FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Mike Vrabel likes the way the New England Patriots have been trending to start the season, winning five of six and vaulting to the top of the AFC East after dropping their season opener to Las Vegas.
He also recognizes that Sunday’s matchup against Cleveland (2-5) is pivotal for a group that, for whatever reason, hasn’t fared well at home. The Patriots (5-2) are 4-0 on the road but just 1-2 in their own building.
“It’s a big one, coming back home and just making sure that we don’t take anything for granted in our preparation,” Vrabel said.
Of the five teams the Patriots have beaten, only Carolina has a defense ranked in the top 10. Two of New England’s victories have come against teams with defenses ranked in the bottom third of the league (Miami, 26th; Tennessee, 24th).
The Browns boast the league’s top defense, allowing 256.1 yards per game.
That’s not lost on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, who has put up numbers over the last six games — throwing for at least 200 yards with a 100-plus passer rating — that have only been duplicated over a six-game stretch by Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes.
“They’re really good, they’re really good. Shoot, they’ve got one of the best players in football,” Maye said, referencing Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett. “So, we’ve got a tough challenge.”
Shortly after being drafted fourth overall in April, Patriots rookie left tackle Will Campbell was asked about the task of protecting Maye. Campbell replied that he was going to “fight and die to protect him with everything I’ve got.”
Campbell will face the biggest individual challenge of his young career when he is projected to line up opposite Garrett. According to the NFL's Next Gen Stats, Garrett has been aligned on the right edge on 82.9% of his snaps. He’s also generated 13 quick pressures (allowed in under 2.5 seconds), tied for fifth most in the NFL. Garrett leads the Browns with five sacks.
Campbell has allowed a team-high 27 pressures on 253 pass blocks this season. Of those, 11 have been quick pressures.
The Browns' Dillon Gabriel got his first win as an NFL starting quarterback in last week’s 31-6 victory over the Dolphins. But he had no interest in dwelling on it.
“Winning is fun, like I said before, but the sun comes up the next day and we got a new week, so every story lasts about two days and then you’re rolling,” Gabriel said Wednesday.
Gabriel has done a good job of protecting the ball, with no interceptions in his first three starts. He needs to improve on downfield throws, though. Gabriel is a league-worst 10 of 30 for 170 yards on throws of 10 air yards or more since taking over as the starter.
“You want to be smart and aggressive. You don’t want to just be conservative for the sake of being conservative. So, it’s a balance there, and we coach our quarterbacks to be aggressive when time calls for it and let it rip, and then also understanding that taking care of the football is a big part of our job,” coach Kevin Stefanski said.
The Browns struggled to generate turnovers early in the season, but they had three interceptions and recovered a fumble on special teams last week, leading to 21 points.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was aggressive in calling blitzes against Miami, but whether he employs the same strategy against New England remains to be seen, since Maye excels at throwing on the run.
“We were able to get some turnovers, we got to keep it going now, can’t get complacent or just let that just happen in that one game. So got to build on top of it and keep the turnovers coming and that’s going to help this team out ultimately like it did this past game,” cornerback Denzel Ward said.
New England enters Sunday with the second-ranked rush defense in the NFL, allowing 77.1 yards per game.
The Patriots are also the only team in the NFL this season to not allow 50 yards to a running back through the first seven games. The longest such streak since the 1970 merger is 10 games by Tampa Bay in 2020. Tennessee had a streak of eight games in 2021.
The Browns rely heavily on the running game, led by rookie Quinshon Judkins, who has been held to fewer than 60 yards just once in six games.
“It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s just about coaching edge, wall and swarming, and making sure that we do those things,” Vrabel said. “We’ve done them sometimes, but we’ll have to continue to do them. That’s the thing about this league. ... Stats and metrics, numbers don’t mean anything. You have to go out there and be able to prove it.”
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AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy contributed to this report.
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