The New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings have been sharing a practice field this week. The two teams have been going at it at the Vikings home facility. Dual practice sessions give teams a better opportunity to see how players are performing when they are competing against an opponent.

The Patriots have not pleased head coach Mike Vrabel with the team’s performance against the Vikings. In the Thursday session, there was a sequence late in the practice that saw the Patriots gave up consecutive sacks to Jonathan Allen and Dallas Turner. The next play saw rookie left tackle Will Campbell get whistled for a false start.

Head coach Mike Vrabel did not like the sequence. While Drake Maye was able to complete a 40-yard Hail Mary to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte for a touchdown on the next play, the way the Patriots performed on the sequence  upset the coach quite a bit.

Safety Jaylin Hawkins explained how Vrabel reacted to his team’s performance. “Basically, we got to find it and we haven’t arrived. We’ve got a lot to work toward and we have to keep on going toward that goal.”

Patriots hoping to reverse course after three consecutive losing seasons

The days when the Patriots were the glamour team in the NFL and the dominant team in the AFC are long over. Those days came to a conclusion when Tom Brady left to close his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Any lingering doubt was put to bed the team parted company with head coach Bill Belichick.

The glory years are now ancient history and now the Patriots are trying to return to respectability. Vrabel was brought in as head coach to provide the team with more discipline and determination. If he can do that, the team may have a chance to win eight or nine games this season

He is clearly not happy with what he saw in the majority of the team’s practice against the Vikings. The Patriots will have a chance to turn it around at Friday’s practice session and in Saturday’s preseason game between the two teams at U.S. Bank Stadium.