TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Press Conference 1/14
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his interview on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.
On if the Texans have the best defense, and if this is the best defense they’ve faced:
“Yeah, of course. They have great talent, great scheme. They play hard and respect how hard they play. They’re just not only talented, but they have a play demeanor that I can appreciate.”
On Houston is sort of a ‘do what you do defense:’
“Again, I mean, they don’t … I guess … necessarily maybe the volume isn’t as much. I think the volume increases on third down, where you’ll maybe get some multiple looks and pressures and different things. But I think we pretty much would have an idea where they’re going to be on first and second down. They’ll mix in pressures, and then they match up, and then we’ll get into the zone. But I think the volume probably comes more in on third down.”
When he talks about demeanor, and what their play demeanor is:
“Well, they play to the football. They chase the football. They get a lot of hats to the football. They create turnovers. They play physical.”
On if he expects Christian Gonzalez to practice today:
“I do anticipate him being out there.”
On the fact the Texans have so many coaches who are familiar with Josh McDaniels, does that make it extra tricky and whether or not it allows them to provide even more help to their defense:
“Again, if they know what call is coming, then we should try to get those coaches. I think that there are certain styles of offense. Got all our tape, we’ve got all theirs. If they know what Josh is calling or they know what we’re calling, then they got to jump on us.”
On what the preparation is like for him start to finish on a week like this:
“Same as it was last week. We’ll start on first, second down, and try to come up with keys that we feel like can help our team and make sure that we formulate practice, getting things done that we need to get done based on the time of the season it is, the health, and move on to third down and red zone and short yardage. That’s what it looks like.”
On how unique of a challenge is Will Anderson [Jr.] and Danielle Hunter for this offensive line:
“Again, I don’t think it’s just one move. I think there’s talent, length, effort. If they get blocked, they don’t stay blocked long. Can power … different moves on the edge. So, they play hard against the run. It’s not just if you run the ball that they’re taking plays off. So two really good bookends.”
On the quarterback, what goes into the decision to take a sack and move on to the next play, versus, trying to extend a play while managing ball security:
“Yeah, I think that that’s, again, having never done it and then facing the fire, it would be hard for me to say other than try to make a great decision, use great ball security and making sure that that’s all part of everything that we’ve been working on. Having two hands on the football in pocket and just having a feel and the timing of when you have to get the ball out on rhythm, and hopefully, if not, being able to extend and when you extend, making sure that you’re good with the football going up into the pocket.”
On with Will Anderson and this defense being so good at forcing offenses off the field on third downs, if that changes the way that you’re going about thinking about and Josh, the play calling on first and second:
“Well, we never want to sit there and be in third and twelve. We were third and fifteenth last week. We picked it up. Chargers were ranked the same as the Texans and … We’re going to go play the game. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to play the game. We’re going to enjoy it just like we did last week. Again, you have too many of those, I think it’s probably a bad thing. But if we find ourselves in those situations, then we’ll have to get ourselves out of them.
On one link between he and DeMeco [Ryans] is that he’s coaching the team that he played for, or one of the teams he played for in his career, and what does that mean to him to coach the team he played for:
“Yeah, I appreciate that question, Mike [Reiss]. I think it’s an honor to coach in this league. I do. There’s only so many opportunities that you get, and to be able to do it here, I think, is special, meaningful, but I don’t want to reflect on that too much. I want to focus on the game and the opponent. I think we’ve covered a lot of that here when I got here.
On aside from C.J. Stroud playing as well as he did as a rookie, what did he notice during his last year in Tennessee about what DeMeco was doing to turn that program around so quickly:
“I mean, they got a lot of draft picks, and they signed some good free agents.”
On what Nick Caley is running on offense, and how similar it is to Josh [McDaniels]’s offense:
“I think there’s some carry-over. There’s some LA stuff, and there’s some stuff that he probably learned when he was here. And then what you do is you come in with a base idea, start in the run game, and then protection, and then whatever ideas that the new coaches have, you kind of formulate and figure out what fits and what everybody’s comfortable with. So, I’m sure there’s elements of every stop that some of those guys have made.”
On the fact he’s reminded everybody all year, the players, especially, to have fun and enjoy this, and why that has been so important and if it’s more important now as the games get bigger:
“I just feel like you put a lot into it. This isn’t the easiest profession in the world. We only get one chance a week. And so if we only try to focus on having fun during the game, it’s a small window of our week. And so we want to bring good people in here that we enjoy being around and that are like-minded, and want to try to exhibit the qualities of the identity that we wish to play with and enjoy it. And obviously work, but then go out to the game and let them have fun and compete and know that one play is not going to make the difference, and that we have to keep going.”
On if that was why back in October, he decided to go to the individual introductions, breaking with tradition that you were a part of for so many years with the group coming out:
“I mean, it looked pretty good the other night. It’s as good as … As much as our fans like our players, and they cheer and the fireworks and everything, I thought it was cool. I mean, I don’t know. The first week, we had a little couple of kinks, but other than that, just like everything else, you get better the more you do it.”
