Very few coaches in the NFL are as strategic as Mike Vrabel. The head coach of the New England Patriots always seems to be up to something sneaky.
Sunday was just the latest example.
He exploited his opponent’s lack of timeouts and NFL clock rules to score a touchdown right as time expired before halftime. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did not get the ball back.
Drake Maye led a 77-yard drive.
New England trailed Tampa Bay by three points with seven minutes left in the second quarter. The Patriots returned the kickoff after a Buccaneers field goal to the 22-yard-line.
Eight plays and three penalties later, it was time for the two-minute warning.
Drake Maye completed a pass for nine yards on the first play out of timeout. And then TreVeyon Henderson scampered five yards for a first down.
Tampa Bay called its third and final timeout in hopes of getting the ball back before halftime. That set up 1st-and-goal from the one-yard-line for New England with one minute and 44 seconds left.
Mike Vrabel called a quarterback sneak.
However, the quarterback sneak was just a decoy. May took the snap and immediately went down before the end zone. He did not want to score a touchdown. He wanted to be stopped short.
the Patriots purposefully have Drake Maye run the worst QB sneak possible to burn clock on 1st and goal against a Bucs team with no timeouts left pic.twitter.com/5IIYu0smtq
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) November 9, 2025
The clock kept running because Maye did not cross the goal line. The Buccaneers could not stop it.
That allowed the Patriots to take the clock all of the way down. They called a timeout with two seconds left on the clock. A jump ball to Stefon Diggs on 4th-and-goal went for a touchdown.
OH MY TOE TAP STEFON DIGGS 🤯
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 9, 2025
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/M7Zm9LTh6c
He made an incredible toe-tap catch in the corner of the end zone.
THIS IS ELITEEEEE
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 9, 2025
📺 CBS https://t.co/F99ASvyHdk pic.twitter.com/nfzennGoNv
The clock expired and Tampa Bay did not get another possession because Maye purposely failed the quarterback sneak on first down. Mike Vrabel loves to exploit the rules as they are written and his opponents. This was just the latest example. It almost backfired, but New England found pay dirt.