TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Weekly Interview on WEEI 11/17
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his interview on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI on Monday, November 17, 2025:
“I got to catch up with Jen over the weekend, and she’s like, ‘I like that show a little bit.’ She goes, ‘I miss Wiggy. He wasn’t the fastest tight-end, but he always caught everything.’ She’s like, ‘I bet you guys had fun in the locker room.'”
JW: We had a good time.
“I know, we did have a good time. She’s like, ‘Courtney’s so cute.’ She’s like, ‘The bald guy bugs me. But other than that … ‘”
“No. All that was made up, by the way.”
GH: Did she say anything about the host of the show?
“She thought that we were all the hosts.”
GH: She thought you guys were all…
“That was all made up, by the way.”
GH: You’ve reached Bigfoot status. We saw grainy, blurry pictures of you at the airport on Friday on social media. So how was the weekend away?
“Oh, good. Good. I got to go back and see… I saw Carter in Nashville and hung out there, saw some of our friends and his buddies that we’re close with, and so it was good.”
GH: “Fellas got some time off, too, although I saw a bunch of them showed up here anyway over the weekend. Is that accurate?
“Well, we don’t keep tabs on them, but there was treatment and everything else, and there was guys that had to be here for different things. So we’ll get back to work today, try to have a little bonus day, get them moving, and get out on the practice field.”
JW: Mike, in the game, Drake had a couple of opportunities where he was able to extend the play with his legs and throw the ball downfield. How difficult is that from a defensive standpoint when you have a quarterback that can do those type of things?
“Well, it’s just a lot to defend and how many guys you want to allocate towards that and to the scrambles or to the spy. [Justin] Fields got us early. We got off of our assignment and we got a little wide off the hash and those guys that are spying or whatever helping inside. If they stray off the hash, especially, quarterbacks with some speed can circle you up and extend the play. But then when you can throw it downfield and remain a passer, very difficult. Guys come out of coverage and you, again, can extend all the way to the line of scrimmage and be able to throw. That puts a lot of pressure on the defense, and we can use that as a weapon, hopefully.”
Courtney: The MVP chance were loud for Drake during the game, but then after when you guys were talking to Thursday Night Football, they continued with the fan base. The best part about Drake, besides his play, he seems confident but not cocky. Is that just the type of guy he is?
“I think so. I think that’s about his upbringing and understands how this league is. It’s so… just finicky. You know what I mean? You have continue to do it each and every day, and certainly on game day is the most important. So no naps. That’s what we’re going to start talking about. No naps. We don’t want to take any naps and have any days off.”
Chris Curtis: That postgame interview I thought was really great with you two side by side. We saw a side that we hadn’t seen. How much of a role did what you saw out of Drake Maye in his rookie year lead you to return as the head coach?
“Well, again, I touched on that. There was quite a bit. Being able to watch the tape and prepare for the different interviews that you take, you try to get a feel for the team and what that looks like. Certainly, the quarterback position is such an important position in our league, and any league that plays football. I think it had a lot to do, and how he reacted. But again, it was a difficult season, and I think how he handled hings or his ability certainly stood out.”
GH: Was the reporting accurate that the Jets wanted you so bad? They called you last minute and they were willing to do anything, give you a private jet, whatever you wanted? Was that…
“We should have known that before.”
GH: I added that before.
“No, I think I’m not sure. Again, you go through the interview process. There’s a lot of conversations that are had, and then ultimately, you try to make a decision, and this is the decision that I made, and extremely happy about being here.”
GH: So are we. So are the fans.
JW: Mike, you say no napping, and now I’m just sitting at home and I’m watching….
“You love nap … You look like a guy that loves a nap.”
JW: I don’t really nap because then it messes with my sleep at night. So then I’m like, up all night. But you say no napping, but I’m watching the game at home, and I’m saying, at my TV at points in time. It looks like you guys are sleep walking. And there was a point in time where I see you telling them to pick it up. Did you feel at times in that game that maybe you took your foot off the gas a little bit?
“Well, I mean, we missed a kick before half, went three and out to start the second half. Again, it’s not always just going to be an 80-yard drive, or it’s not always going to be a three-and-out on defense. This is still professional football. Yeah, and I don’t think we’re sleepwalking. I just think that there’s a play here or a play there or one guy or a mistake. And we just have to try to clean those things up and continue to improve. That’s the most important thing.”
GH: We’ve talked with you about it before. Maybe it doesn’t bother you. I don’t know. But this team ends up defense-wise giving up points on that first drive more so than not. What is it about that when you look at it?
