TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel on WEEI 1/12
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Monday, January 12, 2026.
Greg Hill: How’s the lip?
“It’s fine.”
GH: You’re okay?
“Yeah.”
G: All right.
“I was fine the second it happened.”
GH: Milton Williams said afterwards he forgot you weren’t wearing a helmet. Maybe going forward, that might be something you want to do out there on the sidelines.
“Wear a helmet or remind them that I’m not wearing one?
GH: Probably a good idea to remind them of that. Well, not an offensive shootout, but one in which the defense was extraordinary last night.
“Yeah, played a lot of great efforts from everybody. And mentioned this last night, we play a lot of people on defense. Everybody has a different role sometimes on third down, first, and second down. And that’s great to see. Just everybody’s locked in, and they feel like their role is important, which it is, and doing a great job from the staff to get everybody kind of in the right spots to be able to help us and rotate and get guys in there.”
Jermaine Wiggins: Now, Robert Spillane said after the game, some of the guys from the Chargers didn’t know what you guys were running defensively, coverage-wise. In that game yesterday, it looked like you brought a little bit more pressure than normal. Was it something specific against the Chargers and what pressure did to them?
“Well, sometimes we don’t know what coverage we’re running, so that’s a good thing [Laughs]. We did try to mix in the pressure. Again, sometimes that’s how it goes. We just have to rely on different elements to be able to mix it up. When you do that, the secondary has to be really good. The pressure has to get there, and when we did pressure, I felt like it was impactful.”
GH: Did you change the mac and cheese or you didn’t change?
“No, we didn’t change the mac and cheese.”
GH: No change on the Mac?
“You don’t experiment on Thanksgiving.”
GH: Okay.
Courtney Cox: Despite the split lip for Milton Williams to have the exclamation mark at the end of that one, dealing with injury throughout the season, to make that come back and perform the way he is, how proud are you of him?
“Well, he wants that role. He wants to be able to do those things. We saw him do that at different times earlier in the season. And then he had missed a few weeks and worked hard to get back, and he was able to do some stuff at the end of the regular season, just to be prepared for this game and to be able to work through some of those things that are associated when you’re coming back from an ankle sprain. So I think those are all things that are to his credit, I think to the staff’s credit, to the training staff, and everybody involved with that to kind of map that out and have him ready and where he needs to be to impact games in January.
JW: Now, when you look at the other side of the football, offensively, you guys had some struggles when it came to their pass rush a little bit, some stunts and gains. Are there things that you can take from this game to say, especially for the younger guys, ‘Hey, we need to be a little bit more alert for this moving forward?’
“Yeah, we always do. When we throw a quick game, we can’t progress back through. There’s a lot of things. We could call the line. Drake knows that when we call a quick game, if it’s not there, you can’t sit there. It’s just not the recipe. In that situation, reserve the right to punt and take care of the football, and where the game was. There’s a lot of things for us to improve on, starting at the top all the way down. I think that’s what’s been great about this thing is that we’ve all been willing to accept responsibility and improve and be critical of our performances and try to get better, because that’s what we’ve talked about, that the teams that continue to improve are the ones that stick around.”
Chris Curtis: Mike, the back and forth where you have the tipped interception, and then your defense comes in and has that phenomenal fourth down stand, that, to me, symbolizes your season, where one side might not be doing their best, the other side picks them up. The complementary football was on full display.
“Well, wherever we have to go and play defense and whatever we needed from an offensive perspective, from a situation they’ve been good at at the end of half, and it looked like a carbon copy of last week, just being able to use the quarterback’s legs at the end of the half. But defensively, to be able to do that early in a game in a playoff game, that was critical. Really set the tone for the entire game and gave them a lot of confidence. Gave our guys a lot of confidence that wherever they put the ball, they go play defense. I thought that was great, and being able to get the crowd back into it after an unfortunate tipped pass interception.”
