TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Press Conference 1/27
Vrabel speaks on Tuesday as the Patriots start turning the page towards the Seahawks and Super Bowl LX.
Follow us
Follow Us
🕑 Read Time: 10 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots Transcripts
HOME > Patriots Blog > Patriots Transcripts
Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say during his press conference on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.
OPENING STATEMENT:
“I just want to thank a lot of people here for helping us get here. Obviously, Robert and Jonathan for the support that they showed us from the time that I got here, through free agency. We’re excited to finish up this chapter here and move into a new building. Just have a lot of excitement there. As we get back, just the Foxborough Fire Department, these guys all jacked up on top of their trucks and the excitement there. Just look at our parking attendants. We came back and there was a bunch of snow, and we’re worried about starting our cars and getting everything cleaned off, and our cars are cleaned off. I can’t thank those people enough for what they do, our staff, our coaches, to get our players prepared, our training room, just everybody involved with this thing. But obviously, the players would thank them. And I know that they’re excited to get us this next game. And just the work that they’re going to put in here this week, I think we have a good plan for them. We’re excited about it, and it’ll be a huge challenge, and it’ll be a huge test.”
“So what do you got, Soph [reporter Sophie Weller]?
On the fact that he was asked on the radio about Drake and his shoulder injury today, and if that’s something that’s been maybe blown a little bit out of proportion on social media:
“Probably. And here’s what I’m going to start saying about this radio show. This is like the Miranda rights. There’s nothing that I can say on there that can be used against me when I come back in here. So going forward, that’s what we’re going to have to say. Those are free interviews. I’m in there, we’re doing breakfast shots. But I think that everybody, and including Drake, is not 100% at this part of the year. And we’ll do everything that we can to help our players be prepared and get ready for this game.”
On what his week is like with the players, and what does he want from them and what’s the experience:
“Yeah, we have to get healthy. We have to get healthy. Staying the day, I think, helped us get a little bit of rest, so we didn’t get back late or try to sleep on a plane. We’ll get moving around tomorrow. They’ll lift and run and workout. Tomorrow, do some light football drills. The players will run those. I’ll run the conditioning, things like that. Then we’ll practice Thursday and Friday. We have an opportunity to take a day off on Saturday, and then travel Sunday, get some movement in, probably a light movement back in the weight room before we travel. Then Monday will be like a bonus day, which we’ve used for coming off of a bye week to do some drills and just some movement. Then Tuesday off, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, just try to keep it like a normal week.”
On if he’s actually even been asked this directly, but did Drake hurt his shoulder on Sunday?
“No, I wouldn’t say that anybody hurt anything. Again, this is a sport where there’s going to be things that come up, and I don’t think that there’s a… We’ll talk about whatever status each player has for the game once we’re required to. We understand that, but we were able to function offensively, throw the football, run the football. So that’s where everybody’s at.”
On when the game plan gets installed and presented to the players:
“I think that that’s something that happens this week. That’s something that happens next week. I think there’s a lot of preparation. I think you want to try to avoid doing too much too early. And then also, how do you keep their attention next week and focused and locked in? I think we have a good balance. Coaches have been a good resource. Josh has been a good resource. Obviously, he’s coached in these with the extended break. So there’s just trying to find that sweet spot of doing enough here, but then also still having stuff out there that will keep them engaged.”
On how he would describe what Milton Williams has brought to the program:
“Well, again, there’s a consistency there. He’s a tireless worker. He worked hard. He was here in the offseason. I think that makes a difference. And then obviously, just the disruption. I know everybody that rushes the passer. They strive for sacks, and certainly our ability to affect the quarterback goes well beyond the sack numbers. You can get a sack. I mean, Gonzo [Christian Gonzalez] got a sack, the quarterback ran out of bounds. And so if you just look at that, it can be somewhat misleading, but he certainly has brought some disruption. We talked about that after the Houston game. We talked about that yesterday, or a few days ago here, about the disruption. And I think he has improved some of his technique in the run game and things that we’ve talked about, and he’s consciously tried to work on that, and I appreciate that.”
