TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Press Conference 9/10
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Here’s what head coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his press conference with reporters on Wednesday:
OPENING STATEMENT:
“Okay, good. Just want to update you here. I didn’t want to put out a statement. Would rather just speak on it myself. So due to some unforeseen ongoings here with Terrell [Williams], Terrell is going to be, Terrell Williams will be away for the next few days. It’s nothing related to the incident from March, but it was something that just came up. We’ll have to run some more tests, and we think it’s best, and I think it’s best that he focus on that and we prepare for Miami with what we’ve been doing. We’ll talk to you a little bit later in the week on Friday about how the calling of the game will go defensively. Zak [Kuhr] and I have been working with the staff to make sure that we’re where we need to be.”
“That’ll be all we’ll talk about with Terrell, but I just want to you guys know what would be going on there here for the next few days, and then we’ll keep you posted as anything comes up. That’s where we’re at here to start.”
On if we might we see Christian Gonzales today?
“Well, I don’t think we’ll see him today, continuing to improve, which is positive, and working hard. But I don’t think we’ll see him today on the practice field. So again, just working hard and keep proving, staying engaged, still preparing as a starter, and asking questions in the meetings and all those things. So that’s where we’re at today.”
On with Terrell [Williams], if it’s something that just came up today or if it was after the game:
“The timing was sometime between the game and let’s say today. You know what I mean? But it wasn’t today. It was earlier in the week. So this is where we’re at. And I want the best for him, want the best for him and our players, our players’ families, and everybody else. So again, can’t speculate right now. I just want to make sure that he’s focused on getting results and figuring out what the next step is here or medically.”
On if Zak’s experience over the course of the spring and the summer, maybe help set him up for this week?
“Sure. I mean I think Zak does a fantastic job, always has, since he’s been with us before. Work through the game plan, we’ll work through practice, we’ll work through the normal operation of third down, short yardage, and red zone. We’ll have to be great. We’ll have to have great preparation for an offense that motions a lot and relies on their speed and their timing, their precision. It’s always a big challenge to play this team.”
On what his recollection is of the times that he had to deal with Miami and South Florida in the early portion of the season? Because it can be a grind:
“Well, it’s going to be warm, it’s going to be wet, it’ll be humid, I’m sure it’ll rain. Probably lightning, who knows? But it’ll rain and then it’ll stop. I think as a rookie, I think we might have played down there as a young player back when the dirt was still there and it would rain and it would fill up and it wouldn’t drain very well. Then it would just be grass and then water. Then after it stopped, it would eventually drain out. But I think that’s about what the forecast is every single time you go down there.”
On the fact he hasn’t been here the last few years, but the Patriots organization has had a tough time with the Dolphins and if he feels the weight of that at all this week:
“No, I don’t. Every week is different. Every week is a huge challenge. I feel the opportunity to go on the road and win a division game. That’s what I feel, and that’s where our thought process is, is that we want to try to get off to a good start. And if we don’t, we can’t worry about it. You know what I mean? These are all things that we have to be able to overcome. Whether you get off to a good start, you’re still going to have to finish strong. If you don’t get off to a great start, you got to go on to the next play. Just the understanding that that’s how this game goes, and we have to be able to work past it, and we have to continue to practice that way, that if it’s not perfect, that we get what we can get, we’re decisive, we’re aggressive, we get back in the huddle, and then we get another call, and we get lined up, and we continue to build it together, and we try to bring three phases together and put the return opportunities that we have to help our offense, to then our offense is able to score or flip the field, provide our defense with opportunities. We get some turnovers, take care of the ball. That’s the formula to winning.”
On the fact they want to limit big plays every game and obviously this week, how big of an emphasis is that with Tyreek Hill:
“Well, we’re certainly going to have to make them earn it, and we’re going to have to find ways to get the drive stopped. You either have to do what the Colts did, which was turn it over, or you’re going to have to make a play along the way and make them earn it, pick and choose your spots to try to be aggressive. It’s not just Tyreek. They got a fantastic orchestrator. I mean, Tua does a fantastic job of knowing where he wants to go with the ball. Quick delivery, he’s extremely accurate. Then the speed with Waddle and Tyreek and the whole team. Then again, then they have a fullback that has versatility and can play on the end of the line of scrimmage, motions. Usually, every big play, he’s in the run game. He’s somewhere near it.”
