Vrabel Press Conference

[BUSTAMOVE]

Both things were true: Patsies had bad coaches AND bad grocery shoppers. That's why a Clean Sweep should've been in order; but Bendover Bobby just...can't...let go...

I am all right with Wolf around for the draft
Not making the picks but assisting in the scouting dept. I believe Cowden will be in Wolf’s and Vrabes ear about those picks
My guess is he leaves after the draft if not then more of a position in the scouting side of things

 

[The Gr8est]

I do wonder if things go sideways if we'll hear from a lot of people saying, "I wanted BJ."

You know there will be some, but the risk of a rookie hire going sideways, a la Adam Gase, is there.

Vrabel was a no-brainer hire, and he is reminiscent in many ways to the Pats hire of BB, both in history and style.

We have a chance to be REALLY happy with this hire.

 

[Ring 6]

Now that it's over I'm glad it went this way, rather have Abdul Carter than a few more wins and a mid-first picking a weak draft. However, if they just lost that last freaking game.....!

The floor is low with Vrabel, he is a good coach, but the ceiling is pretty high also.

My biggest fear this year was they would get some fluky wins and dupe left into believing they were on the right track

 

[signbabybrady]

I see no basis whatever for assuming that "it is clear Vrabel is in charge." If by "being in charge" you mean "has final say in all roster decisions," literally no one - no one - including despite multiple opportunities over the past several days, Vrabel himself - has said that that is the case. Even if you are right in assuming that this is a contest in which Vrabel will in the end prevail, I have no idea why - particularly given Wolf's failed performance under two previous coaches - the Krafts would permit a situation in which the distractions of such a contest are allowed. It looks worrisomely like the Mayo situation in which another of Robert's talentless binkies is forced, without any attention to actual qualification, upon the team. It was a stupid basis for hiring Mayo, and it is stupid basis for retaining Wolf.

I have no idea why Vrabel is being such a wuss about it: surprising given the nature of the hype leading up to his hire, isn't it?

Wolf should have been fired when Mayo was fired. I hear a lot of happy talk about how it will all work out, but I have heard literally no statement and seen no empiricsl evidence that that is the case.

You know me I'm a Bill guy but I don't think it's fair to Wolf to call his work under Bill a failure. That work lies in Bill as the leader.

Maybe Wolf advised Bill on every bad pick and is to blame but we have no way of knowing that and obviously that's hyperbole on my part. But about all we do know is that whatever he did it caught the attention of his bosses to place him above Groh after they fired Bill. I wouldn't automatically call that Wolf failing just because Bill's drafts were bad.

Under Mayo he has the excuse that most of the work for the 2024 draft was done during the 23 season prior to him being in charge and he was also in control but unnamed until after the draft so we also don't know exactly how that workload split.

Despite an excuse or 2 I give him zero passes for 2024 work however I pretty much give him a full pass for work done under Bill as that's on Bill.

Lastly this just brings up more questions on the Kraft's. What went on as far as power struggle the last few years of Bill? What was Wolf's role? My assumption he clearly was with the Krafts but I still blame the Kraft's more than Wolf he's a scout not a politician. And probably most importantly what did the Kraft's actually see in Wolf to put him in his place of power? I assume they see something of value and that it wasn't just all ass kissing.

PS: I see the power structure now as Kraft has his guy and Vrabel has his guy. They need to collaborate and scout jointly but do so in Vrabel's vision and I assume Vrabel breaks the ties.

 

[Zuma]

You know me I'm a Bill guy but I don't think it's fair to Wolf to call his work under Bill a failure. That work lies in Bill as the leader.

Maybe Wolf advised Bill on every bad pick and is to blame but we have no way of knowing that and obviously that's hyperbole on my part. But about all we do know is that whatever he did it caught the attention of his bosses to place him above Groh after they fired Bill. I wouldn't automatically call that Wolf failing just because Bill's drafts were bad.

Under Mayo he has the excuse that most of the work for the 2024 draft was done during the 23 season prior to him being in charge and he was also in control but unnamed until after the draft so we also don't know exactly how that workload split.

Despite an excuse or 2 I give him zero passes for 2024 work however I pretty much give him a full pass for work done under Bill as that's on Bill.

Lastly this just brings up more questions on the Kraft's. What went on as far as power struggle the last few years of Bill? What was Wolf's role? My assumption he clearly was with the Krafts but I still blame the Kraft's more than Wolf he's a scout not a politician. And probably most importantly what did the Kraft's actually see in Wolf to put him in his place of power? I assume they see something of value and that it wasn't just all ass kissing.