Courtney: Drake was the first to say ‘not his best game,’ but gave all the credit to the defense. I think what’s most impressive for me is watching him, he doesn’t let himself spiral. He stays in it, shows grit in a game like that. Is that rare to see such a young player display something like that when the lights are the brightest?
“I think it’s hard for me to say that. I’ve only been around Deshaun [Watson] in Houston, who was young. We had veteran quarterbacks with Ryan [Tannahill] and Tennessee. For what Drake was able to do, I thought it was huge to be able to gain explosive plays with his legs when he needed to. Then obviously to throw to Hunter off platform, TreVeyon comes up. That’s a lot harder than what it looks. TreVeyon has got to get around Drake, and I’ve seen fumbles caused, and he’s got to be able to avoid Drake and then come back and get the pressure, pick up the pressure. Drake was able to slide and then really throw an unbelievable ball to Hunter. We needed that.”
GH: He is so good when it comes to that, to scrambling out of there. Are there times, though, where he needs to just take a sack and not try to make something happen because of a potential turnover?
“Well, I don’t know about just taking a sack, but again, reserving the right to punt when we don’t have it, and the game would dictate that. But again, there’s going to be bodies around you. And I think we have to… We’ve transferred up into the pocket. We’ve been strong with the ball before. And so we’ll have to continue to do those things as we play here this week here in January. I’m sure the conditions are going to be probably pretty similar. We’ll see what happens on Sunday.”
JW: Mike, when you look at your team, it’s about building the team that you see and the identity, the character. I saw that story on you guys in the 4-Hs, and then you start to see this team and what they are. When did it click for you and say, ‘Okay, this team could be a real contender?’
“I just think it’s a continual… I mean, a long time ago. I believed that we could. I always believed that we could. I think that my job is to instill that belief and show them why, but also continue to coach and teach and hold everyone accountable to the best of my ability. But I think that that continues to grow. You can’t sit there, and we’ve got to be able to hopefully enjoy what happened last night, but quickly move on and focus on what the next challenge is.”
Chris Curtis: They were trying to make heads or tails of the play, the pass back to Drake May on the NBC broadcast last night. They were theorizing that Drake should have kept running a little faster. Was that that he slowed down, and maybe if he had kept in stride, he would have caught it. What was your thoughts on that?
“My thoughts on, well, he just didn’t hit it. That’s what happens. We practice something, we practice something. That was the situation we talked about. Calling it in, had the look. Sometimes you hit those, and sometimes you don’t.”
GH: Midway Point, second quarter, you were looking for something from the officials, wasn’t clear on television, or I was distracted eating something. What were you… Remember what you were looking for there?
“Yeah, I thought the receiver covered up the tight end on the other side. It seems like all those plays that I want to get hot at happened on the other side. It doesn’t matter what I tell this poor guy. It’s nothing he can do about it.”
GH: What does he say when you’re yelling at him? He’s like, Hey?
“Hey, he said he wasn’t covered up. I said, ‘Well, wait till the second half. I’ll remind him that he was covered up.'”
Courtney Cox: Christian Gonzales was great until he headed to the locker room with that head injury. He told the media that he wasn’t allowed to speak to media, but then also said he felt fine. Have you talked to him? Does he seem like he’s going to be okay?
“Well, yeah, I did talk to him. Yes. And so we’ll go through whatever the steps are that would require him to pass through whatever he needs to do. So without having seen him today, I can’t sit here and speculate. I just know that they wouldn’t let him go back in the game.”
Chris Curtis: Any difference in terms of preparation? If it’s the Texans who you haven’t faced, the other Steelers, Texans, tonight to decide who plays you next weekend?
“Preparation from a coaching standpoint. Scouting. Yeah, we have to be able to be prepared and do some work on both of them. Probably have seen the Steelers more than what we’ve seen the Texans. And then we’ll have to be ready to quickly transition as the game unfolds tonight.”
GH: Wiggy brought up identity. Drake was asked post-game last night about what changed this year to last year, and he said it was the identity. From your perspective, what is the identity of this football team?
