TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel’s Weekly Appearance on WEEI 10/6
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show following the Patriots’ 23-20 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night.
Mike Vrabel, good morning.
“Hey, buddy. Good morning. That sounds like you just read the yellow pages.”
Well, I’m telling you, the sponsors are coming out of the woodwork because of you. They can’t wait to be…They want to be involved with you in this radio show. It’s unbelievable.
“I doubt that, but that was good. How’s everybody doing this morning?”
We’re doing great. Primetime game. You called it a hostile environment. Nice win last night.
“Thank you. Thank you. Happy for the players. We got to pick up the pieces and keep moving.”
Would it be crazy to say that Stef Diggs may now be a seven out of 10 on the comfort level?
“Well, somebody said that as I was leaving. I think somebody, maybe a local reporter. I didn’t recognize him. Stacey [James] was back there grumbling last question, and I walked off, and I heard five out of ten, and I laughed. I thought of Courtney, and I said, Maybe eight out of ten now. So we’ll see.”
I think he said six, actually, after the game last night.
“He did say 6. Good. Hopefully by Thanksgiving, we can be up to 8 or 9.”
Mike, you look at that and we talked about hostile environment, division opponent on the road. This win, how do you use this to show to your team that if you can play this week in and week out, that you can play with anybody and be one of the best teams in the National Football League?
“Well, we just keep staying consistent. I think that I probably lose sight of some of that sometimes, especially some of our younger players. And my dad, who I think always has good perspective, was able to be at the game last night. He just rattled off all the young players that are out there making contributions and said, ‘Man, it was… Because I’ve been there a bunch and it was loud. It was something that you have to remind these guys that they can do it in that. They can do it pretty much anywhere.'”
Mike, Rhamondre Stevenson, two touchdowns for him, and it’s a result of you continuing to have confidence in him even after that fumble to start the game. He talked after about how the confidence that you continue to show in him means so much to him. I’ve been told all morning by Wiggy and others that that’s coach speak when you talk about how great he is. I believe that he’s a great player. That was my lead this morning. What is it that you see in Rhamondre that despite the fumbles, you want to keep going with him?
“Well, we go with all of them, and we’ll use all of them. One, he’s valuable in protection. When teams start blitzing and heating us up, it’s critical that somebody protects the quarterback. They can go short yardage instances and around the goal line, and we mix carries up. And so everybody’s going to have a role, and we’ll have to continue to take care of the ball. So you have to make those decisions. I think Rhamondre understands how critical the ball is, but we’ve got to start putting that fire out and making sure that until we’re back in the huddle, that that ball remains in our possession, whether we’re going down and we’re close to the ground. But we’re going to need them all. We’re going to need everybody, and we’re going to need especially all the backs in that room to help us.
I know you got back late and just getting going this morning, but any update on Gibson?
“Nothing new to add. He’ll go through some tests today and this morning, and we’ll have to try to see what comes with those.”
Mike, the defensive game plan against Josh Allen looked excellent. I mean, he’s had a lot of success against the Patriots in recent years. He’s had success against everybody as the reigning MVP. Who do you credit the most for that? And what did you see out of your defense last night?
“Well, one, the credit goes to the players to be able to execute it. And again, we’ve tried to stay as collaborative as possible defensively. Zak [Kuhr] has done a great job leading those guys and organizing things. But we’ve always tried to stay as collaborative as possible and work through ideas and try to put the players in the best position. But as far as the execution, that always is going to fall on the players, and it wasn’t perfect, and I think it can still be a lot better. And so we’ll continue to show them those. But I thought it was good in the run, and the quarterback had a few play extensions that probably ended up hurting us. And then some communication things and execution down in the red zone made it a lot closer than what it should have been.
Mike, you seem bothered by that illegal formation call, Hunter Henry, I think it was. He seemed like he was looking at the refs.