On as a player and a coach now, what has he enjoyed about playing on the road:
“Well, you have to embrace that. You have to travel with the attitude that we need everybody, that we’re going with our group. The things that we talked about fundamentally earlier about playing great defense and being able to control the game and create some turnovers. There are certain things that you have to do on the road, whether you do them or you eliminate some of the other bad football. That’s what you have to do to win on the road in the division.”
On the fact the Raiders were able to have some success over the middle, specifically off-play action, and how does he limit the disadvantage of linebackers having to cover over the middle against the speed of Dolphins:
“I think that sometimes we can try to panic back there a little bit. That’s what happens sometimes when you’re in zone coverage and then man coverage, you just can’t let your guy catch the ball. Those are the kind of philosophies that we talk about. It’s a fine line, but continuing to rep that and turn and panic and look those guys up underneath and force them to try to go somewhere else or go to a check down.”
On when Zak is taking the role that he is now, if he has the full latitude to be the defensive play caller:
“We’ll cover that later on in the week. I think that we’ve worked through that. I’ll continue to talk about that later in the week. I think I’m excited. I know everybody else is about our preparation and what we’ve tried to put in and see today what works and what looks good. Most importantly, what the players can understand and feel comfortable playing fast and aggressive.”
On what went into the decision to release D.J. James:
“Probably opportunity and somebody else to earn another opportunity.”
On when was that realization was because he was someone, obviously, a week ago he wanted to work with:
“Yeah, I think that just giving somebody else another opportunity this week, and we’ll see where that goes. But I appreciated what DJ was able to do and compete and work hard, extremely hard. Some of these things are going to be fluid. We have to try to continue to churn the roster and see who can help us.
On if he’s going to appoint a new game day captain different from the week one and what his expectation is for those game day captains to be different from those six regular captains:
“Yeah, the votes came out how they came out. We announced captains, but I’ve always kind of liked to have a game captain or somebody that worked through something or was going back to his hometown or played well last year. There’s different reasons for that. I think I mentioned because KC had received votes as a special team’s captain and as a defensive captain that I thought it would be a good idea to start off with him.”
“The role of the captain during the game is they’re going to say heads or tails and figure out if we defer. I mean, just the leadership is that what we need and continuing to grow the leadership and the accountability. Again, at the end of the day, teams that hold each other accountable to all the little things, to the details, to doing the right things, to professionalism, are the teams that, in the end, I think, can sustain this grind of the season because that’s it, we’re in it. Now it’s one day at a time, and it’s going to have to have great leadership and great focus and an energy to improve.”
On the fact he mentioned earlier in the week, he always tries to get into the right play. Sometimes you’re going to get to the line of scrimmage and get a look and say, ‘No, we can’t run that play.’ You said, ‘Well, maybe we can.’ Is this kind of a data collection thing? ‘Let’s run the play.’ It might be-
“We’ve been through this where you’re not going to block the safety. Sometimes the guy makes him miss, sometimes he runs them over. We watch all the games. That’s sometimes how it happens, and sometimes the guy makes a tackle. I’ve been through that. You just don’t want to put people in harm’s way if they’re pressuring and you hand a ball off into some pressure. So again, I think it’s all relative in having some decisive answers to give yourself the best chance. You don’t want to hand the ball off into somebody that’s unblocked and blitzing. Well, if somebody’s, for example, let’s say maybe at six or seven yards, well, let’s let it eat and let somebody make him miss.”
On if he gets to a point where on a coaching staff, ‘Let’s try and run some of these that might not be the greatest look, try and see how it goes.’ If it doesn’t work, then the guy goes, ‘See, that’s why we don’t want to run that play.’
“Yeah, no, I don’t think we need to do that. I think we want to be all on the same page on what the expectations are and being sound. As long as the players understand it, then that’s the most important thing. We don’t want to do any, ‘I told you so,’ that’s not how we’re looking to do business. We’re just trying to be great here for the players in preparation. Great energy, structure, practice, continue to improve, and get started off and find a way to go down and win a football game.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)
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