TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Super Bowl Postgame Press Conference 2/8
Mike Vrabel speaks after the Patriots Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks.
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Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say following the team’s loss to the Seahawks Sunday night.
On what the message was after the game:
“The message? That I’m proud of everything that they did. I’m disappointed just like they are. I reminded them that we’re 307 days into what hopefully is a long, successful relationship and program, and it’s okay to be disappointed. We have to be disappointed and upset together. Like I always do, I tell them I’m appreciative of them, I’m thankful, I’m grateful that I get to coach them. Part of our identity is not being a frontrunner. Again, just like every year, somebody’s going to lose this game, and we have to remember what it feels like and make sure that it’s not repeated.”
On what went wrong for his team:
“We couldn’t gain any rhythm, field position. We got to get into drives better offensively. Defensively, we’ve been really good against the run lately, and we weren’t. And again, we were just playing catch-up. And we did a great job in the red zone, and we competed. But unfortunately, I think the turnovers ultimately cost us. And I appreciate the way that the guys offensively battled and competed, but just not enough consistent execution.”
On what he saw from Drake tonight, he mentioned the turnover:
“Guys, we can sit here and try to put it on one guy. You’ll be disappointed because that’ll never happen. It starts with us as a coaching staff and making sure that we’re doing our part. And then obviously, we have to be able to execute. We got to be able to protect. When we do protect, we have to be able to progress through and throw the ball to the guy that’s open and help the quarterback and then he’s got to be better. That’s just how it goes. So that’s never going to change.”
On if this is the best team they’ve faced this year:
“Yeah, that’s the best team we faced, obviously, this year.”
On how valuable it is to reach this [point]:
“Well, it’s only valuable if we understand what it takes and what we’re going to need to do to improve. If we don’t do that, then it won’t have been very valuable. We had a really, really good year, and one that I’m proud of. And this game, I don’t think is a reflection of our year. We lost and we were beat. We were outcoached and outplayed, and give them credit.”
On their physicality, on if they did a bunch of different things up front:
“Well, I don’t think they did anything differently. They pressured and moved. When they didn’t, sometimes we blocked them, sometimes they didn’t, sometimes we gained yards. We hit a good play, a positive 20-yard gain on first down, and go backwards. Too many third-and-long situations. They’re a good football team. We’ll have to be able to learn from this and understand what we have to do to get back to this, and know how hard it is and how difficult every year is, and that it starts over.”
On what makes them so good on defense and what distinguishes that from other top defenses:
“They stop the run with some split safeties, and then they mix in pressure. They’re talented, they play hard. Those are things that usually make a good defense, just like ours was. So again, I thought our guys competed, and in the end, it wasn’t enough.”
On their red zone defense:
“I think we started to gain some confidence throughout the playoffs. I think that we have to remember that. We have to remember the things that we’re doing, and stay consistent and be able to replicate it, and then also draw on this as a positive. The way that we played the red zone during the postseason is much different and a much different reflection of how we played in the regular season.”
On the play of Christian Gonzalez and the plays he made:
“Gonzo is one of our best players. We expect those things. He expects those. He expects more than we expect he does. I’m happy that, again, he cares deeply about this team. He does. He’s very talented, and we’re lucky to have him.”
On if he has any defensive recalls or schematic things that actually showed up on the film:
“I think for the most part, it was kind of what we had seen on film. They’re really good at what they do. When they mix in, it’s not a high-pressure team. And so when they mix in pressure, you have to be ready for it. When they sprinkle the man in, you have to be ready for it. And again, we just have to be all dialed in and be ready to go. If we get a look that we haven’t seen, which sometimes happens, just like it happened to them at times offensively that we have somewhere to go with hte football.”
On what does he account for not being able to find a rhythm:
“Again, we just have to not let mistakes pile up. We can’t let one bad play turn into two bad plays and be able to settle down and be better early on in drives. That just wasn’t the case. We’d make a play here and stall, and we’d have a good run and stall. So again, just the competitive stamina, the competitive, the physical stamina, and the mental stamina that’s required in these types of games.”
On how he felt his offensive line played tonight?
“Nobody played good enough for us to win. You have a follow-up?”
