TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Press Conference 12/24
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say on Wednesday, 24, 2025 during his press conference at Gillette Stadium.
On the fact that yesterday, Garrett [Bradbury] was tabbed with the media’s ‘Good Guy’ award winner, and if he’s been a good guy for him:
“Yeah, great. A lot of additions in the offseason, and Garrett was one of them. He’s been out there in the middle of our offense and helps coordinate everything that we do at the line of scrimmage. He’s brought a lot of experience, brought a lot of knowledge. Again, he has really helped us. We got, hopefully, a lot of football left to play. It’s a great honor for him to be able to represent our football team to you guys in a positive way. I’m disappointed I didn’t win that in my eight years here.”
On how important this week is for him and also for his football team on and off the field with the players and their families, and what they go through, too:
“It’s just always that balance that we wage on these holidays with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, trying to have a balance of getting the work done that we need, trying to focus on what’s important here at work, and practicing, and then when that wraps up and we’re done and being able to compartmentalize and go and be with family and the people that come in and have helped our players, our coaches, and our staff get to where they are. None of us did this on our own. There’s a lot of people that have helped us get here, made sacrifices. So any time that we can have to spend with them on important days, I’m all for it. But then, most importantly, is what we do on the field, like you said, on Sunday.”
On what it’s been like with Craig Woodson and making an impact as a rookie:
“A lot of experience, one. Craig was in college for a while. We joke about it, but he’s started and played a lot of games, seen a lot of football. But I think he’s continued to learn and understand and develop, and he’s gotten better each day, and he’s been durable and available. The more that you’re out there, usually the better that you get.”
On what made him the game captain:
“You’ve been tracking these pretty closely, Mike [Reiss], and you’ve been on him. We had gone through most everybody and other options, I think, obviously, but just trying to… Thought it was the right time with Craig and the amount of the snaps that he’s played for us and what he’s done. Just trying to continue to build the young players on this roster, whether that’s on the field or developmental or a leadership role or whatever that may be. I guess that was just the idea.”
On the fact Robert [Spillane] was out last week and if he expects him to practice at all this week in their preparation:
“I don’t, unless we get a Christmas miracle. Tiny Tim starts walking or something.”
On the fact Christian Gonzales mentioned very early on, he talked about winning the division and why it was important to express that to the group and put that out there early in his tenure:
“I think just to make sure that everybody understood what the expectations were, that there’s a lot of ways to win football games in this league, and with a lot of different players, and a lot of different lineups, and a lot of different schemes, and however we need to do to win football games. But that was going to be the goal, and making sure that they all understood that, making sure that they knew that this was the priority, and that’s what we’ve tried to do. Now, we haven’t done it. We still have opportunities to do it, but just making sure everybody understands what the expectations were.”
On his thoughts on if D’Ernest [Johnson] is ready to take on a bigger workload:
“Yeah. I mean, again, or take him off the field and then somebody else will, ‘Well, this guy’s not getting that.’ We only got one football, so we’ll try to… But he is prepared. It was unfortunate his first week that he busted his tail to get in there on that Thursday night game. We handed it to him, huge run, questionable holding call. He had some other plays in that first game, and I actually joked with him yesterday. I said, ‘Hopefully, if you get in there, we rip a couple of runs off there.’ You make a couple of plays that they don’t get called back. He was laughing. But he’s done nothing but come in and be a professional and learn and be ready to go. I know that when his opportunity comes, he’ll take advantage of it.”
On Thayer Munford and the job he’s done in his six O-Line package, and what he’s brought to the team:
“I saw a different Thayer, I think, than the one that left here. And again, having spent time at another team, came here, and I think it was okay. And then getting claimed by Cleveland, coming back, I think we all, including Thayer, saw a different version of him, one that was much more prepared, ready to go physically, and has done that role before.”
“It’s helped us, hopefully, and whether it be tackle or both spots on the offensive line. I think we’ve just seen a different version of Thayer, and I think he’s trying to take advantage of his opportunities.”