On with him, though, when he signs a big contract, I’m sure there’s part of his research that says ‘We want to make sure that whenever we give money like that to someone, that they don’t change as a result of that money,’ and what gave him the assurance that he was going to not …
“Well, having done a lot of work with him coming out and just knowing who he is as a person, but his family. I think his parents have been fantastic raising him and his sisters. When you have good bones, you can survive a lot. For a young player to come into a lot of money like that, it is important that they remain grounded and they remain hungry and want to continue to work. I know that his parents and his family have a lot to do with that.”
On if he has a vision of what a Super Bowl win would feel like:
“No, I haven’t thought about that one time.”
On the fact Drake was very efficient passing the ball in the regular season, over the last three weeks how much is the passing output, just a reflection of the defenses and the pass rush that his guys have faced:
“Yeah, I think that’s all a combination. I think it all goes into it. Just the defenses in general, not just the pass rush. And again, a lot of that stuff is … we’ll have to be better. We’ll have to be better. We’ll have to play one of our best games, if not our best game, against Seattle to stay balanced, to run the football, to use all our complementary passing game, and not just turn it into a drop-back passing game. Because that’s a tough way to live in this league, especially with the players that they have, the games. They’re probably the best in the National Football League at running games up front and creating pressure. They work very well together. It’s something that we show our guys every week. So I know that that’ll be a big key in this game is being able to block those guys up front. And a lot of guys with ball production on the back-end. I mean, Ernest Jones has five interceptions. Kobe Bryant’s got four. A lot of guys get their hands on the football.”
On the fact that he had a lot of success here as a player, was on almost a perfect season, and then there was another successful run with the same head coach, and if he can talk about the dynamic, not so much that dynamic between the head coach and the players, but the way he does things seems to be a little different and where that came from. He’s talked about the fact he’s taken from other coaches over the years, but if there’s one particular coach that has led him to where he is now:
“I mean, I think you try to have a core belief in what you do, and I think you try to be consistent with that. But I think you also have to be authentic. I think they have to see you be upset, be disappointed, be sad, share personal experiences. Again, I talk about how much time we spend together. I think it goes all the way back to when … I mean, they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. So whatever we can do to try to help them off the field, grow as men. There’s a lot of great guys in there that are husbands and fathers, and then they’re also a great player. So we just try to build the player the best that we can.”
On if that come from anywhere, though:
“I’ve been a lot of places. I played at Ohio State. I got drafted by the Steelers. A great organization. Came here for eight years. Went to Kansas City, had great coaches there, worked at Ohio State, worked for Bill O’Brien, worked at Tennessee. You know what I mean? So it’s like if you just pay attention and focus, I didn’t live my whole life in one place. So that’s all I can tell you. I just try to be me. Sometimes that’s good enough, sometimes it’s not. But just to try to learn from every person, every great coach that I’ve been around, and try to make it my own style.”
On when he starts to prepare for this game and he looks at Sam Darnold, he’s had a few different stops around the league, How deep does his staff look in terms of his film? Is it about this year …
“We haven’t watched every game that they’ve played this year yet. So there’ll be things that we’ll try to watch and see. Again, it’ll be important. We’re sound. He’s been very efficient. And again, everybody’s journey is different. And so you give him a lot of credit for the places that he’s been and how he’s learned and grown, and certainly making the most of his opportunity now.”
On the fact he mentioned a little bit earlier that he felt like he had a good plan in place, and if the plan for the game is already fully baked:
“No. No. I meant plan as far as schedule, logistics, trying to get all that stuff out of the way. We’ll work hard today and tomorrow to continue to work on that and what we present to the players, and then that’ll continue to build as we move on.”
