Mike Vrabel sends warning to Patriots amid five-game winning streak

The New England Patriots increased their winning streak to five straight games via a dominant 32-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns that improved the Patriots to 6-2 on Sunday. 

Patriots fans are now dreaming about what could be for the first-place club that features a potential Most Valuable Player Award candidate in second-year quarterback Drake Maye. During a Monday appearance on Boston sports radio station WEEI, first-year Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel sent some warnings to players who may be reading press clippings in the final week of October. 

Mike Vrabel wants Patriots ready for challenge of facing Falcons

"If you sleep on this league, you're going to have bad results," Vrabel said, per Tom Carroll of Audacy. "And no matter who you play, what team it is, there's going to be things that you have to do each and every week. And so every week is its own challenge."

Specifically, New England next hosts the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 2. Some may view that as a trap game for the Patriots after the Falcons fell to 3-4 when they suffered a shocking 34-10 home loss to the lowly Miami Dolphins (2-6) on Sunday. 

"We're getting a lot of contributions from a lot of different people," Vrabel continued, "and that's the thing that you have to continue to do, is that when you get an opportunity, that you take advantage of your opportunity. Continue to practice our identity through meetings and walk-through practices. But there's a long way to go, and my job is to make sure that we're focused on that each and every week and not get too far ahead of ourselves."

Mike Vrabel addresses Drake Maye MVP chatter

Pockets of fans at Gillette Stadium got a bit ahead of themselves when they showered Maye with "MVP" chants on Sunday. As of Monday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had Maye third among the betting favorites at +475 odds to claim MVP Award honors for the ongoing regular season. To compare, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs topped the list at +125 odds. 

"I think that he's a very, very important part of our success, and I'm happy that he's having personal success," Vrabel said about Maye, according to Carroll. "He wants to continue to improve, and I think that there's a hunger for that. And I think he sees how important his, not only performance, but just the way that he operates and functions, how important that is to the offense and our football team." 

Pro Football Reference stats show that Maye entered Monday leading the NFL among qualified players with a 118.7 passer rating and a 75.2 percent completion percentage for the season. He was fourth with a 76.2 adjusted QBR, fourth with 2,026 passing yards and tied for fifth with 15 passing touchdowns. Also on Monday, ESPN BET had the Patriots as 5.5-point favorites over the Falcons.