“Well, I think we believe in each other. I think that they are a close football team. I think they actually enjoy coming to work and playing with each other and building that camaraderie, the jokes, the tough love, everything that goes on inside of a locker room on the field. I mean, hopefully, we see an effort. I hope that people watch us and say, ‘They play hard. They run full-tilt to tackle, and they try to finish longer than the guy with the ball.’ At our best, we take care of the football. We’re good situationally. I think we try to take advantage of bad football. There’s an understanding of what’s going on. I think, hopefully, you see guys playing with some technique and some details. That’s really what we’re trying to do.”
JW: There is definitely, watching this team, there’s definitely a uniqueness to it when you have guys that are selfless players that do run to the football, that are willing to block on the offensive side of the football, especially when it’s not just about receiving the football. How do you get guys, I mean, to every guy to buy into that? You know what I mean? It just seems like every guy is genuine when they’re talking about that. How did you get them to really, really …
“I think you just set the expectations. You show them what it looks like. You show them how important it is. You show them different clips around the league or something that they’ve done. Standing around, watching a guy get the [expletive] knocked out of them, I’m like, ‘Does anybody want to be the guy that has the ball while everybody else is standing around? We can do that, too.’ And then slowly, they start to realize, ‘Well, if this guy is going to do it for me when I’ve got the ball, then it’s expected of me to be able to go and block when I don’t have the football.’ And then again, nobody’s perfect. None of us are. And so you just continue to show them, ‘Hey, we missed an opportunity here to transition.’ A guy comes in and hits the ball carrier. So we just keep showing them, and then you show them that the play is never over defensively. And you try to make that part of your identity and your fabric, and it becomes second nature. You practice that way, you condition, and you get enough guys with the right mindset.”
Courtney Cox: You talk about scouting for the Texans and the Steelers. I asked Wiggy this earlier this morning. Can you take anything from that first game against the Steelers?
“Take care of the ball.”
Courtney Cox: … or is this team just so different now?
“Take care of the ball. Again, I’m sure there’s going to be some things that are going to be different, but I think you just see all the hard work that you can put into a football game to be able to move the ball, to be able to get it down in the red zone, but just take care of the ball. And also, there’s some things that … protecting the guy with the ball. We talked a lot about that. It’s not just on the guy carrying the ball, and he’s got a responsibility. Defensively, you can’t relax, you can’t take a nap. They hit a shot on us, double move, and just not taking things for granted.”
GH: Also, you’d probably be able to help them out a little bit on the Steelers, right? I mean, you’ve watched a lot of football.
Courtney Cox: Yeah, I mean, anything you need, I’m around.
“What time are you guys flying out?”
Courtney Cox: No, we’re staying here. We’ll watch it on TV, but no, I’m a Patriots fan.
“I thought you guys would be flying out of Hanscom or something, driving over there to Pittsburgh.”
Courtney Cox: Pretty nice. I’d take it.
GH: I don’t know if you’re going to be… I don’t think you’re allowed to the stadium on Sunday if you’re planning on coming.
Courtney Cox: I would love to. No, I would love to go. I don’t know which side would give me tickets. But I’ll be rooting for the Pats.
GH: Oh, you will? Okay. You’re on record?
Courtney Cox: Yes, on record.
“Good answer.”
GH: Great answer.
Chris Curtis: I mean, Stacey [James], Vrabes already got you a whole set of Patriots gear for your son.
Courtney Cox: I know. I’m a Patriots fan. We all know.
Chris Curtis: How you sort of get here … you talk about the culture we’ve been talking about … When did you know that this was a team that could get here? How big is something like Rhamondre [Stevenson], right? You go back to that Steelers game. A guy has fumbling issues early in the year. You’re a new head coach, coming off two very bad seasons, where you so strongly stand behind him, and the guys see that it’s not just words. It’s you’re going to stand up for them. And this is an example of that. I’m not one mistake away from losing my job.