“I just have a real problem with the way that they want to try to overofficiate the line of scrimmage. And if our guys are going to look over, and I got… I mean, I get that we have to be legal. But for as long as I can remember in this league, the refs are going to try to officiate proactively and work with the players. And if it’s a hold, call a hold. And if it’s a defensive pass interference, call defensive pass interference. But at the line of scrimmage, if players are going to try to get the formation correct, last year it was, ‘Well, these guys are offsides.’ When did we start calling that? So in an effort to not be offsides, these guys try to scoot back a little bit, and then they check. And we’re not going to tell them that they’re either on the line of scrimmage or they got them off? They’re just going to sit there and tap their knee? I don’t know what that is. And so that’s frustrating that we are that literal as an officiating department, if that’s what they indeed are telling them.”
“If they see it as a DPI, the guy made a good call. If [Jack] Gibbens pushes the guy, thinking that the quarterback is out of the pocket but the ball is in the air, that’s a good call. That is a good call. But some of these other ones, I’m just like, I just didn’t know when we were going to start officiating the line of scrimage and not communicate with our players. Because in the end, the relationship that the players have with the officials, I think, can be really positive, and they can explain the mechanics that they’re looking for. And if a DB is not playing the ball, they can communicate and say, ‘Hey, you got to play the ball, or that could be defensive pass interference, or if he breaks the framework of your body and there’s restriction, that’s going to be a hold.’ And so to not communicate something at the line of scrimmage when a player is looking over an official to try to get it right, I don’t understand that.”0
Mike, is that something that’s new that they’re emphasizing …?
“Apparently. Just like every other year or week, it’s just a reaction to the last year, and, ‘Well, we’re going to change.’ I don’t want that, again, not that my opinion is going to matter. But I don’t think we should officiate that way. I think that there should be an open line of communication with the players, certainly pre-snap in an effort to try to get it right. If we move and we false start or we jump off sides or whatever it is, then we’re at fault. But if we’re trying to make sure that things are correct before the snap, I would like or hope that there could be some feedback from the official.”
I just love that we have a new Hochuli to watch talk all night long instead of watching a football game. I just am glad that the family tradition has lived on.
“That’s probably the first time I’m going to agree with you since I’ve been here, and I would definitely say that that was impressive.”
Also, end of his career, Wiggy had an issue lining up and just his stomach was over the line.
“It was in the neutral zone.”
They always gave me the thumbs up or they told me to scoot up a little bit back in the day when I played, but I guess now they don’t tell you anything.
“I guess, or they say, Suck it in.”
Yeah, that’s it.
Mike, it seems like you do such a great job not getting too high or too low, and it seems like it’s trickling down to the team. How important is it for you going into practice this week that guys aren’t riding the high from a big win like that going into a week against the Saints?
“I’ll see what I can do. I’m sure we’ll be okay with that.”
You talked about Friday, I think it was Friday, about the accountability that Rodney Harrison held you and your teammates to. Who’s that guy or those guys on this team?
“Well, I think our leadership group is starting to do that and understand that. I just think that where we are, that’s changed. I don’t think that those people are few and far between, and that’s part of what I have to try to teach, and that’s okay. And allow them to have those conversations and disagreements or minor conflict with our football team as it relates to protecting our identity. And so we’ll continue to identify them, and we’ll continue to allow for those opportunities. But that was something that certainly was critical for all of us when we played here.”
Wiggy and Ty talk about that a lot, about guys who would police the locker room.
Like, Willie Mac was one of those guys.
Are you saying it’s harder now to find that situation or those guys?
“I don’t see it as much, and I’m trying to encourage it. And again, that’s not just isolated to here. I’ve been in other buildings, and I would say that that’s just something that you’re always looking to create.”
Mike, the performance last night, Drake May’s first fourth-quarter game-winning drive, what did you see from Drake last night? And how impressive was that conclusion of the game for you?
“Well, I think that, again, just his toughness and his ability to extend plays, keep his eyes down the field. The play strength, I think, the one that was pretty much a horse collar, and he’s pulling out of it or trying to still throw the football, but still put the football in good places, safe places, right out in front of the receiver and not behind guys. So that’ll continue to be something that we’ll have to use to our advantage, and he’ll have to continue to do. And then when the pocket is clean, it’s staying there and let it progress and throw the ball down the field. So I felt like that was a good drive. I would have liked to have gotten it a little closer. But under those circumstances and the way that we were trying to manage the clock, knowing who’s on the other side, I thought that that was really good for our football team to have that situation come up and be able to execute it and be able to complete it with obviously, Andy and the field goal team making a huge kick.”