PS: I see the power structure now as Kraft has his guy and Vrabel has his guy. They need to collaborate and scout jointly but do so in Vrabel's vision and I assume Vrabel breaks the ties.

Vrabel will break the tie…that’s how I see it as well.

 

[KCSVEN]

My biggest fear this year was they would get some fluky wins and dupe left into believing they were on the right track

I know the Bills win doesn't count but it's in the win column. Imagine if Polk got his heal down vs TN? That's 5 wins. If they had started Maye 1 week earlier vs Dolphins they probably win that. they also somehow bungled the Colts game
6-7 wins and Mayo probably stays.
I shudder at the thought LOL. Though I guess if the coaching staff was competent, they would have won those games so it really wasn't going to happen.

Not counting the last game, they were 2 and 6 in one score games. Vrabel is over .500 in 1 score games so he might go 5-3?
Possibly 3 extra wins last year with Vrabel so looking at a 7-win team. Mind boggling how many bad teams are in the NFL

 

[Thelonious]

You know me I'm a Bill guy but I don't think it's fair to Wolf to call his work under Bill a failure. That work lies in Bill as the leader.

Maybe Wolf advised Bill on every bad pick and is to blame but we have no way of knowing that and obviously that's hyperbole on my part. But about all we do know is that whatever he did it caught the attention of his bosses to place him above Groh after they fired Bill. I wouldn't automatically call that Wolf failing just because Bill's drafts were bad.

Under Mayo he has the excuse that most of the work for the 2024 draft was done during the 23 season prior to him being in charge and he was also in control but unnamed until after the draft so we also don't know exactly how that workload split.

Despite an excuse or 2 I give him zero passes for 2024 work however I pretty much give him a full pass for work done under Bill as that's on Bill.

Lastly this just brings up more questions on the Kraft's. What went on as far as power struggle the last few years of Bill? What was Wolf's role? My assumption he clearly was with the Krafts but I still blame the Kraft's more than Wolf he's a scout not a politician. And probably most importantly what did the Kraft's actually see in Wolf to put him in his place of power? I assume they see something of value and that it wasn't just all ass kissing.

PS: I see the power structure now as Kraft has his guy and Vrabel has his guy. They need to collaborate and scout jointly but do so in Vrabel's vision and I assume Vrabel breaks the ties.

Yeah, when it requires this many excuses to justify a guy's tenure, you fire him.

 

[Thelonious]

Vrabel will break the tie…that’s how I see it as well.

What evidence or statement can you cite to justify this view?

 

[Zuma]

What evidence or statement can you cite to justify this view?

I’ve got a magic eight ball

 

[PatsFan2]

I know the Bills win doesn't count but it's in the win column. Imagine if Polk got his heal down vs TN? That's 5 wins. If they had started Maye 1 week earlier vs Dolphins they probably win that. they also somehow bungled the Colts game
6-7 wins and Mayo probably stays.
I shudder at the thought LOL. Though I guess if the coaching staff was competent, they would have won those games so it really wasn't going to happen.

Not counting the last game, they were 2 and 6 in one score games. Vrabel is over .500 in 1 score games so he might go 5-3?
Possibly 3 extra wins last year with Vrabel so looking at a 7-win team. Mind boggling how many bad teams are in the NFL

And we had the worse OL and WR Rooms ... imagine if we improve both.

 

[Ring 6]

I know the Bills win doesn't count but it's in the win column. Imagine if Polk got his heal down vs TN? That's 5 wins. If they had started Maye 1 week earlier vs Dolphins they probably win that. they also somehow bungled the Colts game
6-7 wins and Mayo probably stays.
I shudder at the thought LOL. Though I guess if the coaching staff was competent, they would have won those games so it really wasn't going to happen.

Not counting the last game, they were 2 and 6 in one score games. Vrabel is over .500 in 1 score games so he might go 5-3?
Possibly 3 extra wins last year with Vrabel so looking at a 7-win team. Mind boggling how many bad teams are in the NFL

It’s more than that though. It’s the culture and operation. It’s what was acceptable that shouldn’t be.
Vrabel also would not have allowed that disaster if an off season to happen.

 

[RobertWeathers]

In the beginning of his segment on WEEI this morning, Vrabel was talking to Wiggy about their playing days and playing TE and stuff. Greg mentioned Christian Fauria and that Vrabel "started stealing his catches in the red zone". Vrabel responded "it wasn't hard to steal catches from Christian."

