In a way, the Patriots had a final dress rehearsal for the postseason during Sunday night’s matchup against the Ravens, a team that prefers to muddy games with a physical play style on both sides of the ball.
The AFC postseason is currently filled with teams that pride themselves on punching hard—you know, the kind of smashmouth football Mike Vrabel oversaw for many years as the coach in Tennessee. But that toughness element hasn’t become a strength yet for his new team in New England partly because the defense is still a work in progress and Derrick Henry is no longer on Vrabel’s side.
