Here’s what Patriots coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his press conference after the Patriots win over the Saints on Sunday:
On what impressed him about Drake [Maye’s] performance:
“Just kept battling. None of it was perfect today. Give them a lot of credit. They competed, they answered. But we extended plays and made some huge plays down the field and glimpses of good football. We’ll have to clean up a lot of things, but certainly great to go on a road and be able to get a win.
On his understanding of the offensive passing interference calls:
“I don’t really have much explanation. They see something and we’ll continue to play aggressive and have to clean some of the penalties up. But those live ball fouls that we talked about. … In that situation, we want to be really aggressive. We’re taking a shot, long yardage, and we got a great punt from Bryce [Baringer] after that. We’ll remain aggressive, and I want our players to be competitive. Certainly, that was what they felt like they saw.”
On his initial thoughts on how Kayshon [Boutte] played today:
“I think he factored and certainly came up huge at the end. I think he’s just gotten better and just… I like his demeanor, never too up, never too down. Sometimes the ball finds him and he makes the plays, and then when it doesn’t, he just kind of understands that it just wasn’t his snap. Then to be there at the end there, to take a good hit and score, and then to come up with a huge play there at the end, it really went in there and won the game for us on a third down. You see the confidence that Drake has with him, his play strength and his ability to go frame the football in a big situation. I hope he can enjoy this for a few minutes with his family or anybody that was down around here. Just a big play for him.”
On the fact that two replay reviews and challenges helped him seal the win. First, the fumble and then having him ruled in bounds allowed them to just take three knees, and if he was confident ahead of time on both of those:
“I don’t think you ever really know nowadays. I really don’t. Stretch [John Streicher] does a fantastic job. Just trying to figure it out, how they’re going to see it. Sometimes they see it the way we do, sometimes they don’t. Just trying to be as smart as we possibly can and we felt like those were plays that could help us.”
On the fact that he mentioned having some things to clean up, and if he has any early thoughts on why the running game didn’t get going:
“Probably one guy away, like always. But had some positive runs, and we’ll keep practicing it, and we’ll keep working it.”
On what it says about Drake’s maturation with the game on the line and his confidence, where in big situations, he’s comfortable with the ball in Drake’s hands:
“I mean, the whole… be it the protection, the operation, and him knowing where he wants to go with it in that timing and putting it in a spot where KB [Kayshon Boutte] could make a play.”
On how much this is a teachable win, with a young team getting out of here with a win, plenty of work on, but just finding a way to get the job done:
“It’s better than an old team getting out of here with a loss, I would say. But we will never not enjoy and embrace winning in this league. But I do think that guys are very aware of the fact that it can be better and that it will have to be better the more that we go along here and play. So I think that that’s a good sign that they know that there are some plays that we left out there that we could have played better. But to do that on the road and be able to end it with the ball offensively in victory formation is fun.”
On the fact, he said that sometimes the ball finds you, and having talked about Boutte, in a game like this, for both Kayshon Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte, can this be proof of that to not get frustrated, the ball will eventually find you:
“I think that we’ve talked about it. Some days it’s like, ‘Well, this guy only played this or he didn’t have any snaps.’ But there’s a lot of things that go into offense that a lot of us that aren’t going to see or show up. Some of the dirty work and some of the clear-out routes or guys finishing on the third level to help guys gain some extra yards. I think it’s just a testament to these guys that understand, ‘I’m going to get my opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it.’ We need as many of those guys as we can possibly get in all three phases.”
On the big moments for Marcus Jones today, and just how important is he overall?
“Great. He’s one of our captains. He’s a team leader. Very comfortable with him back there. He’s challenged. He challenges. Most of the time, those matchups are a bigger player, but him being able to go up there, contest the catches, get some PBUs, being able to hammer the ball out, whether it was Christian {Ellis] or [Charles] Woods there at the end, that was another one that was probably close to being challenged. But looking at that where the distance that we were going to gain, getting the ball back, they did us a favor there with the punt, but that was probably another close one. Disappointed in getting three points on the goal line. Those are the types of things that will have to improve. We’ll have to make sure that we’re not beating ourselves down there and that we score. When we do that and get the ball down on the one-yard line.”
On if they named an extra captain today:
“Yeah, he didn’t go out. Khyris Tonga was nervous, maybe. I’m not sure to go out there. But you can only take six out there, and I’m not sure. I don’t know how many guys are going to go. I usually just talk to Hunter [Henry] or one or two guys that I know are going to go out there. But it was Khyris, and he does a lot of the dirty work for us on defense, and really enjoyed being around him since the time that we signed him.”
(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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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.
