TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel’s Press Conference 9/29
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his press conference on Monday, September 29, 2025.
On his thoughts of Christian Gonzalez and his re-entry:
“I thought it was good. I thought it was okay for him… Good to be out there. I think it can always be better. I think he knows that. But for just the first game back, some good stuff. He’ll continue to work, and he’ll continue to have a game plan each and every week. Excited that he was able to put a full work in there and have confidence in playing and conditioning and all those things that are positive.”
On what it’s been like working with Josh McDaniels so far, and how impressed was he with the job he did last week and yesterday:
“Well, it’s not only Josh. I enjoy working with Josh. I enjoy working with the entire offensive staff. It’s good coaches on that side. There’s a lot of collaboration. I like kind of where we are from an efficiency standpoint, just trying to work ahead and be detailed and making sure that everybody is doing their roles and assignments and … We work the run game. Then Josh and Thomas and Todd and Ashton will work some of the passing game when it goes to third down, and then we all get together on red zone, and those things certainly paid off last week. So been able to marry some plays and when you can convert and you can string some drives together or some plays together, then things look alike, and then that all complements. We’ve talked about that before. When you just live in a three-and-out world and you’re not extending drives, it’s hard to marry those plays.”
On the touchdown throw to Hunter Henry. How much does Drake’s ability to throw on the move and throw from some different arm angles open things up for him and that staff:
“To be able to extend plays, move the pocket, and move the launch point is critical. Those plays have helped us, and he’s done a good job with him.”
On giving Ramondre the carry on the first play of the game, and the most snaps among the running guys, if that was intentional:
“No, not intentional, other than that he’s… Our first, second down back. He’s the best protector. It was good to see him be able to break one there. If we finish one more guy, he probably scores. Again, we’re going to keep practicing ball security with every single player here. There’s a lot of really good examples of guys protecting the guy with the ball, which I believe and I know is critical to our success. I think it was just good for us to play a good, clean game overall.”
On the fact after the game, he gave an acknowledgement to Pop [Douglas] for his block, specifically on the Hunter Henry shutdown. Stef [Diggs] has talked to us a couple of times over the last couple of weeks about blocking, and if he could speak to the importance of blocking at that position and how it can maybe be a difference maker:
“When you don’t block safeties in the National Football League, they make the tackle. Not only do they make the tackle, they usually inflict some sign of blow delivery. They’re not going in there lightly. Again, that’s the idea, not that we need receivers that are out there with neck rolls on, and they have to be multifaceted and be able to execute the things that we need them to do in the pass game, but also when there’s opportunities to go find people to block, they have to do that as well. I think the more that we can show them that it leads to extra yards and it leads to X plays and it leads to touchdowns, that the more that they’re believing in it and buying into it. I think that there’s great examples, especially yesterday on the tape, of us doing that.”
On the fact Milton Williams said yesterday it felt like the Panthers were trying to keep the defensive line out of the game, and if he saw the same thing:
“I mean, the ball came out quick. I thought that our ability to affect the quarterback from the standpoint of inaccuracy and efficiency was good. We could start talking about not giving the rush lanes, which I thought was a key, especially on third down, his ability previously to extend those things. I think there’s ways to factor, and guys did at times factor, but we didn’t allow Bryce [Young] the easy yards out of the pocket that we had seen previously. I think that was a positive.”
On what he’s seeing from Christian Barmore and how is this plan that you’ve had for him leading up to games where it seems like maybe one day he’s not practicing, and how that’s leading to whatever he’s seeing:
“Well, he’s doing a lot of work and he’s getting a lot of practice time in. There may be a day where he’s limited throughout the week. But I see a disruptive player. I know he wants to be able to finish some of those plays. He’s drawn some holding penalties. I think there was another one that probably wasn’t called, and hit the quarterback and got close.”
“And so, again, keep working. I know trying to keep him from getting frustrated about what goes down on the stat sheet, but causing penalties and being able to still be disruptive will help us. And then that’s also going to lead to him finishing some of those plays and getting some of those tackles for loss or sacks that he wants That all defensive linemen want.”
On the fact as good as everything was yesterday, it was the second straight game with a slow start in the first quarter with some penalties and things on both sides of the ball, and how concerned is he about those slow starts and if he can put his finger on maybe what’s going on there:
“No, I mean, we want to start fast, and if we don’t, there’s a lot of game left. There’s games where we started fast and gave up some yards after that or whatever it may be. Just being ready to go. It sounds so, again, adjusting quickly to what they’re doing offensively. I mean, what they’re doing to us when we’re on defense, moving parts and just settling down, probably just settling down on their script and saying, ‘Hey, these are new formations that they hadn’t previously shown, or these are new motions.’ ‘Hey, let’s settle down, and then make a stop.’ And some of that was our own doing. Some of it was some new scheme plays.”
