FOXBOROUGH – In front of a jam-packed Sports Illustrated Pavilion on Monday afternoon, Mike Vrabel took the first step in bringing accountability back to Foxborough. Over the course of close to 40-minutes, Vrabel talked about building a coaching staff, working with Eliot Wolf (and apparently Ryan Cowden), his desire to come back here and most importantly, how he was going to get this franchise back to respectability. There’s of course…

By Alan Segel NEFJ Contributor Foxborough—Back in 1978, there was a movie released by Universal Pictures titled ‘Same Time Next Year.’ It starred Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn and it was about a couple that had an affair and kept meeting year after year on the same date. The film came to mind this past weekend when the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel as their new coach. He was hired on…

Around 10:30 on Sunday morning, arguably the worst kept secret in Patriots history was finally revealed from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport. The Patriots are hiring team Hall of Famer Mike Vrabel as the franchise’s 16th head coach. One week after firing Jerod Mayo less than an hour after the regular season finale, another former linebacker is now tasked with bringing the team back to relevance. There’s several…

By Alan Segel NEFJ Contributor FOXBOROUGH – The late Harry Truman, our 33rd president, had a saying ‘the buck stops here.’ On Monday, in the wake of Jerod Mayo being fired as Patriots head coach, ‘Give ’em Hell, Harry’ would have been proud of Patriots owner Robert Kraft. “This whole situation is on me,” is what Robert Kraft said at the very beginning of his remarks Monday during a press…

FOXBOROUGH – Less than one calendar year. That’s how long it took to go from Bill Belichick, to Jerod Mayo, to 4-13 twice, to another search for a head coach. After the unnecessary win and then stunningly abrupt firing of Mayo on Sunday night, it was a strange feeling inside Gillette Stadium on a bitterly cold and blustery Monday. The finality of the 4-13 season had set in a few…

FOXBOROUGH – The players wearing silver helmets, silver pants and blue jerseys on Sunday didn’t care about the draft position. Professional football players play to win and the Patriots did on Sunday, 23-16 over Buffalo in the regular season finale. For one guy in particular, the win was the icing on the cake of a once-in-a-lifetime type of day. Truman Jones played in his first NFL regular season game against…