What Mike Vrabel believes keys to Patriots’ perfect road record have been

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What Mike Vrabel believes keys to Patriots’ perfect road record have been

Chris Mason · MassLive

Thu, Jan 22, 2026 ·

2 min read

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FOXBOROUGH — Since Mike Vrabel took over as head coach, the Patriots have yet to lose a road game.

New England was a perfect 8-0 in the regular season and opened the playoffs with back-to-back games at Gillette Stadium. Ahead of Sunday’s AFC Championship in Denver , Vrabel outlined what he believes the keys to his team’s road success have been.

“You’ve got to take care of the football,” Vrabel said. “You’re going to have to try to find a way to win in critical situations at the end of the half, at the end of the game, whether that’s five-minute (offense) – I just think back to, defensively, getting stops in Miami , we made a critical kick. Tampa Bay, we executed at the end of half. Certain situations – five-minute (offense) in New Orleans . So, I think each game kind of has its own story, but you better take care of the football, especially in Denver."

In Sunday’s AFC Championship against the Broncos , they’ll face their toughest road test to date. In addition to a raucous crowd that’ll force them to use a silent snap count, the Patriots will deal with Mile High elevation for the first time. Vrabel often tells players to “pack their identity” and believes that it has translated on the road.

“We try to preach it through the entire offseason and being able to establish an identity that travels,” Vrabel said. “Overcoming mistakes that happen in the game, which there always are. I think that you have to be resilient. There’s going to be some swings of momentum. You’re going to have to be able to handle the environment offensively and not put yourself in bad situations because your operation isn’t very good. So, there’s a lot of things that we try to practice, knowing that we’re going to have to play half of our games on the road.”

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