The Patriots beat the Browns on Sunday, 32-13, to win their fifth straight game. The vibes have not been this positive around Gillette Stadium in quite some time.

Coach Mike Vrabel has New England playing hard enough to overcome a relative lack of blue-chip talent defensively, and on offense, second-year quarterback Drake Maye has been an absolute revelation. The Pats are now 6-2 and enjoy plenty of momentum entering next week's clash against the Falcons.

Vrabel didn't move onto the next opponent without appearing to take a shot at his last one, though. Asked about his defense giving up an early touchdown to the Browns' Dillon Gabriel-led offense before tightening up, Vrabel said he thought things went well for the Patriots after the "gimmick" plays ran out.

Ouch. That probably stings for Browns coach Kevin Stefanski.

It could be a bit of good-natured ribbing from Vrabel, to be fair. He spent last season as a consultant in Cleveland on Stefanski's staff after getting left off the head coach carousel during the offseason. He presumably knows those coaches well, and could just be enjoying his win by rubbing it in a bit. If that was the case, you'd think the delivery would have been a bit lighter, but Vrabel is a deadpan guy.

Regardless, it is the truth laid bare. The Browns struggled to move the ball once the Patriots forced them to play straight-up instead of relying on misdirection and other funky offensive concepts to create opportunities. While there were no trick plays like a flea flicker, the Browns did run a complicated motion handoff involving two pulling players that resulted in a massive gain on their first drive. It's not a "gimmick" in the traditional sense, but there are a lot of moving parts that distracted the defense enough to produce a chunk play.

They followed that up with their first touchdown of the day by having rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. line up at fullback and run a route out of the backfield. The defense forgot to cover him and he walked in for the score.

After that touchdown, the Browns did not have a drive longer than five plays until the fourth quarter. Safe to say New England figured it out.

Some of the blame lays with the play-caller and some with Gabriel. Football is a team sport, after all. Cleveland finished with only 213 yards of total offense; that level of struggle isn't caused by one player or coach alone.

Another big win for Vrabel's Patriots, and perhaps some bulletin board material for Stefanski's staff in Cleveland.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mike Vrabel Appears to Shade Browns With 'Gimmick' Comments After Patriots' Win .

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