Mike, there’s been a lot of talk. Rodney talked about it yesterday, the culture of just being different. We talk about it with Rhamondre and how you give this guy an opportunity even afterwards. When you come from a place of… When we played, it was like you were banished to the gulag for making a mistake. Where does that come from you as a coach when it’s still understanding guys have to be accountable but still giving them the opportunity even when they mess up? Is that because it’s part of your former player? Where does that come from?
“They’re just trying to get it right, just trying to have a balance. To me, we try to treat them the same way they treat the team. That’s an easy reminder for me to look and see how guys treat the team, how hard they play, how hard they study, how much it means to them, the way they practice, the kind of teammate they are, what they’re willing to do to help the team. And then in turn, obviously, we try to treat them the same way.”
“So again, I have to make a decision for what’s best for the team. And there’s a lot of other instances with this as it relates to then just the guy fumbling. We’ve had other people fumbling or other people put the ball in jeopardy. We’ve had people miss tackles, and we have to understand that those are mistakes and that we can correct them and then make sure that we’re still doing things that are helpful to the team and are important to the team. We just have to try to find a balance there. Again, if we sat everybody that made a mistake, the head coach would be the first one sitting down because I make more mistakes than anybody.”
Mike, some guys were talking about how they got inspiration from a pregame speech by Tony Dungy. What went into that and what was said, really?
“Well, Tony is obviously a Hall of Fame coach. Hall of Fame person, a father, husband, just his character. We have some connections here with coaches on our team, and he was going to be a part of our chapel on Monday. And so I decided and asked him to talk to the team just about his experiences in this league and with new teams, whether that be in Tampa or Indy, and the things that he always thought were important. And I really appreciate that. I really appreciate them being around our team. I thought our players appreciated that.”
I’ll ask this one carefully. Where is the organization when it comes to improving the football team if there are disgruntled or players that appear disgruntled in other organizations seeking to improve the football team?
“Well, I’m going to rephrase that. I think that the organization will always be in favor of trying to improve the football team and its roster and the people that play for us. So whether they’re on another team, whether they’re not on another team, whether they’re on our team, we’re always going to try to find ways to improve the roster and the people that are here. So that’ll go for anybody that we could potentially add to our football team. And that’s about all I can say. That’ll be the stance there for forever.”
Mike, signature win is being thrown around for Drake, Maye, and yourself. First two-game win streak in three years, which is hard to believe given the success you had as a player here. What did last night mean to you personally?
“I’m just happy for the players. Happy that they could recognize, they could prepare, and they could go out there on a big stage. We talked about taking the next step, and that was the message last week, and I felt like they took that to heart, and they did that. But about all the other stuff, I don’t really know. I always like to think that there’s things that are interesting and there’s things that are important. And a two-game win-streak is not very uncommon. And so somebody just recently said to me, ‘Man, that was unbelievable.’ I said, ‘No, it wasn’t. It was very believable.’ I don’t want I don’t know if any of us in this organization ever think that something is unbelievable. We’re going to prepare, and we’re going to play to our style, and we’re going to make adjustments, and we’re going to compete. But it’s very believable. And so we’ll have to do it again here as soon as I hang up this phone call, and that’ll be what we do.
Well, we’ll let you get to it. And I know you love seeing us first thing Monday morning, bright and early. So sorry about that, but we’ll be back…
“I was walking back in the hallway, and Stacey [James] hands me the phone. I’m like, ‘What is this? And he’s like, ‘It’s a phone interview.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to do a phone interview.’ I had our ginger and cayenne pepper shots in my hand, and now I have five of them sitting here that I have to do with Stretch and Stacey, and then pass them out to whoever else walks around.”
Save them for next week.
Put them in a fridge, please. Get them cold. I want mine chilled.
After these late games, we could do the show in the Seeport if you want, or somewhere in the city so you don’t have to drive all the way out there.
“I hadn’t left here since whenever, Saturday.”
It’s good to be back. All right, Coach, we will talk to you again next week. Thank you.
“Okay, guys. Have a great day. Have a great 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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