“Well, I just think you look at it in totality, and there’s some things that they did. And again, we haven’t been in a situation where there was probably as much quarterback run, or designed quarterback run, or read option. And those are things that are hard to create and practice against. While we practiced against it, it’s one thing when you get some moving parts out there and the quarterback is able to extend some plays. We were able to account for that, and then they went away from it a little bit, and we settled down. But I think in totality, I think we play pretty good defense. We have to continue to play better. I certainly don’t want to… I like the way that we respond.”
“We’ve had drives. The one game we joked about, we stopped them on a first drive, and then we weren’t very good the rest of the game or whatever that was. I’d rather have it give up seven and then nothing for the rest of the game. But it’s an entire body of work, and how you can remain consistent throughout the game and finish and get off the field on third down. Hopefully, we have to create some turnovers. We’ve talked about how tough that is, but we had three three-and-outs in the second quarter, which is real positive.”
Courtney: You guys were banged up going into Tampa Bay, coming out of Tampa Bay, then you lose Milton [Williams] against the Jets. You talk about treatment this weekend. Are we expected to see some guys … I know Milton Williams will be out three to four weeks, the reports are, but the guys that weren’t there for Tampa Bay or the Jets after this 10-day stretch, do you expect-
“Hopefully, yeah. Hopefully, I expect to see them at practice today. So once they get through that, then we’ll move on to Wednesday and see where they are and how they progress through the week. But yes, I think they’ll be out there today.”
Courtney: Okay.
Chris Curtis: Did you watch any football over the weekend? Did you see the Bills? I mean, not the Bills, the Chiefs, Broncos game last night? Is there any teams that you watch specifically, or do you wait to actually see the film and don’t waste your time watching on TV?
“No, I watched the Bengals and the Steelers. Yeah. We went back and forth between the old four screen. You know the old four square, and the single one. And it’s hard. I mean, it’s a very … everybody yells and you don’t know which screen you’re watching at, which one you’re yelling at.”
JW: I have six. I have a six screener.
“Well, I’m not quite there yet. I’m not quite there yet. But we watched the Steelers and the Bengals, and then I saw the Broncos and the Chiefs a little bit, then a little bit of the last night’s game.”
Chris Curtis: Would you agree it’s pretty wide open in the AFC compared to years past?
“I don’t know who said that or agree with anything. I’ve never really looked at it like that. I haven’t. I’ve kind of just always tried to be in the weeds and focus on the next week and not look too far ahead about this team or that team. I haven’t. And I think that that’s probably something that’s interesting to fans or people or media. Things happen too quickly in this league, and I haven’t really looked at it like that.”
JW: Mike, you look at your coaching career and the success that you had at Tennessee, and now the success that you’re having here through the first 11 games. What have you kind of learned in your coaching career that maybe you’re doing a little bit different here? Because you look at this team and all the players we talk to, everybody talks about your authenticity. Is there something that maybe you learned and you said, ‘All right, I’m going to do different this go-around versus last go-around?’
“I just try to enjoy it and try to enjoy what we do and where we do it and who we get to do it with. I’ve had players that have been released before, and you get them, and they know what that feels like to have been cut, and they don’t want to feel that again. So they do everything they possibly can to not let that happen. So maybe they don’t take things for granted. And certainly, being let go or fired or cut, whatever you want to call it, you don’t want to let that ever happen again, and try to take advantage of the opportunity that we have.”
Courtney: You look like you’ve been enjoying TreVeyon Henderson. What’s changed with him that has made him back-to-back weeks just show out?
“Well, again, we didn’t average four yards a carry, so it wasn’t like we ran for 250 yards. I think he had some really good runs. I think that we can block better. I think that he found the end zone, which was really, really important. And one time, we helped him in there with a pile push. He made a good cut to make the first guy miss. And then we had a heck of a pile push. And I think the other… Some of his better runs are when he can knife inside. I think he finished strong on a safety, helped us out in the two-minute, was able to catch the ball, get vertical. I think just from probably a confidence and understanding of where he’s at and being able to get in there and know who to block, which isn’t an issue, but being able to understand that the players are a little bigger and faster and get into the line of scrimmage to block them. So I think he’s continued to develop and continued to do a lot of really good things to help us, and excited that he’s having success.”
Chris Curtis: Will Campbell is a guy that you would generally only talk about if things weren’t going right. He’s been relatively, you don’t hear his name on broadcast outside of praise. What have you seen from him 11 games in your fourth pick in the draft as your left tackle?