“Yeah, that’s a hard way to operate. We can’t operate like that. You can’t get the best out of people. If you think that, ‘If I make a mistake,’ … Now, there’s got to be a certain point that I have an obligation to the football team if that becomes something that’s just repeated. But we want to create an environment where you can go out and you can play aggressively. And part of playing aggressively is mistakes are going to happen, but you’re not going to win much being cautious either.”
“So we have to continue to try to, when you speak about that, we have to continue to try to be aggressive with the football in our hands to make people miss, to break tackles, but also not be reckless, and we’ve tried to do that. But you coach things, and you realize that people are working on things and working on improving, and you see it, there’s got to be some small victories along the way. I think that’s critical when you talk about development of players that they have to not only hear that they’re getting better, but they have to actually feel it. They have to get some reps. They have to get opportunities that they didn’t have based on their improvement.”
JW: When you speak about some of these opportunities and getting those opportunities, how do you make sure that they understand walking the fine line? I remember when I was a player, it’s about having the confidence. You win a football game like this, and you’re feeling pretty confident, but still staying in focus, but still having that confidence week in and week out to go out there and never let that confidence waver into what you’re doing, and knowing that, ‘Okay, I can do this consistently at a high level.’
“Yeah, we have to have to have confidence, and that’s built over time and try to have some consistency. Then the momentum has to be built up through the week. You can’t sit there and say that the same momentum from the game is going to be there on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It’s going to be built up through your week of practice that hopefully Friday and Saturdays look a lot better than Wednesdays and Thursdays, just by new plays that you’re putting in or new scheme. But we talk about the coaches making connections with the player just to try to provide that trust and confidence for them to do their job. And however we get there, that’s our job by the end of the week.”
GH: Speaking of doing their job, looked like, at least on television, the fans did their job last night.
“Continued to be amazing. That swing there where we had the turnover there and the stop, just the crowd noise and the energy and the excitement. Again, we want to give them reasons to cheer and to celebrate. I think our football team, I think our players have done that, and they’ve responded.”
Chris Curtis: Did you get more nerves for your playoff game as a coach here or when you were a player? Are you more… Or is it the same?
“Well, I’ll always say this. I didn’t have a lot of sleepless nights as a player. You just kind of go to bed and you’re back at work. You start coaching, and you think about a lot more.”
GH: So you have sleepless nights now?
“Well, they’re not completely sleepless, but there’s moments of tossing and turning where you’re, ‘Hey, did we get this covered? What do we got to remember for tomorrow? I can’t forget to do this.'”
GH: How long is it after a win like last night, does it take you a while to fall asleep?
“Yeah, it takes you a while to get out of here, too. It’s a good combination.”
Courtney Cox: ‘Big dogs show up in January’ is my new favorite line from you. Good. Did you feel like the big dogs are on your team and ready to show up?
“Yeah, there were some of those efforts, and we’ll need to continue to do that. We talk about the one play making the difference, whether that’s the fourth down stop or a big kick or the quarterback scrambling or a throw, a strip sack, whatever that is. It just takes one play to turn the energy of the team and help us win. I think they believe in it.”
GH: Speaking big, big, Vince [Wilfork], the keeper of the light last night. Did you get a chance to connect with him?
“Yeah, Vince has been around. He’s doing a great job. He’s working with… He’s got that barbecue sauce. So he’s doing that in the area, but he was back before, and I had a chance to spend some time with him and saw him when he brought us some barbecue sauce.”
GH: He looks good.
JW: Yeah, he’s not as big as he used to be. He looks really good.
“No two-gapping.”
JW: Not for him.
GH: He might be doing the one meal a day thing that you’re doing.
JW: And he’s been doing it for a long time. Whatever he does, he’s doing good, man.
“He just has a great spirit about him. He was a great teammate, and I’m glad to see him doing well.”
GH: All right. Well, we will let you get to work. Congratulations.
“Thank you, guys.”
GH: I mean, unbelievable. Keep it going.
“On to the next one.”
(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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