when asked about the decision to cut Peppers. Even if it was a question of his fit in the Patriots’ defensive scheme, it doesn’t make much sense to cut a quality veteran player when the roster is so thin at several spots. Maybe there’s more to this. Or maybe Vrabel’s desire to have a fresh start with His Guys has gone a step or two too far.
Prediction, or James Jett was the best name for a wide receiver ever . . .
The Raiders have never beaten the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, having lost the aforementioned 2005 matchup, as well as in 2014 and ’20. They also have lost to the Patriots all three times the franchises have met in a season opener — in 1964, ’71, and 2005. So, who are we to bet against one developing streak, let alone two? Henderson breaks a long one for a touchdown, the aggressive Patriots defense looks faster than it has in recent seasons, and Carroll chomps his gum in frequent bewilderment on the sideline. Patriots 23, Raiders 15.
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