Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say following Monday Night’s win over the Giants:
On his thoughts on getting to this point and the energy his team came out with now as they head into the bye:
“Well, I’m happy to be at the bye. Happy to be where we’re at, continue to improve. We have to finish better, but at least we came out ready to go. We focused on being aggressive and attacking and keeping that mindset, and I think we did.”
On Vederian Lowe and Ben Brown slotting in and how he felt they did tonight:
“Well, I think they handled it well. We had some positive plays, obviously, offensively. We need to be better in the red zone, but I thought that they did well. Again, from first view, we’ll have to see what things go on tomorrow. It was a penalty that cost us a touchdown, so that’s tough. But a lot of good things to build on and continue to improve and really focus on things that we’re going to have to do a little bit better down the stretch here. But I think just proud of what the team has done week in and week out, whatever the challenge was and whatever has been presented to us.”
On there being pretty consistent and loud MVP chance for Drake tonight and what impressed him most about his performance:
“I think he’s able to keep his composure, keep his eyes downfield. I thought he makes… Some of the best plays, I think, are just the extensions, to scramble for a first down, to scramble and stay in bounds there late in the game, knowing the situation forces them to call a timeout, and then not throwing an incompletion there at the end of the game and scramble. Selfishly, he probably could have said, ‘Hey, I’m going to try to throw a touchdown,’ and just go and slide and use the clock. Those are the things that probably don’t show up on the stat sheet. I thought being accurate downfield and being able to give Kayshon [Boutte] a real catchable ball there in the end zone was nice, too.”
On the fact it’s December first and how much longer is he going to keep the mustache:
“It’ll be gone tomorrow. I mean, I couldn’t have done all this and not go out on Monday Night Football. It’ll be gone tomorrow, probably before I talk to you.
On how he would describe the message message in terms of knowing the bye week was looming, knowing the Giants came in with two wins, and just making sure that his guys came out fired up:
“I don’t know how many wins they’ve had. I know that they get ahead. They had Denver beat and had some other teams beat, put a bunch of points and yards up on Detroit and Chicago and all those other teams. I think it was about just being aggressive and attacking and trying to keep a competitive stamina throughout the game and a demeanor no matter what happened. I like the way that we started and I’d like to finish a little bit better. But we’re doing a lot of good things to help us win, and I know there’s some things that we can do to continue to improve on.”
On if some of the way that Christian Ellis had some of those bigger hits at the beginning of the game, if that’s something that everybody feeds off of and if it’s something that gives his guys a lift:
“I think I certainly did. I think our fans did. I think our team did. Again, that’s a weekly reminder to our quarterback. We show him every week. ‘I wouldn’t get too cute over there by the sidelines.’ It happens every week. Christian is playing through the whistle, and as long as the player is in bounds, he’s going to try to hit him legally. Then on the kickoff, we take a lot of pride in covering kicks. It was a matchup, they were top five, and they were number five, and we were number six in kickoff, and I expect us to be in the top five. That’s what I try to tell our kickoff coverage team. It was good to see the impact that it can make and turning the ball over as well.”
On how important it was to keep momentum heading into the bye:
“I mean, I don’t know if I looked at it like that, but I think we just focused on what the next task was and put a plan together to allow our players to feel confident in it and then figure out what the bye week is and who needs to be here for treatment and who needs to get away. That’s kind of really what we focus on. I don’t think I was necessarily concerned with any sort of let down because the bye was here. I think that be a lot of players and people that are ready for the bye and earned it. But I don’t think that we were looking ahead to anything.”
On 10 straight wins, week after week, his guys keep taking care of business and avoiding the slip-up and what’s been the key to not having one of those:
“Just the things we talk about and doing our best to take care of the football and playing complementary. Today was obviously special teams that gave us… Marcus [Jones] is just a fantastic returner. I’m proud of the guys on that unit. They take a lot of pride in blocking for them. We took care of the guys on the edges, and those are tough. Those can be back-breaking for an opponent. We try to do everything we can to avoid them, and we try to create them. I think just the complementary phase is staying consistent in the message and players coming in here each and every week, and practicing, and preparing, and obviously executing. Then when things don’t go right, try to get them fixed and come back the next drive.”
On whether it’s working around injuries a short week, just using new personnel packages and play calls, the resourcefulness of his team and what that means to him:
“Well, our staff, I’m obviously very thankful of the coaches that prepare our players. They’ve done a fantastic job. Josh [McDaniels] and Zak [Kuhr] and the defensive staff and Jeremy [Springer] with the special teams and helping spread the message that I try to have each and every week. But then ultimately, it’s on the players. It’ll always be about the players and trying to give them a plan that they believe in and that they can go out there and execute, and whether that’s different guys at different places. I’m proud of them, and I’m happy for them that they can have some success. I think people can see who we have, and the next guy steps up and can play and produce.”
On what he thought of Drake’s performance tonight and the fact he seemed to be in control and didn’t seem to be bothered by the issues with the offensive line with guys out:
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say that that was an issue. Just we put the next two guys in there. Ben’s [Brown] has been ready for his opportunity. Vederian [Lowe] has been working hard and worked hard in offseason to come back from his shoulder. Again, to get those guys a full week of practice, I thought, you know. … Drake is, I think he’s realizing what he can be and the impact that he makes on this offense and being the conductor. He’s hard on himself. I think that he challenges himself as well as his coaches. He means a great deal to this football team and just being able to not get rattled and escape or pressure and find Rhamondre [Stevenson] or scramble. Then when we do have time and he sees a guy win, he put a ball, great spot there for Kyle to make a huge play or Kayshon [Boutte] down there in the red zone. A lot of third-down conversions. Again, very appreciative that he’s our quarterback.”
On if he can you speak to the effort of the defensive line with so many guys missing or banged up and Elijah Ponder getting some more opportunities inside as well:
“Well, I mean, Cory Durden has been playing a lot for us, and we brought over here from the Giants practice squad – or from the Giants. They let him go. Again, that game meant a lot to him. They told him that he wasn’t good enough to play for the Giants, and we thought that he was good enough to play for the Patriots. So I’m happy for him. Made some plays and continues to help us, but also help himself and I love that. You mentioned Ponder. Just trying to get some other guys in there rushing in with some speed. And obviously, their quarterback can scramble and run. And we just felt like that was a package that we could try to use and get some other people out on the field.”
(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.
