TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel’s Press Conference 9/22
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Here’s what Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his Monday press conference on September 22, 2025.
On after a night to think about this one and watch film, if he has a better idea how he might handle Rahmondre Stevenson’s fumbling issue:
“Well, we got to continue to practice the crap out of it. We also have to do a better job of protecting said person with the ball, whether that’s the quarterback, whether that’s the running back, or the receiver. We’re all responsible for the security of the football. Starts with the person who has it, and then it falls on the people that are blocking.”
“Again, we’ll continue to rep it. If we have to put two hands on the football when we’re going through there, that’s what we’ll have to do. The only thing I know how to do is to continue to practice it and work it. But then also, maybe it’s not so much the person that you see, it’s the one you don’t see. There was a few opportunities that we can show them here in a little bit of that. And yes, the person is responsible for taking care of the football. But again, the other people also have a critical job in ball security.
On while understanding the production can be a result of what the defense gives them, what can his receiver group do to be more productive going forward:
“Well, I just think keep doing what they’ve been doing. There’s opportunities, and we just have to be able to find them. When things are there, just, again, make the plays that you’re supposed to make. You could see that there’s opportunities, whether that’s an in-cut by Kayshon on third and long or inward-breaking routes by Diggs. Those are all positive things. And again, you can track stats, and we can track wins or separation in man coverage and match. Again, there’s one football, and when the opportunities are there, just to continue to make them. And then how well they play with the football or without the football. I think I saw a good example of Diggsy there helping Rhamondre, spring him for a big play, something that didn’t happen in Miami, and was able to come back and adjust and take the coaching points and get the look exactly how he needed it, and helped him spring for an explosive game. Those are all positive things. And I know as receivers, they want to catch touchdowns, they want to catch the ball. But we just got to continue to spread the ball around and take the football where it’s supposed to go, when it’s supposed to go there, and timing, and rhythm and ball placement.”
On the fact he mentioned last night how they’re going to need Rhamondre this season and how does he balance holding someone accountable and valuing the message that might send to his team versus making sure he still has a guy on board in rhythm, when he does feel like he’ll need him down the line:
“Yeah, we’re going to need him. We’re going to need everybody. Got talent, skillset, Is a good protector. We trust him in protection. We’ll get through this. I think a lot of it is just the consistency and continuing to build confidence. But you have to go out there and do it. How I manage that from an accountability standpoint, I would say as of now, I don’t know what that will look like later on in the week as far as how we distribute the reps.”
On during his introductory press conference he talked about accountability and how he kind of needs to know guys before he can hold them accountable because he doesn’t want there to push back, and if he knows guys well enough to hold them accountable right now:
“Yeah, I do. But I also got to try to balance winning football games, and gaining yards, and scoring points, and all those things. So there’s a … We just got to get it fixed. I know there’s no easy fix, and the only thing I know how to do is work, and we’ll work at it. If I feel like or we feel like that it’s in the best interest to limit those opportunities, then we’ll have to do that.”
On how he handles the mental part of that, lisenting to the Hall of Fame speeches, Julian [Edelman] said, ‘This guy believed in me when I was down,’ and how important is that:
“We believe in them, or they wouldn’t be here. We believe in them, each and every one of them. Again, just putting them in the positions that they feel comfortable and that there’s trust, and they have confidence to do their job. Then, as a professional athlete, you have to be willing to risk something, to get something out of it. I think that it’s easy to sometimes second-guess yourself. So Rhamondre’s, I’m sure, very aware of fumbling, Antonio, Drake, everybody that fumbled. And so we’ll come back with a resolve to go. And what happens on one week doesn’t necessarily guarantee it’s going to happen the next week, and it can’t, and I’m positive that it won’t.”
On if he anticipates having Terrell [Williams] back at the end of this weekend?
“We’ll see where things are here going forward here in the next couple of days. But Terrell’s around. We just got to make sure that we’re trying to build some consistency with how we do things.”
On the fumble by Drake Maye, and him saying he was trying to make a play to TreVeyon Henderson. Against the Raiders. He made a similar play where he was getting taken down and flipped it out, and how does he walk that line, and where is the line with a young quarterback:
“I think we’ve heard it here before, but everybody’s trying to make a play. We just need to make good plays and not putting the ball at risk and understanding that there’s a timing element to protection and that we certainly don’t have all day based on the amount of people that we keep in in protection. So I think that that’s critical that once it gets past the first or second read, that we’re going to have to be ready to get rid of the football or make sure that we’re securing it at the end of the play.
We saw a lot more Jack Gibbens and Charles Woods in this game. How do you think they held up with the increased opportunities?
“Well, we played good defense and got stops when they were in there. I think they were okay. We were going to rotate, and when we rotated, we started, I don’t think it was just those two players solely, but we started playing good defense and settling down. So I think we just stuck with it.”
On the fact he was there on Saturday at the Hall of Fame, watching two central and key parts of this organization, and what did he get from what both of them represented and what they said:
“Well, I think with Coach Parcells, it’s just his way of making connections with players and building a program, I think, is something that I’ve always tried to take from that. And again, I know that practices were different, and as the years go on, they were harder, and there were three a days back then, and they practiced for three hours at a time. I’ve told those stories before, but I think just the foundation. When I got here, a lot of those players had been here under Coach Parcells. They helped me come from one organization to another and understand what the expectations were and kind of how they were brought up in his system and what things that he felt like were important. For Jules, I just think that everybody, I think it’s the journey to the NFL and his success was about work and perseverance and having a belief and just continuing to work and taking advantage of your opportunity, building confidence on special teams, building and being versatile. Obviously, the connection that he made with his players, with his teammates, was something that I took from his time up there.”
On the fact they won the toss and took the ball, and what made that the right decision for the team:
“Well, I don’t know if it was the right one or not. We didn’t get a great kickoff return, and we fumbled. But the idea was that maybe we could get a good return and that we could get off to a fast start. Worked in Miami, didn’t work so good yesterday. So just try to keep figuring out ways to help us there early in the game to get off to a good start.”
On the Demario Douglas play, and if that route run to the proper depth:
“We need to probably get one revolution further, but even if we don’t, we just have to knife. When we get between two defenders, again, we had great examples in Miami where we split those guys, and that’s a decision that’s for the team. We can’t circle them up. Mack had one earlier where he tried to do the same thing. We need to knife between two defenders. It’s a little different if you’re in man coverage and it’s one guy. But when there’s two guys, we have to take the yardage that’s there and be able to knife and extend drives.”
On the Terrell situation and if he’s feeling better, in the last two weeks, he’s mentioned he wants more consistency in that operation and if that means that maybe he’s toying with the idea of Terrell in an advisory role more than a play call role:
“I don’t know if I’m ready to say that yet. I’m just making sure that, one, his health is first and foremost, and that’s critically important. Again, just making sure that the consistency is there so that we know what to account for and plan for. I don’t want to say that it’s fluid, but we’ll see where things are. If he’s going to continue to help us, I just don’t know, based on the availability, what that’s going to look like.”
“The communication and everything that we’ve been doing over there has been good. His ability to help us has been really good. But I also don’t want to go back and forth. I don’t think that that’s good for anybody either. I appreciate you asking about Terrell, but right now, we’ll just, I would say, moving forward, be where we were last week. That’s where I would anticipate it being this week.”
(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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