“I think he’s been consistent each and every day. I think he works hard. I think he makes adjustments quickly to the players or the skillset or whatever he’s seeing. I think he’s able to adjust quickly during games and understand what it is somebody maybe tried do and come back and combat that for a young player.”
“Are you going to go with the stash or what? I heard that Gillette gave out those mustaches on Thursday.”
GH: You look good, by the way.
“Yeah, it’s not bad.”
GH: It’s coming in.
“Pat Patriot, I heard, rocked one.”
Courntey: Less than two weeks.
JW: I could never do it, brother.
GH: Love the shirt. I don’t know how busy you are today, but could I get an oil change?
“Wiggy wanted $5 on pump … Remember when you were in high school and you’d get like three dollars of gas?”
JW: Yeah, well, that was a long time ago. We took the train in the bus. So when we had a car, we tried to fit.
“But I remember the days when you’d be like …
JW: $2 on number three?
“It’s going to be like, it’ll be gas or Kodiak, which it’s going to be?”
JW: And always the cheapest kind.
GH: I just wanted to ask you, we’ve covered the schedule thing and those who comment on the ease of schedule a couple of times with you. But is it … There’s been a turnaround here. This team is eight and two, and yet you still hear somebody like-
JW: Nine and two.
“Wow. Big fan here.”
GH: … You still hear somebody like Cam Newton on Friday say that ‘This team is Fool’s Gold.’ Is that weird to you?
“No, nothing’s weird to me. No. Because people could come on the radio or tv, you know what I mean? It’s just like they could… Whatever. It’s just things that get their attention, or … we are okay with that. I promise you, we were okay with anything that anybody says. We are going to come to work. We’re going to focus on us. We’re going to try to improve, and we’re going to focus on the Bengals and going on a road and trying to get our 10th win. That’s all we’re going to focus on. It just seems that whatever it is, people are going to have something to say, which is great, and they’re entitled to their opinion. And what’s most important is what we do here and how we work. I promise you, none of that is offensive at all. We just enjoy coaching these guys and watching them be excited and enjoy those moments like Thursday night.”
Chris Curtis: Bill used to use those as motivation for you guys when you were playing. Do you use any of that with your team now?
“No, I mean, what, are we going to put Cam Newton clips up there? We’d rather put our clips or the Bengald clips. I don’t think that’s even remotely close to how we should try to inspire our players to play better.”
JW: You talk about guys getting an opportunity after they might have been cut and doing some different things. You see a lot of guys making plays on this team, whether it’s [K’Lavon] Chaisson, the [Khyris] Tonga kid. It seems like that-
“He’s no kid. He’s a big man.”
JW: Age-wise, he’s probably in his 20s, so he’s a kid to me. But you see a lot of these guys taking advantage of their opportunities or maybe some in their second goal around. How important is it that you make… Having a little bit of that experience of yourself, letting these guys know how important that is?
“It doesn’t matter. We tell them it doesn’t matter how they get here. The only that matters is what they do when they’re here. That’s all we can evaluate them by and we’ll see what they can do. Then once they do something, then we try to give them a little bit more and continue to grow their role.”
JW: I could play for you. You were coaching when I was playing.
“Yeah, but you don’t block, though.”
JW: I don’t block.
“Fall forward.”
JW: Who blocks nowadays?
GH: Do you mind the Thursday Night Football? I know we were talking earlier, John Gruden says the league ought to do away with it. Is it an issue for you?
“No, but I don’t play. Again, I was appreciative of coaches getting the players prepared. The players are the ones that have to go out there on a short week, and we understand what it is. When the schedule comes out, they tell us the dates, and they tell us who, and that’s what we get prepared for.”
JW: We had [Robert] Spillane] on, what was that, Friday? And he said, ‘Listen, when we play, you just got to go out there and play.’ And I feel like that’s a good mindset to have because obviously, I never played. I told him I never played on a Thursday night and how difficult it has to be. And he says, ‘You can’t even think about it. You just got to go out there and play.’ Is that something that you appreciate?
“I think probably once you get into the game, I think probably once four or five o’clock on Thursday rolls around, I think you’re ready to go. I’m sure they feel like crap on Monday and Tuesday. But we try to trick ourselves and say that we walked in here on Monday, it was like a Thursday. Then the next day was a Friday, and just trying to mentally, I guess, I don’t know what else to do other than say we’re flying home on Wednesday night, and tomorrow morning is going to be Thursday. Look at it like that just because we’re so trained for our Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then two days before, all that stuff.”
(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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