When it’s just 1 yard left to a touchdown, going for the end zone, whether through a QB sneak or a simple run, is always a no-brainer. For the New England Patriots’ first-year head coach, Mike Vrabel, though, there’s always a third option– a smart trick play. So, when the situation arrived for the 7-2 Patriots to make a final play before halftime against the 6-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, that’s exactly what he went for.

On a 1st-&-Goal with only 1:44 remaining in the first half, the Patriots were trailing the Bucs 10-7. However, knowing that the hosts had no timeouts left, Vrabel had his quarterback, Drake Maye, take what appeared to be an intentional knee.

High risk, yes. But the premise, of course, was to make a goal within the next three attempts. 

However, almost endangering the chances for their seventh straight win, the next two running attempts with rookie TreyVeon Henderson on second and third down failed. Still, instead of taking a chip-shot field goal on fourth down, Vrabel made a gamble. 

After the Patriots called a timeout with two seconds remaining, they returned for their fourth down. Maye quickly threw a fade to wide receiver Stefon Diggs along the left sideline of the endzone, who jumped over the Bucs’ safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and landed on both of his feet in for the touchdown, ending a 19-play 83-yard drive that started at their own 22. With kicker Andres Borregales’ successful field goal, the Patriots took a 14-10 lead in the game.

The genius of it all?

Against a T-10th defense per PFF, the Patriots not only made a comeback but also returned from the halftime with the ball in their hands, just like Vrabel had envisioned.

Moreover, even if the Patriots had successfully made their second down, Vrabel had successfully burned the clock, keeping the Bucs from getting a chance to strike back before halftime. For one, his players know his chess moves in a game of football.

“He was a player once, and wants to be aggressive,” Diggs said about his head coach after the game. “It’s our job late in the downs when your coach wants to roll the dice. It gives your quarterback confidence, it gives your coach confidence, and it has us going in the right direction as a team.”

To make matters worse for the NFC South leaders, running back Henderson made a 55-yard touchdown just four plays into the third quarter for a 20-10 lead.

However, for the head coach, it is not about which play he will use next to make his point of why they have seven wins in a row and lead the AFC East with a significant margin over the second-place Buffalo Bills.

“That’s about players and not necessarily plays. I trust our players, and they came through. They made me look good,” Vrabel said after the win.

Of course, for Vrabel, the trick play was successful. However, just a day ago, we had seen another clever move by Denver Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton that got him scrutiny from his own fanbase despite a 10-7 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

However, it’s not a new trick in his hat of clever plays. Already, he has demonstrated his ability to manipulate the game by finding loopholes in the system.

Mike Vrabel leads the Patriots with his clever play-calling

In their Week 5 game against the Bills, the team was in a similar situation. However, at that point, Vrabel opted to kick a field goal at the end of the first half, even though his QB, Drake Maye, was just 1 yard from a touchdown. But if we go deeper, we can understand his interesting decision. 

Fighting against Josh Allen and Co. in primetime on a Sunday night meant that every single point mattered. And Vrabel knew that.

With only four seconds in the first half, and the score tied 3-3, Maye attempted a pass to Hunter Henry, only for it to fall incomplete. Now, with just one second to go, Vrabel had two options: Go for the run and possibly come out without any points or choose the safer move for a 3-point field goal.

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He went with the latter.

Borregales made the 19-yard field goal, giving the Patriots a 6-3 lead going into the half. New England won that game by three points.

In 2020, while leading the Tennessee Titans, he deliberately drew a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty to stop the clock and save crucial seconds as he set up his defense against the Texans. While the penalty gave the Houston Texans a fresh set of downs, it saved 40 seconds on the clock. The time saved paid off later in the game for Vrabel’s team.

Back in 2018, Vrabel ran out a 12th defensive player, a move that gave the Titans enough time to pull off a dramatic win over the New York Jets. As a player, too, over the years, this is how he won three Super Bowls as an outside linebacker and occasional goal-line tight end with the Patriots.

For Vrabel, the concept is simple– “We plan on trying to be aggressive and not reckless.”