FOXBORO – He’s 6 feet 4 inches and weighs 241 pounds, so it’s hard to miss Mike Vrabel when he runs onto the field.

Somehow the Redskins did, even though he was announced as an eligible receiver.

He entered Sunday’s game with nine catches, all of them for touchdowns. So when Vrabel entered at tight end in the second quarter, the Redskins should have known that he would be a threat to score.

For some reason, they didn’t.

Standing all alone in the back of the end zone when the Redskins bit on a play-action-pass, Tom Brady lobbed Vrabel the ball and he hauled it in for his 10th career touchdown reception.

“Mike was pretty open,” Brady said. “I think it was a good sell by the offensive line; he just slipped out there and it was another touchdown catch for him.”

“He’s very good at evading defenders and getting off the line of scrimmage,” Brady added. “He’s very quick [and] he uses his hands well. He’s got good hands when he catches it.”

“He’s definitely a guy you love to see have success,” running back Heath Evans said.

The score gave the Patriots a 14-0 lead. It was just the beginning of what turned out to be a monster game for Vrabel. In addition to his touchdown, he recorded 13 tackles, three strip-sacks, and even had a three-yard kickoff return.

“Mike had some big plays for us,” coach Bill Belichick said. “He made a nice play down there on the goal line and had some strip-sacks. I thought he tackled well. Mike’s a good player for us. He always does a good job and he had some big [plays] today. Knocking those balls out, those were obviously -- they were huge plays.”

All three of Vrabel’s strip-sacks resulted in points for New England.

“He played tremendous,” defensive back Rodney Harrison said.

The first strip-sack on Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell came at Washington’s 27 yard line on a third-down play. Ty Warren recovered the fumble.

“I was just fighting two guys and then just broke out of it,” Warren said. “I saw the ball come out and just kept playing. I went to go scoop it up.”

That helped set-up a 36-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal four plays later, which gave New England a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

With the Redskins driving late in the second quarter, Vrabel strip-sacked Campbell on third and four at the Patriots' 23-yard line. Warren recovered the fumble with 1:49 left in the half, and Brady & Co. drove 73 yards on eight plays for a touchdown to build a 24-0 lead.

Just when it looked like Vrabel could do no more, he strip-sacked Campbell on third and nine from the Redskins' 21-yard line with 5:47 left in the third quarter. Rosevelt Colvin picked up the loose ball and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown to put the Patriots ahead, 38-0.

“I think the transition of him going back to outside linebacker [has helped],” Colvin said. “That’s sort of his natural position. He’s enjoying that and I think he’s playing well. I think to have a guy like him on the other side, I appreciate it because I think I can feed off of him to see what he’s doing. … He continues to play at a high level and that’s something that we expect not just from him but from everybody that has an opportunity to play on the defense.”

When inside linebacker Junior Seau broke his broke his arm last season, Vrabel moved from outside linebacker to the inside. He’s played outside linebacker all this year.

Vrabel has a team-leading 7.5 sacks, which also ranks among the leaders in the NFL.

Vrabel’s has four strip-sacks for the season; another came in the fourth quarter against the Jets in the season opener. Since joining the Patriots in 2001, Vrabel has 12 regular-season strip-sacks, and three in the playoffs.

“Vrabel’s just a guy that comes to work and puts his hard hat on,” New England defensive end Richard Seymour said. “You put him anywhere and he’ll just go out and play. He’s out there like a coach on the field. He’s as prepared as anybody that I’ve been around. You can be out there in the game and he’ll be [saying], `Watch out for this,' or 'Be looking for that.' ... He’s so in-tune with knowing what’s going on, so it’s no surprise what he’s been able to do, especially with him having a monster game today.”