Mike Vrabel's first game as Patriots head coach did not go as planned, as New England fell to the Las Vegas Raiders in disappointing fashion on their home turf. The Patriots didn't do anything well enough to win on Sunday, and walked off the soggy field at Gillette Stadium with a 20-13 loss.

The offense was stagnant for much of the game as second-year quarterback Drake Maye underperformed. The defense made some plays and only gave up 20 points, but still let Geno Smith throw for 362 yards and struggled to get off the field in the fourth quarter. The Patriots also left three points on the field as rookie Andy Borregales missed his the first field goal attempt of his NFL career.

Vrabel knew the Patriots weren't going to be fixed overnight. But it's pretty clear this team is going to need a lot of time and a lot of effort to get right again.

"Not the one that we wanted," Vrabel said at the podium after losing his debut game as Patriots head coach. "We've got a long way to go, and we're going to be resolved to get it fixed, and the people that are here are going to be committed to getting it fixed together."

Vrabel said he wasn't surprised by anything after Sunday's loss. But he's eager to see how this team responds next weekend when the Patriots visit the Miami Dolphins, who are also 0-1 on the year after a lopsided loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1.

"Now we'll see where we're at. We'll see what kind of football team we have, what kind of leaders we have to be able to come back in here and get to work. That'll be the true test," said Vrabel. "We always talk about culture and everything else, and we'll see where we're at as a culture and as a team and if we have guys that want to work and stick together. It will be a big challenge to do that."

Vrabel on Patriots' second-half struggles

Leading up to Week 1, Vrabel put a huge emphasis on how his team responds in the second half. A halftime period was built into practice in order to ensure players wouldn't suffer a second-half dip.

But on Sunday, the offense went nowhere in the second half until garbage time set in. The defense did it's part, but still gave up chunk plays and couldn't get a stop when it needed it the most.

The second half did not go as planned for Vrabel and company.

"It sure didn't," he said after the game. "That's frustrating, and we have to understand how, sometimes, these games are going to go, and we just didn't do enough in the second half.

"We had too many missed opportunities, too many penalties, the turnover, and things that just -- we didn't take advantage of bad football and then we played bad football ourselves," added Vrabel.

Despite only scoring 13 points in the second half, the Raiders were able to move the ball against the New England defense. The Patriots' offense, meanwhile, went nowhere. Most of that was from their own undoing, as Maye had a bad interception to end New England's first possession of the second half. Four punts followed before the Pats tacked on a garbage-time field goal.

The Raiders scored the game-winning touchdown five plays after Maye's interception, and added two field goals on back-to-back possessions to end the third and start the fourth quarter to essentially seal the win.

The Raiders didn't make many plays, but they sure made more than the Patriots on Sunday.

Why Vrabel opted to punt late in fourth quarter

On their penultimate possession of the game, it looked like the Patriots might be putting something together as they drove to their own 44. Even after Maye nearly fumbled away the possession on a strip sack (which rookie left tackle Will Campbell allowed and then recovered the fumble), the Patriots got 13 yards off a TreVeyon Henderson catch-and-run to set up a fourth-and-5 at the New England 49.

Vrabel had his offense stay on the field to try and pick up the first down -- until Campbell jumped offsides and set the operation back another five yards. After the penalty, Vrabel opted to punt the ball away with just under five minutes to play and his team trailing 20-10.

The Patriots' defense had a chance to get the ball back to the offense with the Raiders facing a third-and-20, but Smith found a wide open Dont'e Thornton -- who had blown by Carlton Davis -- for a 36-yard pickup. Las Vegas ate more time off the clock before punting it back to the Patriots with 1:55 left.

Why not stay aggressive in that situation? Vrabel explained his thinking after the loss.

"We'd like a better punt," Vrabel said of Bryce Baringer's 21-yard boot that gave Las Vegas the ball at their own 35. "We had them stopped and that was the plan, and that didn't work. Then they hit one and we didn't have enough time there at the end to do anything. 

"That was the decision I thought was best for us at the time, and it didn't work out," Vrabel added. "But situationally, we'll have to continue to improve."