"During his introductory press conference last January, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel laid out three goals for this season: Win the AFC East, host home playoff games, and compete for championships. Almost exactly one year after he uttered those words, the Patriots are once again AFC East champions. They are set to host the Chargers in the wild-card round at Gillette Stadium on Sunday night. With No. 2 seed in the AFC secured, the Patriots have established themselves as contenders in these upcoming playoffs."
"The Patriots moved forward quickly with their decision to hire Vrabel. They fired Jerod Mayo on January 5th after one season at the helm. Team owner Robert Kraft called it one of the hardest decisions he had ever made, citing his history with Mayo which dates back to 2008 when New England drafted him. Eight days later, on January 13th, the Patriots introduced Vrabel as the 16th head coach in franchise history. Vrabel vowed to get rid of the entitlement he saw amongst the players and set the tone for the kind of environment that he wanted to build."
Mike Vrabel set three goals: win the AFC East, host home playoff games, and compete for championships. The Patriots secured the AFC East title and the No. 2 seed, earning a wild-card home game against the Chargers at Gillette Stadium. New England completed a dramatic turnaround, improving from four wins last season to 14 wins this season. The team fired Jerod Mayo and hired Vrabel, who pledged to eliminate entitlement and reset the team environment. The Patriots made major free-agent additions on March 10, signing Milton Williams, Carlton Davis, Morgan Moses, Robert Spillane, and Harold Landry. Williams impacted the line, Spillane led with 97 tackles, Landry had 8.5 sacks, and Davis helped the secondary rank eighth in passing yards allowed per game.
Read at Boston.com
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