Here’s what head coach Mike Vrabel had to say following Thursday night’s finale against the Giants:
*This was cut off at the beginning, but here’s the remaining available quotes from Vrabel’s session:
“…It was on a short week, and we had a couple of good days that you guys were able to watch. That’s kind of where I was and decided to do that and give us a chance to evaluate some other players.”
On his thoughts on the big picture state of the team:
“Well, again, we’re going to continually try to strengthen the roster every way we can. There’s a couple of options, right? You can try to trade for players. You could try to claim some players next week. So, again, we’re always going to be trying to strengthen the roster, and that’s what we’ll try to do here over the course of the next 10 days.
On his thoughts on the joint practices, the preseason games, and the training camp, and where they’re at now as he gets ready for the season:
“Well, I think it’s a good example. Where we’re at, again, is still building and developing. But you can see when we were able to do these things in other games that happened to us tonight, we were able win. It’s a clear and easy example to show the team that when we give up X plays or we have penalties on defense, that’s going to lead to scores and touchdowns. When we can’t get into drives, we’re going to struggle. And then obviously the turnovers. When we turn the football over, we give up big plays on defense. So it’ll be easy to teach from just to show where we were in other games and then where we were tonight.”
On what he’s happiest with over the course of the last month from their first practice to where they are tonight:
“I think that’s probably a tough question right now. Disappointed with just how we played or executed. But I mean, I think that the guys, I think that there’s glimpses of football in which we’d like to play it and continuing to improve each day. We’re so far from being where we need to be and just trying to get that message across, stringing one good day together, putting another day together. We’ve got four big days this week that we’ll really have to work.”
On kicking-wise, how he feels Andy [Borregales] is hitting the ball:
“Well, I mean, I think he’s hitting the ball okay. I think that we needed to try to… We expect to make those kicks. We’ll just have to kind of see where this thing plays out. Again, we got two kickers that we have a lot of faith in. I think he, again, swung it pretty well. I just don’t think that it went in. It wasn’t obviously straight enough. Last week’s was just disappointed in the operation in the manner in which he got out there in a timely fashion and kind of rushed it. That, I thought, improved, but we didn’t make the one we needed to make – the long one tonight.”
On the fact there was a lot of [Jabrill] Peppers out there, and if that was just because he hadn’t played in the preseason yet, or if there was something else behind the playing time there:
“Well, no. Just, again, we got to have 11 out there, but wanted to see him play with Craig [Woodson] alongside. He’s played a couple… Pep’s played a couple of different spots and wanted to just see him play safety alongside Craig. I know he’s played some in nickel. He’s played some in the box on third down. He’s played some different places. Really where we, tonight, wanted to see him was alongside Craig, playing safety exclusively.”
On the fact we saw a lot of Keion [White] in the first half and why he was on the field whereas other guys who have been starters or first team guys were not out there:
“Because I decided and talked to Keion, and wanted to see him work on some things and continue to develop and try to continue to improve. He was excited about playing. He wanted to play more. That’s kind of our whole job is to be ready to play and prepared until told otherwise. Just try to work on some things that we had been talking about and do it in game action.
On Kyle Dugger and what he’s continued to see from him:
“I think that he’s continued to take advantage of the opportunities and the reps, and I think he’s feeling more comfortable. We talked about a long rehab process in the offseason that he committed to, but it wasn’t a quick rehab process. I mean, he had surgery. I think that he’s gotten better. I think he’s improved. I think he’s feeling better. It looks like he’s feeling better on tape. That’s good to see. Those are all positive things. Making a play, two interceptions. I thought he flashed. I thought he triggered. I thought he tackled. I thought his length showed up, all these things. And we didn’t blitz anybody tonight. We didn’t do any of that, but just playing in our base scheme. Those things, I thought, showed up tonight.”
On if there’s anything important the next four days just to keep in mind before what happens on Tuesday?
“We put a lot into this, and into the players and getting to know them, and the roster is going to change. That’s part of the business that we’re in. We always want to make those transactions as respectful as possible, but that’s part of the game, and that’s kind of the life we’ve chosen. There’ll be some conversations that we’ll have with players over the next few days, and we will keep those, obviously, very respectful. Hopefully, some of those guys can either end up back on our team or on somebody else’s.”
On the fact there was a report today that Ja’Lynn Polk will have season-ending shoulder surgery and if he can add anything to that.
“No. Other than I’d like to find out where some of these come from, some of these rats around here, so we’ll figure that out.”
On the competition at left guard and how he feels that’s going and if they feel they’re nearing a decision:
“Full disclosure, I had that conversation with Zolak just earlier today, so I don’t think any time from the time that I talked about it today with him till now has gotten any clearer. But if it does, I’ll let you know.”
Sorry.
“No, I know. That’s okay. That’s why I was telling you. I only made that comment to him eight hours ago.”
[Zolak: That was a pregame interview.]
“Okay, pregame interview. Sorry.”
On what encourages him about this team and what he likes about his team going into the regular season:
“I think that we started to have an identity. I think that, again, you have to put it on tape each and every day. I thought that we were heading in the right direction. It doesn’t matter who you play in this league, it’s got to come from your team. Your team has to look a certain way, whether it’s the first string guys or the guys that are trying to build some depth and be multiple position backups or whatever that … special teams players, role players, that has to carry through. I liked where we were starting to go defensively and showing some glimpses of the team defense. I liked our ability to take it. I thought our special teams units had done some nice things. We didn’t have as many opportunities tonight. There’ll be some young players that I’m excited about that maybe we haven’t heard a whole lot from that are continuing to improve.”
On speaking of left guard, it seems like Caeden [Wallace] cross-trained less than some of the other guys, and if there’s any reason or thinking behind that:
“Well, we’d always hoped that he would be in that competition. Got injured, missed a few days, and came back. So gave him a large opportunity there at left guard today. That’s kind of where he was starting to make strides, I think, in the offseason. And we’ll just continue to coach him. And he’s gotten reps at other places in practice, and maybe that hasn’t shown up as much in the games.”
(Editor’s Note: This transcript is done via the available footage and is subject to typos. If you spot something, please take a moment to let me know in the comments below.)
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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.
