Callahan: The Patriots have won 4 straight, so what’s their ceiling now?

Drake Maye spent his Friday night standing on the sidelines of a high school football event On Sunday it looked like he was playing in one In his th start Maye broke the Patriots franchise record for highest completion percentage in a single contest with at least throws He sliced and diced Tennessee s defense then set it ablaze a hibachi chef in a football helmet Maye completed a cool of his throws something Tom Brady never not once managed over his games and years here What might Maye do next Only the football gods know for sure Because who can say for certain where these Patriots are going This is beyond unexpected now and inching closer to unbelievable The Pats have won four straight for the first time in four years They ve won more games than they did each of the last two seasons Halloween at last check is still more than a week away Until then they will now enjoy a second week atop the AFC East Meanwhile Maye has emerged as a dark-horse MVP candidate Mike Vrabel has engendered as much buy-in as any Patriots head coach since prime Bill Belichick A locker room divided for three straight years by poor play and rotten society has healed It starts with our coaches and then the players that we have we re all close I think this is the first crew that the offense and defense are close third-year receiver DeMario Douglas revealed Sunday We re close Vrabel s coaching staff is problem-solving too the Patriots dormant run encounter woke up Sunday and started sprinting gaining eight yards then eight and eight more on the offense s first four plays Rhamondre Stevenson pounded out a season-high yards and a touchdown on just carries He didn t fumble either Even as Tennessee enjoyed a new coach bounce scoring points in what felt like seconds for interim headman Mike McCoy the Pats didn t flinch Confident they waited knowing their talent and discipline would last longer than the sugar high fueling the young Titans Tennessee scored three points over the last three quarters Granted the Patriots entered as touchdown favorites But they won by Historically the mark of a good NFL group is how consistently and how convincingly it beats bad opponents No playing with your food No emotional letdowns No surviving on lucky bounces and better medical Just clean merciless fundamental football Two weeks ago the Pats left New Orleans disappointed that they had let the Saints hang around in a - win Vrabel literally had to tell players in the locker room to enjoy it No such message was needed in Tennessee Players celebrated their head coach at the center of an overjoyed locker room Everyone knew why Related Articles Drake Maye breaks Tom Brady record as Patriots beat Titans for fourth straight win Patriots Foundation fetches a win with rescue adoption day Standout plays from Kayshon Boutte Austin Hooper DeMario Douglas lift Patriots Patriots players requested to win for Mike Vrabel in coach s revenge matchup vs Titans Patriots solved major offensive issue in - win over Titans Vrabel even if he wouldn t admit it got what he craved revenge on his former squad which has now won fewer games since firing him than he has in just seven weeks coaching the Patriots I don t care what he announced Stefon Diggs mentioned We craved to win that tournament for him Now I don t care what anyone inside that locker room or outside says the Patriots are good again And they know it Late Sunday they owned the sixth-best point differential in the NFL They ve sensed for a couple of weeks now that they re tracking for something more than a surprise playoff bid Of class the league s softest schedule has and will continue to grease their skids straight into January But that doesn t negate the fact Maye has raised the Patriots ceiling Or playing regular turnover-free football has elevated their floor Or that fixing problems like their sloppy first-quarter defense and stagnant run encounter at least for one week gives reason to believe their floor and ceiling will rise higher as the season progresses Inevitably the Pats will lay an egg one Sunday Every club does It might happen next week against Cleveland But the pain of any upcoming loss particularly a bad one will be softened by the satisfaction of this start because the Patriots have proven they re better than almost anyone expected Maye Vrabel the lot of them have raised the bar and they might just be getting started There s so much better football that we can play Vrabel declared in the post-game locker room It s close