Patriots' Drake Maye Gives Special Gift to Mike Vrabel After Win

There were a lot of subplots leading into the New England Patriots' trip to Nashville to take on the Titans. The now 1-6 Tennessee Titans fired their head coach, Brian Callahan, on Monday after a dismal start to the season.

Six days later, the man who reshaped their franchise by getting them to an AFC Championship and winning a Coach of the Year award, only to be fired, would return.

Week 7 was a revenge game of sorts for Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. It was the kind of game that any player or coach would brush off in the press, not to add fuel to the fire, but everyone knows that Vrabel would secretly hope his team would go play lights out for four quarters and do it just for him.

The Patriots indeed did just that.

Quarterback Drake Maye had himself an afternoon, going 21 of 23 for 222 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, and he even rushed for 66 yards (43 of which were in the first half). One would think that in the post-game locker room speech, Maye would get the game ball for another impressive Sunday afternoon.

Turns out the team had a plot twist to throw at their coach.

As Vrabel told his squad just how good they were and how "there's so much better football to be played," he most likely wouldn't have seen what was coming next, or did he? As Vrabel was about to bring the team in for a huddle, Drake Maye stepped in to show his appreciation of his head coach by presenting him with the game ball.

Vrabel had a smile on his face, almost as if he knew something like this was going to happen.

Wherever. Whenever. pic.twitter.com/slJ5g7uJEq
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 19, 2025

"We love playing for you," Maye told his coach. "We're glad you're our coach; we love you, coach."

The two shared an embrace. Seeing a QB and head coach share a special moment is something Patriots fans haven't seen much of in the last decade.

Mike Vrabel on the sidelines — New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel looks on during the second quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The vibe in New England is all smiles. We haven't seen a Patriots team act this way in a very long time, maybe ever. You never saw players getting rowdy around Bill Belichick and pushing him around in a fun manner like Stefon Diggs did in the clip above.

There's been a shift in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and it could lead to something big for this squad as the season goes on.

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