Sunday’s game between the Patriots and Saints was by no means pretty, but after 60 minutes of football, New England had done enough to fly home with a win, pushing their record to 4–2 on the year.
While there were plenty of great plays made throughout the game, including several by Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, when it came time to seal the win, it was coach Mike Vrabel who made the smartest call of the day.
With the Patriots holding a 25–19 lead and possession in the fourth quarter, they needed only to drain the clock. On third-and-11, Maye connected with wide receiver Kayshon Boutte on the sideline for a first down.
Initially, the referees had called Boutte out of bounds, but Vrabel decided to challenge the play, arguing his player came down in bounds. After review, the call was overturned, thus keeping the clock running.
The overturned call meant that the Patriots could get right into victory formation, rather than needing another first down to end the game for good.
Fans praised Vrabel for his decision to challenge the call.
Mike vrabel just challenged a play that the player was inbounds and not forced out. So the clock should have kept going. He shaved 33 seconds off the game clock and basically sealed the game with his football iq.
— Hood I.T. 🤓 Geek (@Chunk731) October 12, 2025
That's the Mike Vrabel that was here for the playoffs in 2019. Perfect challenge to salt away the clock and win the game.
— Jon Wallach (@KenGriffeyRules) October 12, 2025
What a challenge by Mike Vrabel, and the Patriots escape New Orleans with a victory. Drake Maye was FANTASTIC today
— Pat Lane (@plane_pats) October 12, 2025
After the game, Vrabel credited team VP of football operations and strategy John Streicher, who serves as his eye in the sky during games, for the call.
“[Streicher] does an amazing job,” Vrabel said. “Just trying to figure out how they’re going to see it. Sometimes they see it the way we do, sometimes they don’t. Just trying to be as smart as we possibly can.”
It’s not often you see a coach challenge a call as small as whether or not a receiver was tackled in bounds, and it would have been easy for the Patriots to have run over the moment as they worked quickly to close out the game. Instead, thanks to a smart decision from their coach, they were able to kneel the game away comfortably.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mike Vrabel Made the Smartest Challenge in the Final Minutes vs. Saints.
