TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel’s Weekly Interview on WEEI 1/19
Mike Vrabel's WEEI Interview: Patriots' Playoff Push, Defensive Prowess, and Denver Prep
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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 following his team’s 28-16 win over the Texans on Sunday.
Greg Hill: Congrats. How big of a factor was the weather yesterday?
“I think it was probably a little bit. I mean, it was slick. It was the wintry mix. It wasn’t just snow. I mean, it was… But everybody played in the same conditions. I thought it was a little bit of a factor. I mean, I don’t know if it mattered, I guess, in the outcome of the game. But it was noticeable.”
GH: Is it a disadvantage when you’re a quarterback like C. J. Stroud who plays inside a good part of the-
“Again, having never played quarterback, I couldn’t tell you. I’m sure there’s a lot of guys that have played in elements that had good games. I’m sure it’s different. It’s probably hard to recreate that weather in Houston, whether you’re in a dome or not.”
Jermaine Wiggins: Mike, when you look at this defense, especially what you guys were able to do again yesterday. Talk a little bit about what, obviously, these players, this coaching staff, defensively, the approach that you take in every week. What are you seeing? What are you loving from what they’re doing?
“Well, they play hard. I think that that’s the thing. They play full tilt to the tackle. I think that they prepare. They try to have an understanding of what the plan is and what we need to take away or what we’re trying to do each and every week. I feel like they’re building confidence each and every week. I think they knew that the red zone wasn’t where it should be throughout the year. Teams didn’t get down there a bunch, but when they did, they were scoring touchdowns. We’ve gone on a pretty good red zone streak here defensively the last probably three games.”
Courtney Cox: Back to the weather, because it seemed like what you said after the game was you were going to celebrate it, but the guys weren’t satisfied, so they weren’t blaming any of the mistakes on the weather. What did you mean by not satisfied? And is it just they believe that they could play better than what they put out yesterday despite the win?
“Well, I mean, I think we are trying to enjoy these things, but also not get caught up in thinking that this is the end of the journey. We have another huge opportunity in front of us, an exciting one that our fans and everybody, a part of our ownership and team, and everybody should be excited about.”
Chris Curtis: Can you believe you’re here? Given where you were, where you started, your introductory press conference last January, February, all the games and all the practices in between, that you are one win away from the Super Bowl?
“You know, I joke about this, but I probably… It’s serious. With no expectations, you can’t be disappointed. I just try to come to work each day and figure out what it is that we have to do. And if we’re getting ready for games, then I’m going to try to get everybody prepared and try to have a plan. And then if we’re not, then we’ll figure out what part of the offseason that we’re in. I just haven’t gotten caught up into it too much. I just want to try to be great for everybody here.”
JW: Mike, when you start to look at where you are offensively, and maybe a little bit of the struggles that you’re having, but you’re making the big plays when you need to make them most, what are some of the things, especially from maybe an online, quarterback standpoint, ball security, be able to create points off the turnovers? What do you think you guys got to do a little bit better this week?
“Take care of the ball, not let the quarterback get hit.”
Courtney Cox: You have been very good about not letting the outside noise affect you guys. But after in the locker room, a lot of guys said they saw what ESPN, that entire panel picked the Texans.
“I knew they wouldn’t listen to me.”
Courtney Cox: The Texas defense was such a big point of conversation going into this one. Do you feel like your guys take that as a chip on their shoulder?
“Whatever they take to go and play well, I’m all for. Whatever it is. We have to try to outplay the other team’s defense each week. If we get the ball, if there’s a turnover, we have to go out there in sudden change and all those things. And so whatever motivates them, I figured that they’re going to be motivated by something. I hope it’s just to make the plays necessary to win. The thing I appreciate is that we’re working together and fighting together to create turnovers. There’s a lot of group efforts going into those turnovers, whether it’s a pass rush or somebody tips a ball or the call and the disguise or whatever that may be. I think that that’s been the thing that I’ve enjoyed watching.”
GH: Maybe a little bit different this week in your approach because you’re favored in this game?