On what stands out to him from the Jets’ play style and where they’ll challenge his team:
“Up front, I really enjoy watching their offensive line. I think it’s a good group. It’s a very young and talented group on the outside. They love the play demeanor of the guys inside with [Josh] Myers and [Joe Tippmann] and [John] Simpson. They come off the ball. They’re good in their combinations. So they really allow their runners, but mostly Breece [Hall] to get going. There’s not a whole lot of first contact, and he’s able to… He averages over 4.2 yards per carry. So I think that I like that group. They moved us last time, they ran the football against us. The recipe for winning is not going to be to run for 65 yards and give up 140 yards on the ground. I’ve told the team that multiple times. So athletic defense, young, playing some young guys, obviously with [Will] McDonald and him continuing to get better in his length, and Jermaine Johnson and [Jowan] Briggs. And then obviously, [Harrison] Phillips is the steadying case and their linebackers are fast. They run, their 4th in tackled for loss percentage. So if you don’t come off on them or you don’t get somebody up to them, they’re going to make the tackle, and they’re going to be there in a hurry. So we’ll have to do a great job of trying to get somebody on those linebackers.”
On the fact he had an up and down start to the regular season, but what’s impressed him the most about Andy [Borregales], the way he’s settled into the job:
“Well, he’s done a nice job. He’s been accurate. I think that he’s kept a good demeanor. I think he’s practiced well as far as just mentally and talking about the weather, finding whatever that is. Tom [Quinn]’s coached kickers in all different climates, but I haven’t. So whatever the plan is to prepare to kick in the weather and all these different things that he’s trying to do or has done. I just think he’s got a pretty steady demeanor and has worked to improve in the consistency with his approach and all those other things.”
On the fact Ramondre was saying that he enjoyed a blitz pickup in the series before the final series, more than the 21-yard touchdown run and how does that make him feel as a coach when he hears the running backs talking like that:
“Well, they have a critical job. Anybody, not anybody, but most players in the league, if you hand it off and there’s a hole, they’re going to score. But very few can, one, handle the mental challenge of what the protection is and what the scan is. ‘I’ve got Will the weak safety’ or ‘I’ve got …’ whoever you have and being able to, some of these presentations that the defenses present, you may be up in the line of scrimage and have to get back out and be able to block somebody and then physically being able to do it and stand up to them and block them and stop their charge and not drop your head and all these different things. And so I think that that is something that he does very well. And again, when your best player is the quarterback, it’s important that you protect him. So I appreciate that, but that doesn’t surprise me.”
On the fact a couple of coaches and quarterbacks have weighed in on the merits of pure progression passing against coverage reads and where does he …
“Throw to the guy that’s open in the progression and where that progression takes you. The first one that you see. That usually leads to positive yards. It limits negative plays. Obviously, there’s times where we’re going to have to hold the ball, move guys down the field, and progress. I try to keep it as simple as possible because I think that holding the ball in this league just leads to turnovers, to sacks, to longer yardage. The more that the quarterback gets hit, the more negative things have a chance to happen. Turnovers, all the other obvious things.”
On the kickoff returns for the Jets, the kickoff return average, and what he’s seeing from them on that?
“Great scheme, excellent players. Very good returners. We’ll have to cover with a purpose this week. Obviously, they have a running back that really runs through arm tackles and has done a great job of doing that. [Adonai] Mitchell, obviously, is a great punt returner, but those skills have translated over to the kickoff return. So as much as they kick away from Kene [Nwangwu], now Mitchell’s getting a lot of those, or [Isaiah] Williams is getting a lot of those. So we’ll have to make sure that we’re good, that the space is limited. And again, one guy is probably not going to be able to do it and get him down. Special teams has been a very, very strong point for these guys. Fake the punt, the punt returns has been a weapon, 14-yard average, two touchdowns, one called back. So this is making sure that we’re matching everything that they do from a special team standpoint. Critical phase.”
(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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