Mike Vrabel is ‘happy’ for Parker Romo’s perfect start, not ready to discuss moving on from Borregales
Romo, who lost the Patriots' kicking competition to Borregales, went 5-for-5 in his debut with Atlanta.
FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots stuck with Andy Borregales despite a pair of missed field-goals in the preseason, keeping the sixth-round pick over Parker Romo who did not have a preseason miss and booted a 57-yarder.
Borregales’s performance was a mixed bag on Sunday. He missed a pair of extra points, but nailed a 53-yard field-goal that put the Patriots up six with 1:47 to go.
New England had two missed extra point attempts over the past two seasons. Borregales tied that total on Sunday.
On Monday, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said he is not ready to discuss making a change at the kicker position, despite the shaky start from the rookie.
“I don’t think we’re ready to have that conversation yet,” Vrabel said. “I mean, he’s made every kick in the fourth quarter. He’s made meaningful kicks. That’s where I’m at. I wouldn’t have gone out there with Andy. It wasn’t like I debated long. He knows he has a job to do, and we have full confidence in him to do his job. “
Meanwhile, Romo went a perfect 5-for-5 in his season debut after being elevated from the Falcons practice squad.
“I’m happy for Parker. That’s how it goes,” Vrabel said. “I mean, he went down there, took advantage of his opportunities and enjoyed my time with him here. So, I’m happy that he went down there and helped himself.”
The Patriots have been impatient with kickers in recent years, trading Nick Folk in 2022, cutting 2023 4th-round pick Chad Ryland after just one season with the team, and letting Joey Slye walk in free-agency last year.
None of those players missed a kick in Week 2. They’re a combined 16-for-17 on field-goal attempts this season with Ryland having the only miss.
They are a combined 93-for-100 since they each left the Patriots. Ryland is 32-for-37 through 15 games with the Cardinals, Folk is 53-for-55 over two seasons with the Titans and two weeks with the Jets, and Slye is 8-for-8 with the Titans this year.
Borregales is four-for-five on field-goal attempts through two games with the Patriots, and 2-for-4 on extra points. There’s plenty of football left to be played this season, and Vrabel trusted Borregales on one of his biggest decisions of the game with less than two minutes to go
“It just felt like either we were going to win it or we were going to force them to have to score a touchdown,” Vrabel said. Really big kick in a really big moment, making them then have to score a touchdown is a heck of a lot different than a field goal.
“I think you guys can see, we all see around the league, the impact that the kickers have at the end of the game, the distance, you really don’t have much to defend nowadays. Used to be 32, 35-yard line, now some of these cross midfield or close to it.
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