On Drake, in his first interview with the cameras, he made sure the offensive line was behind him. And then also when he was speaking with us, he mentioned how maybe it wasn’t his best game, ‘but that’s why you have teammates’ and why it’s so important to have a player, especially with a leader on this team, acknowledge that and do the things he does:
“Well, I mean, I think that’s what you do as a leader. You try to give credit, and accept blame and put it on you. I think that’s all part of that is being a quarterback in this league and knowing that nobody’s doing this by themselves. And so we’re going to have some good days and just bad days. But I think having gratitude is important.”
On Azeez Al-Shaair, and what makes him so challenging to go against and how he feel he’s developed since he coached him:
“Well, I think, again, he’s a great leader. I mean, it starts there. He’s got great leadership in the middle. A good skill set. We talk about a journey to this National Football League and to a career, and having been undrafted, and his story, which is really special. I’ll always appreciate the year that Azeez spent with us. Still stay in contact with him. So he’s done a lot for me personally and my family. So I always appreciate that. I wish nothing but the best for him. He knows that. And just, I think, being more comfortable in the defense and coverage and more stuff on third down. I think he just feels a little bit more comfortable, the longer that he’s been here in his system.”
On what about Darrell Taylor made him want to bring him in and work with him:
“Well, we had had conversations with him in free agency, ended up going somewhere else. And then when he became available, we got together and had a conversation, and were able to bring him in.”
On his in-game captains and how he announced those on Friday, showing the guy’s high school tape and all that and how he came up with that idea and if any of that tape has stood out or impressed him:
“There are some surprisingly bad high school football tape highlights, and then there’s some good ones. Just trying to keep things, I guess, light on a Friday tape, and I think that when you get an odd number of captains and other guys get votes and you feel like guys are for special circumstances or have shown good leadership or a good way to recognize somebody, and then a way to announce them or they lead off the Friday tape, their highlights.”
On if he ever steals any plays from those:
“It’s not the best tape. It’s not the best tape shape, but we have fun with it.”
On the fact that Zak Kuhr said the other day, the other week, that turnovers come in bunches or takeaways come in bunches, and if he’s continued to put an emphasis on takeaways:
“Every single day. The practice script hasn’t changed. Our focus hasn’t changed. We don’t emphasize them in bunches. We emphasize them the same. So I wish that the more I emphasize them, the more we would turn the ball over. It doesn’t that way.”
On Denico Autry and what makes him so good at blocking kicks:
“Great knack, great feel, great length, his timing, because he’s a bigger player that has great length. And so when he gets into a crease, he doesn’t just go up right away. He’s able to kind of push for two or three steps and then able to get great length. So he’s not just standing at the line of scrimmage trying to block them. He gets into the line or is able to swim, and that’ll be a huge key. He’s got 14 in his career, and we have to do everything that we can to make it not be 15.”
On the Texans’ offense and what makes that so tough to stop:
“I think they’re gaining confidence, it looked like, in the run game and the physicality which they played with the other night. When you can do that, then it marries with your play opens up and your spaces over the middle open up, your boot game, it all marries together. So that, to me, looks like what they would want to do. They had a lot of success with it the other night, but they played physical. They ran the football.”
On if their defensive front four, along with their defensive backs, force a quarterback to have to identify earlier and have to release the ball even earlier than normal:
“Hopefully not earlier, but hopefully on time. Hopefully on time… need great spacing. Receivers need to match the speed of the pass rush when we throw it so that we can play on time.”
On what kind of problems that C. J. Stroud poses and if he had any overlap with him, at Ohio State:
“No. I met with C. J, but he wasn’t at Ohio State when I was there.”
On what are some of the problems he poses, specifically:
“Well, he’s athletic enough to extend, but also the pocket presence that you want. He can turn his back to the defense and come out of there and throw play action. Does a good job on the boot game. He keeps his eyes downfield. He’s accurate. So he kind of gives you a little bit of both as far as the ability to extend plays, but always keeping his eyes down the field.”
On Zak Kuhr and how much he’s developed as a playcaller as the season has gone on:
“Well, hopefully as the season goes on, we all have gotten better, including Zak, and the comfort level and the input that everybody’s trying to have each week to build a plan. I’m very appreciative of not only Zak, but every coach here. They put a lot of time in. It means a lot to them, and they want to give their players the best opportunity to succeed. Zak has improved much like our football team.”
On with the amount and diversity of blitz pressure they brought last weekend, and how much of that is just a reflection of his trust in the guys on the back-end to hold up?
“Yeah, you have to be able to do that. I mean, the more you rush, the less you have in coverage, that’s no secret. We just want to try to disrupt the quarterback based on the plan and based on how the game’s going. But those guys have to do a good job, whether we’re matched or we’re playing some zone coverage behind it.”
(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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