“And then, I’m trying to think here, the special teams, I thought we did okay. We had a hold 40 yards from the ball. We covered exactly what we talked about with the dirty kick and being able to put those guys in the position to field it. Had a good return. Just unfortunate that they called the penalty that they did. Offensively, we had a shot at the first third down. It didn’t go that way, didn’t hit it, timing, everything else. Whether we start fast or we don’t, we’re still going to have to be really good for the rest of the three and a half quarters or whatever it ends up being. We’ll keep working towards that and keep making that a priority. But I did like the fact that we answered and, like we talked about, it just takes one play, and it happened to be Marcus’s yesterday, and everything took off from there.”
On if this game was good in terms of being a message validator of what they need to do to win, the no turnovers…
“Probably, yeah. I think you have to be able to see it, and then we can coach them hard from that. We can coach them hard from that. When you win, we just have to make sure that we’re not allowing for things that we would in a loss, and making sure that all the things that we believe in that we’re doing. But certainly very complementary performance, whether that’s punting the ball down there, they catch it inside the five-yard line, Schools [Brenden Schooler] goes down there, sprinting 45 yards, comes to balance. Exact technique that we preach and talk about, comes to balance, makes a tackle inside the five, we get a stop, they punt, we get the ball back, and then we score. So that’s really what the idea is, and that’s what we need to try to continue to do.”
On the fourth down completion to Diggs, if he can shed some light on that one and if that was one where he has to adjust in real-time as the route is developing or as the play is developing:
“Just, I think not going to get into a whole lot of scheme here, Phil [Perry]. So, quarterback and receiver being on the same page.”
On what he’s seeing from some of the penalties related to defensive alignment, if that’s an emphasis this year, or if it’s the officiating crew:
“Just line up on sides. I mean, it’s pro football. Talk about it in practice and go to the game. I think the line of scrimmage, however they call it, that’s where we have to be. If they feel like we’re too far in and it’s too far to warn them to back up the next play, then that’s what it is. We have to line up on sides and do business as business is being done. If they’re calling it tight, then there’s no sense in complaining about it.”
On the fact he mentioned special teams a few times. Marcus’ return, Bryce’s [Baringer] punt with Brenden [Schooler]. Punt returns this year, even before yesterday’s game, is at an all-time high due to three weeks, about 11.9 yards per return, we’ve seen a lot of block kicks, and if it’s something he’s paying attention to and if it’s giving him more cause to spend more time on it with his team:
“Well, we always want to be sound in every area. We want to make sure that we’re protecting our punter and kicker, and especially with the uptick here with the field goal blocks that have determined, like you said, the games. Just not taking anything for granted, whether that’s an extra point, if it’s a short field goal. Then there’s great athletes as punt returners. Ball placement is critical. The coverage lanes and all those things are critical. You saw what happened to us against Miami. But then also we were able to come back and have a great day in punt return yesterday. We covered punts better and just never taking a play off, really that could determine the outcome.”
On the fact [Stefon] Diggs said yesterday, on his comfort level in this offense was about a 5 out of 10. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
“We need to start making sure that comfort level continues to increase. Continuing to improve, this is a progress league. We understand that. We have to continue to get better and improve as the season goes on, and we need to make sure that we understand that, and we have to be better next week and moving forward than we were last week. So hopefully, going into Buffalo, we can get it to be 60% instead of 50%.”
On the fact TreVeyon [Henderson] had a [holding penlty] but if he’s seen growth from him in pass protection?
“Yeah, it’s just, again, we have to go and use great technique. We have to take the fight to some of these guys that are bigger and stay inside out. We believe in him as a pass protector. Just unfortunate. When you’re getting out there on the edge in the perimeter, they’re going to see those types of things, and you can’t let them beat our feet. But just going and closing the distance, again, that’s not easy by any means. It’s having a guy inside and then being able to scan outside as far as the protection goes. That’s what we ask him to do. I have confidence in TreVeyon, and just continuing to be decisive as a runner. It was good to see him, and everybody contributed. I think that’s what we’re going to get. And we’re going to throw to the guy that’s open, and we’re going to continue to mix the backs in there, whether somebody gets the first carry, somebody gets the goal line carry, there’s a lot of skill sets. It’s our job to try to figure out how to manage those and then keep the excitement with the guys, like with Gibby [Antonio Gibson] getting a run and Rhamondre coming right back in there, and then it’s TreVeyon, then we throw to the tight end, and we throw to the receiver. That’s good to see, and just try to reward everybody for knowing what to do and playing hard. We’ll get down there to the red zone and try to dial up the play that gives us the best chance to score each and every 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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