“I don’t know if that’ll be a different approach. We’ll just try to come up with a message and come up with some keys and a game plan that we feel like gives us the best chance to go out there. I don’t think that anything’s going to change, whether we’re favored or not favored. We just got to go back on the road.”
Chris Curtis: How much does it change your approach, given [Jarrett] Stidham in there for Bo Nix, who’s done for the year? Do you rely on any of the coaches here that had coached him when he was here?
“He hasn’t thrown a pass since 2023, so we’ll kind of have to figure out… I’m sure that… Again, I like Jared. I know that we did a lot of work on him in the offseason here, in free agency. Josh has coached him. He’s probably ready to go, obviously, preparing as a starter each and every week and really early in the preparation. Not sure how much things will change based on the quarterback in there or what they’re asking them to do. We’ll just have to get started here today. They got an extra day on us to get going with this preparation.”
JW: How do you handle that balance? Because it is such an interesting dynamic that nowadays, guys, with social media and being able to see what people are saying about them or the team and the respect and who they’re picking, how do you handle that balance of like, ‘All right, guys, we need to focus on what’s going in these walls and not let the outside distractions bother us,’ but knowing it’s a social media world and it’s at their fingertips.
“I think there’s things that are interesting and there’s things that are important. We try to focus on the things that are important and not the things that are interesting. There’s a lot of things that are like, ‘Okay, this is cool,’ but we have to focus on what’s important. That’s how we prepare each and every week. Our identity and the belief that our guys have in each other, those are the things that are important.”
Chris Curtis: Any thought to going out a day early? I don’t know what you’ve done in the past when going to Denver to get ready for the altitude. How do you guys prep for that?
“Physiologically, it takes about a week and a half.”
Chris Curtis: Oh, so it won’t help…
“So, they weren’t going to let us go last Thursday to get ready for it. A day isn’t going to do anything other than mentally. I think the better you play, the less effect it will have. But physiologically, unless you’re out there a week and a half early, I’ve been out there before, and we’ll have to play well and be ready to go. That’s just what it is.”
Courtney Cox: I love when they cut you on the sideline after a touchdown, but you keep a pretty good poker face. The Kayshon Boutte touchdown catch. How unbelievable was that for you as a coach to watch? Because you kept it pretty professional, but internally, you must have been freaking out like everybody else?
“Sure. I think that just Kayshon’s growth as a person and as a teammate, really, just seeing him open up since I’ve been here. He’s really trusted Todd Downing and the rest of the receivers. That’s a really good group just from the standpoint that everybody helps, everybody contributes. You saw it again last night. So anytime that Kayshon, I do feel I like his competitiveness. That showed up last week. It showed up last night, and I’m happy for him.”
JW: You make it a point, and I caught a glimpse of it on social media in the tunnel after the game, celebrating. I forget who it was you were celebrating with. Do you ever get an opportunity or a chance to just sit there and kind of reflect on the genuineness that your players believe and have in you? Because it’s so difficult to find, especially in the world of sports, and in football. But I believe just watching it, I’m not part of it, but I feel like they really believe that genuineness that you give them.
“I try to be as authentic as I possibly can every single day. It’s not all smiles. I mean, it’s not. But I try to get around the building. I try to have some sort of relationship with each and every guy. I appreciate what they do and how they play and their style and their demeanor and all that other stuff. I don’t know if I reflect back on it. I appreciate it. I try to do it every single day, not just that little snippet after the game.”
Courtney Cox: How do you feel like Drake’s handled the playoffs so far, the pressure of the playoffs in the locker room and out on the field?
“I don’t think the pressure of that… I think that there’s been some plays that, again, the ball security and the things like that. But this is… Ball security, we have to all take ownership. We’ve been through this earlier in the year. So we have to take care of the ball, and then we have to take care of the guy with the ball. We have to protect the guy with the ball. So there’s a little bit of two-fold there, and that will have to improve. But I don’t think the pressure… He’s made some big-time throws. He made a big-time throw on 4th-and-1 and blitz zero, and made some other really good throws. Then there were other times where the receivers helped him out, whether that’s Kayshon or Stefon, and third down. But I think it’s been … the pressure I don’t think has been an issue.”