On if there something that caused the major issues in protection:
“Again, sack are, that’s a team number. Whether we block them every time, or the quarterback is responsible, or whether there’s somewhere to go with football. Without having a look, I know that the sack numbers, and we went through this. There were times where, throughout the season, that there were sacks, that it was on somebody got beat. There was times where it was on the quarterback, and there was times where it was on the guys that we were throwing to. So I’m sure that one of those three things led to the six sacks that we had.”
On how rewarding the season was:
“Unbelievably rewarding. I can’t tell these players enough how proud I am of them. And again, we’re disappointed, not discouraged.”
On over the last couple of years, some great teams have made it to the Super Bowl with talented quarterbacks, let’s say, such as the Bengals, and they haven’t been able to come back and what he can do to not be just like a one-time wonder and come back again:
“Same thing we did this year, just do it a little bit different, do it a little better. Every year is a new year, and continue to try to improve the roster, continue to improve what we do, continue to improve how we do it, continue to believe in people, continue to get the right people in the building, and start over and know how hard it is each and every year.”
On how long he’ll think about what went wrong and then try to put it behind him:
“I’m sure I’ll think about it longer than I would have if we’d have won. But I told the players, there’s a lot of people they made a lot of sacrifices for us to be here. Every year, unfortunately, somebody loses this game, and we can’t take it out on the people that love us the most. I try to tell them they got to find place to get with those people tonight, thank them, and hug them, because they’ll be the ones that are there when you lose to the Steelers, and you lose to the Bills, and you lose to the Raiders, and you lose the Super Bowl, they’re going to be the ones that love you no matter what. I think we have a bunch of great guys, and I’m sure this will bother them for a while, and then we’ll have to get back to work.”
On the final minutes, and what they were doing:
“Again, none of us coached or played well enough. We have to continue to find everybody, find them when they’re open, be able to create, be balanced, run the football, and some days it all finds you, some days it doesn’t. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case.”
On what his young players can take away from this:
“I think just how hard it is. It doesn’t happen every year. That’s the thing I’m going to try to impress upon them. Those guys competed, and they’re not rookies anymore. But just the longer you play, the harder it gets to execute when you’re going against good football teams that are talented and well-coached.”
On when he got to got to half-time, getting the second half, what did he try to change:
“Well, just recognize the things that were happening and where mistakes were being made and how we need to not have negative yardage plays and be able to not put ourselves behind the chains and stay positive. We saw how we started. We started fairly positive, and then again, we stalled. That’s unfortunate because I thought we did get off to a good start in the second half. Just the drive stalled after we had some positive plays.”
On what makes their defense different:
“Again, they’re well-coached, and they’re talented, and they play hard.”
On how he feels his defense did:
“I thought they battled. I thought they played well in the red zone. We didn’t do very well against the run game. We didn’t create any turnovers and missed some sacks, missed some tackles. So not well enough for us to win, just like everybody else, whether that’s coaching or playing. But they competed. We needed to find a turnover somewhere in there with the way that the game was going.”
On the fact he has a lot of young players and what kind of foundation they have:
“Hopefully good. Again, we have to continue to improve. I appreciate all those guys. They’re young, they’re energetic, they’re talented, they want to do well. We got to coach them, and we got to continue to develop them.”
On how impressed he’s been with Mack Hollins throughout the year and today:
“Mack has a passion, and an energy, and a spirit to him that I appreciate. This team means a lot to him, cares deeply about the team, and in turn, I care deeply about him.”
On what’s the best thing he can say to his team:
“The only thing I can say is that we have to be disappointed, we have to be upset, but we have to be those things together. It can’t be divided. We can’t be front-runners, can’t be a good teammate, and you can’t care about the team and do the right things only when you win. Sometimes in this game, a professional football, you lose, and you still have to be able to do those things, and hopefully they will.”
[Inaudible] – Possibly if this loss is a positive:
“If we use it, if we can build on it, then we can use this experience as a positive, eventually, and understand what you have to do in big games to be able to win and put yourself in a position to win.”
On the fact Drake [Maye] is over there pretty choked up, and how difficult it is to have to see his players go through this:
“We spend a lot of time together, and I’m sure he’s over there talking about all the things that he has to do to improve and what he could have done better. Those are the types of guys that we have. I care deeply about them. I’m confident that they’ll be back, and they’ll do everything that they can to help this team and improve. We won a lot of football games with the guys that we have, and Drake’s a big reason why we’re here. I can’t wait to get back and coach him again. I’m sure they’re going to want a break from me, but the show goes on. We got to get back to work.”
(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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