On Vrabel's chat with Kirsh and Perillo, he says, "What is this the old folks home?"

Grade A ballbuster.....love it.

 

[fresnostatealum]

I’ve seen every little interview Vrabel has done since the presser and find it interesting that he seemingly goes out of his way to bring up Eliot’s name. Feels like a Kraft mandated talking point.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I see no basis whatever for assuming that "it is clear Vrabel is in charge." If by "being in charge" you mean "has final say in all roster decisions," literally no one - no one - including despite multiple opportunities over the past several days, Vrabel himself - has said that that is the case. Even if you are right in assuming that this is a contest in which Vrabel will in the end prevail, I have no idea why - particularly given Wolf's failed performance under two previous coaches - the Krafts would permit a situation in which the distractions of such a contest are allowed. It looks worrisomely like the Mayo situation in which another of Robert's talentless binkies is forced, without any attention to actual qualification, upon the team. It was a stupid basis for hiring Mayo, and it is stupid basis for retaining Wolf.

I have no idea why Vrabel is being such a wuss about it: surprising given the nature of the hype leading up to his hire, isn't it?

Wolf should have been fired when Mayo was fired. I hear a lot of happy talk about how it will all work out, but I have heard literally no statement and seen no empiricsl evidence that that is the case.

TL;DR, you lost me with your first sentence. I am very happy to say that Vrabel is in charge, or he wouldn't have come here. The fact that he already added his personnel guy is strong evidence that he has that covered. I am not a Wolf fan either. For now he is part of Vrabel's virtual staff, doing the leg work on identifying players. Please listen to any of his press conferences and it is clear that he is driving the bus. Within seconds it becomes very clear that things have changed a lot. Anything nice he says about Wolf and working with the rest of the organization is what a confident leader does when taking over an organization. He is not going to have any Mayo moments oversharing with the press. All is well, so far so good.

 

[signbabybrady]

What evidence or statement can you cite to justify this view?

It's just logic. Kraft has his guy and Vrabel has his guy. So the tie breaker is either Krafts or Vrabel. I don't think the Kraft's want to be the tie breaker on football things that why they hired these guys and they are still the owners so they can always just put their foot down on anything.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

You know there will be some, but the risk of a rookie hire going sideways, a la Adam Gase, is there.

Vrabel was a no-brainer hire, and he is reminiscent in many ways to the Pats hire of BB, both in history and style.

We have a chance to be REALLY happy with this hire.

If there is a knock on Vrabel, it is that he was the safe choice. After all the BS the last few years this team needed a reliable coach to get everything back on line. I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with a good QB.

 

[signbabybrady]

Yeah, when it requires this many excuses to justify a guy's tenure, you fire him.

Hahaha fair enough. I don't mean to be defending him just trying to extrapolate how and why we got to where we are with the current group of guys running things.

Bottom line is he didn't get fired (at least yet I suppose maybe after the draft still) so I think it's worth it to put his timeline and roles out there and not just assume he's useless based on our very limited view of what he did.

 

[The Gr8est]

If there is a knock on Vrabel, it is that he was the safe choice. After all the BS the last few years this team needed a reliable coach to get everything back on line. I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with a good QB.

Vrabel also spent the last year in self evaluation and improvement.

There is a lot to like about the Vrabel hire.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I’ve seen every little interview Vrabel has done since the presser and find it interesting that he seemingly goes out of his way to bring up Eliot’s name. Feels like a Kraft mandated talking point.

I think it's mostly about Bob's PR and saving face but his reasoning is legitimate.

When Bill was fired, he made a big deal about power, checks and balances, and collaboration. He didn't want the franchise to depend on one person. He wanted a distributed management structure.

I truly believe Bob shared with Vrabel his concerns re: Bill's org/control and didn't want to be beholden to one man running the whole operation anymore. Bob thought Wolf was competent enough and someone he wanted to be the personnel side of the house. I believe Vrabel understood that but clearly his conditions were he wanted final say on people/type of player and the best way to move fast on player acquisition was bringing in Cowden. Bob saw it as a compromise and workable.

Whether Wolf sticks around is a different story.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Vrabel also spent the last year in self evaluation and improvement.

There is a lot to like about the Vrabel hire.

He wouldn't be the first coach in history who had a chance to learn from mistakes in his first HC job before joining the team. Hoping for another 20 year run, LOL.