Courtney Cox: Protecting him. Do you feel like Will Campbell has been at 100%?
“100%, how do you mean 100%?”
Courtney Cox: Health-wise, feeling good, coming back.
“Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything that’s limiting him. He has to just… Will has high expectations for himself, and we have high expectations for him, too. Each opportunity out there is a learning experience. He signed up to play a tough position. Just like Gonzo [Christian Gonzalez] and CD [Carlton Davis]. There’s just places where you have to be great. That’s the investment that we make in those players. Those are the guys that we want out there. You just have to come back, bounce back. It’s like giving up a pass or a touchdown for a corner. You got to line back up and you got to keep playing. CD challenges and competes, and sometimes they call them, and sometimes we intercept them, and sometimes we bat them down. We had 14 PBUs. You have to play aggressive out there because if not, it’s just going to be a lot of pitch and catch.”
GH: I saw Ty Law on the field pregame talking to Gonzo. Just be careful there. He’s always advocating, telling these guys they deserve more money. So just be careful, all right?
“Ty’s got a lot of stories.”
GH: Yes, he does.
“He tells a lot of stories. Some are accurate and some aren’t.
GH: Well, I was going to ask, did you have a flask in the locker room?
“No, I never had a flask in the locker room.”
GH: You didn’t have a flask?
“These stories sound good nowadays. Ty sells a liquor for a living, so he’s trying to push his product.”
“Yeah, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
JW: The story is always better than the facts anyway. But you talk about Will Campbell, and he signed up to play a hard position. It doesn’t get any easier this week with [Nik] Bonitto and [Jonathon] Cooper.
“That’s the league. That’s the NFL.”
JW: What are some of the… I know you can’t really give us all the insight that you give them, but you played that position. You can help better than anybody. What are some of the things that you maybe telling them, ‘Hey, here’s what you might want to think about going into these games, especially when you got these unbelievable pass rushes?’
“I mean, every play is different. Every scheme is… The play call dictates where the depth of the quarterback is, or where the launch spot, or where the slide protection is, or any of those things. So again, it’s about us staying balanced. You don’t want to turn games into a drop-back game in this league. You don’t want to do that when you get behind, and you’re forced to throw and get in a drop-back game. That’s not where we want to live. We want to continue to stay balanced and make sure that we’re all doing our part to protect the guy with the ball. And usually, that’s the quarterback. And we’ve talked about this. When the quarterback gets hit, bad things happen for the offense, and good things happen for the defense.”
Chris Curtis: Mike, you deflect almost all praise and give it to the players. I’m curious, what has this team taught you, if anything, as a head coach? What has this season brought you that you’ve witnessed with these guys that are on this team?
“Yeah. So just going back and trying to reflect on coming here with Robert [Kraft] and Jonathan [Kraft], giving us the support to build this thing and giving us the support to work with Eliot [Wolf], and Ryan [Cowden], and Stretch [John Streicher] and myself, and I’m thankful for that. I think that those guys let me do my job. They’ve allowed us the resources to go and build something in the offseason. And when you talk about that, it was about bringing these guys together. I think just appreciating everybody’s journey, whether it’s a high draft pick, whether it’s an undrafted player, whether it’s a player that had been on a few teams before this and is getting a new opportunity, or is one of those free agents that we talked about, is taking a lot of pride and just building the team and then protecting the team. I think that’s probably the thing that I love just to do is see the guys come together in the relationships, and then they go out, and they play together. I think that’s reflective of the feelings that I get watching them interact with each other throughout the week.”
GH: Well, we appreciate you doing this with us every week. We know you got a lot going on.
“Yeah, we got another one next Monday.”
GH: Okay. All right.
“You guys are getting free radio. It’s like when those games go down to extra innings. Free baseball.”
(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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