When Bill Belichick said during Mike Vrabel’s Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony that he wasn’t surprised by Vrabel’s coaching success, which – ironically – came as the then-head coach for the Tennessee Titans came to Foxboro to be inducted in October of what turned out to be Belichick’s final season as head coach here in New England.
On Monday, Vrabel was introduced as the new head coach of the Patriots, and Belichick certainly appeared to be happy for his former player.
Belichick appeared on the Pat McAfee show this week reacting to the hiring of the former linebacker, and it sounds like Belichick is expecting big things as Vrabel embarks on his first season coaching in Foxboro.
“Yeah, I think Mike’s done a great job,” said Belichick. “Certainly, his entry into coaching was no surprise to any of us that knew him and they coached him at New England. I talked to him and he was at Ohio State, and then when he went to the Texans and then, of course, at Tennessee. We practiced against them and stayed in pretty close contact with Mike. So I have a ton of respect for Mike.”
“I think he does a great job. He prepares his teams well. They’re very good in situational football. They’re tough They’re competitive. They’re smart just like he was as a player. I think the teams that he’s coached and the position he’s coached follow very much in his playing style and in his preparation style. So I love Mike. I love everything that he stands for as a football coach, and I have a lot of respect for him. I’m sure he’ll do a great job.”
Vrabel, who was originally signed by Belichick ahead of the 2001 season, was introduced as the club’s head coach on Monday. Having played for both Belichick and also Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh before joining New England, Vrabel said he’s taken the experience from both coaches and tried to take what he’s learned and apply it to his current approach.
What that will look like compared to Tennessee remains to be seen. But the goal for now is to try and reverse the fortunes of a franchise that hasn’t had much luck in recent years, especially coming off of back-to-back 4-13 seasons.
“I’m not Bill, and I’m not Bill Cowher,” said Vrabel earliert his week. “I’m not anyone other than me. I’ve taken those experiences, and I’ve tried to form what I believe is critical to the success of a football team and an organization. But to say what those are going to look like, hopefully, just as successful. Our goals will be to win the AFC East, to host home playoff games, and to compete for championships. That’s what it’s going to take.”
Vrabel No Stranger to Going Above and Beyond
One funny story about Vrabel came during the former linebacker’s induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame back in 2023.
During the ceremony, Belichick recalled a funny moment as he was explaining that Vrabel enjoyed doing everything, including working on the scout team.
Belichick said that in one practice he looked up to see Vrabel wearing the jersey of Troy Polamalu on New England’s scout team defense, which apparently then went on to drive quarterback Tom Brady absolutely crazy.
“He took a lot of scout team plays which was, you know…that got a little testy at times with some of our offensive players, especially the quarterback,” said Belichick. “So there were teams that we would play, Pittsburgh was a good example, and teams we would play like Pittbsurgh, and they would have players that were kind of unpredictable. Like, you didn’t really know what they were going to do. And [Troy] Polamalu was a great player, but sometimes he’d blitz on his own, sometimes he’d line up on the line of scrimmage and run to the deep part of the field. Sometimes, he’d line up on the deep part of the field and come running full speed and blitz. You just didn’t know where he was going to be. Sometimes he was in the deep part of the field, and he’d run underneath an in-cut at 10 yards and intercept it.”
“So, I’d stand up and tell the team, ‘All right, look, we’ve really got to watch out for this guy. Polamalu, he’s very instinctive. You don’t really know what he’s going to do, he could be all over the place.’ So we get into practice, and I kind of turn around and look up, and there’s Mike playing free safety. He’s got the Polamalu jersey on. And he’s diving down and breaking up in-cuts when he’s supposed to be 25 yards deep, and he’s blitzing when he’s supposed to be in coverage and sacking the quarterback, and just generally disrupting practice. And the quarterback’s going crazy, It’s like, ‘Well he’s not going to do that!’ And Mike’s like, ‘Hey, Bill said, we don’t know what this guy’s gonna to do. I’m your man.’”
“And, of course, in retrospect, Tom [Brady] looked back on it, and, ‘You know what? I mean, he really taught me to like, I have to be careful of where this guy is because that’s the way he plays.’”
“That was an example of Mike on the practice field. Covered kickoffs, scout team, it didn’t matter. He was always there and he always competed. I would say, Mike, Rodney Harrison and those guys, every play was pretty much full-speed. There was no plays off with those guys.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