On the fact he mentioned them this morning, but respecting his memorandum rights, just an overall thought on Seattle, just how good of an opponent are they:
“They’re first in the league in scoring on defense, third on offense. Good mix of veterans, good mix of veterans and youth. And so anytime that you have defenses that are good at keeping points down, it makes it real difficult. So they disguise well, and they blitz, and sometimes they get pressure with rushing four. I mean, they’ve got four or five guys with six or seven sacks each. And offensively, it’s a mix of some of the West Coast stuff. It’s play-action, but then just the scheme and Darnold’s ability to operate and function. And not many people slow down JSN. Kenneth Walker is just, the speed, he can hit the edge, he’s not afraid to cut up. They got an excellent Special Teams unit. That Special Teams has won them some football games. They broke it open against Atlanta, 6-6. I think it’s tied at halftime. He takes the opening half kickoff, the second half kickoff to the house. Defense gets a couple of turnovers, and then it’s a blowout. So we’re going to have to be really good in all phases, but this is an excellent football team.”
On how he would grade his defense, just the progression of the defense, especially through the first three rounds of the playoffs and that it seems they’ve really come up strong:
“Yeah, I’m not much into the grades. It’s good enough for us to win. I think I always love the draft grades and the O-line, D-line grades. I’m not much into grades. I’m just into winning.”
On how the aggression of the defense:
“We’ll have to play better than we played last week for us to win. So as guys have come back, and again, situationally and whatever is presented to us, whether that’s short yardage stop or red zone stop, those things will have to continue to improve. The red zone has been better in the playoffs, but again, the only thing that matters is what happens next Sunday.
On a lot being made of Will Campbell’s performance the first two weeks of the playoffs, and how he feels he held up on Sunday:
“He played better against a really good rusher. We’ll need to keep improving and excited that he has another week to do [so].”
On he would define Mike McDonald’s defensive scheme?
“I would say multiple. I’d say multiple. It has the ability to play post-safety zone, play some split safety concepts, then also pressure you. So I think that they’ve got everything in the bag. It just depends on what they want to use and do. And again, looks like they don’t have many busts. There’s not guys running free a lot. Have the ability to play man to man, kind of move the safeties around, again, however they want down in a box. They’ve got a lot of good chess pieces that they utilize.”
On if it’s ‘Jesse Minter-esque’, with Minter having come from that same defense:
“Yeah, I mean, again, he’s got his own flavor, but there’s a background. There’s only so many places you can put 11 guys. But they work really well together from an adjustment when teams motion and shift and do all those things, you don’t see a whole lot of panic.”
On Matt Evans, his assistant director of College Scouting, if he’s had any interactions with him and what it’s been like working with him, and if not, just what the College Scouting Department is doing right now with the Senior Bowl and balancing that:
“Yeah, they’re in Mobile [Alabama]. Everybody has a job to do. Got to know Matt over the course of last year in our first draft together and appreciate his input and his knowledge and working with our coaches, but appreciate everybody in that staff and that department. So they went to Dallas, and then they go on to Mobile, and they have their responsibility that they have to focus on, which is player evaluation for the draft. So we we’ll need everybody. They’ll have to get us caught up whenever we’re finished.”
On going back to Milton Williams and him being in there on the ‘tush push’ on Sunday and how long did they have that in the bag and based on the execution, would they use it again?
“We’ll use anything that can help us. We gained just enough. And again, we practice things throughout the year and try to have it ready to go. But yeah, anybody that can help us out there, Tonga, Milt, anybody that we could use. So hopefully, we can continue to pick up some short yardage situations, with how critical that is, especially in the red zone.”
On how he’s kept his personal energy up, and the fact he expends a lot on relationships with his family, the players, the media, be engaged, spend a lot of time, and how he’s kept that 20 games into the season:
“I think you just get caught up in this thing, and you do what’s necessary. I think you just do what you feel like you need to do when you need to do it. Sometimes you got to trick yourself, and sometimes you got to put on a happy face, and sometimes you got to close the door for 15 minutes and not be happy, and then come out and be Johnny Carson. But the more that I’m around the players, I would say the easier that it gets. They have responded to us. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. And so I think being around the players helps. And again, we got a lot more time to spend together this week and then next week in San Francisco.”
(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.)
From our archive - this week all-time:
April 28 - May 13 (Through 26yrs)
Join 2,000+ fans getting exclusive stats, analysis, and insights delivered straight to their inbox every week. Never miss a play.