Welcome to Season 14, Episode 1 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious yet lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup . . .
Here’s a weird but true thing to say at the advent of a new Patriots season, one featuring a new coaching staff and a whole lot of new players:
Hopefully, Mike Vrabel’s debut will go as well as Jerod Mayo’s did last year.
It feels like a decade ago now with everything that has happened since, but the Patriots opened the 2024 season with a stirring 16-10 victory over the Bengals to begin the Mayo era.