TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Postgame Press Conference 8/22

Here’s what New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to say following the Patriots 24-21 win over the Eagles on Saturday night:

On the fact he felt the Eagles were a measuring stick for his team and, in totality, how he thought his team did:

“Well, first of all, I would just like to send our thoughts and prayers out for Ja’Quinden Jackson. You never like to see that. Obviously, I hope everything’s okay there, whether that’s— but just, that’s not how you want to start any game or see anybody out there on the field like that.”

“But, it’s inconsistent. I think that there’s some really good performances and then obviously some things that we do that hurt us and we have to be able to eliminate those few things, those lulls or those naps that we talked about. I felt like we really competed. The guys that were there tonight in the game competed in the second half. And I think that’s probably the thing that I’ll take away for the last 3 or 4 days was just the way that they competed and fed off each other and made some plays and gave up a few and then were able to come back there at the end and score and then obviously end the game on defense.”

On, along those lines, just with everything they were able to do, how important is that just for everyone to kind of feel good about it, what they put in from the ones all the way down to what he saw at the end of the game:

“Yeah, I mean, I think obviously we always want to win, we want to win, we want to compete, but it was the competing and the fighting through some adversity and things that I needed to see from some young guys that, really needed to show it pretty quickly.”

On Behren Morton, when did they know he could punt and what went into that decision, and what he thought of his performance:

“Well, I just assume all the quarterbacks, they do their little punt thing and see how close they can get it to the goal line. So I figured he could punt. Bryce [Baringer] wasn’t feeling great after the first 2 punts. So, I figured instead of risking anything there with Bryce or with Andy, that Behren was able to get us out of there.”

On the fact TreVeyon [Henderon] and [Eli] Raridon weren’t seen during pregame warmups and if those were injury situations:

“I would say that those are individual situations that kept them out of the pregame warmup.”

On Marcus Bryant, he left the game early, and then was immediately ruled him out, and if he has any update on him:

“[Sophie Weller], don’t waste your question on an injury question. Yeah, I just think he just got rolled up on. I think it’ll be a lower leg injury, but I don’t know to what extent. that’s kind of what happens sometimes in, those inside plays. So we’ll have to just take a look and see where he’s at. But I won’t know anything right now.”

On the fact we saw a lot of Jam Miller and Lan Larison tonight, and if anyone a little further down the depth chart past TreVeyon and Rhamondre [Stevenson] really distinguished themselves when he looks for a number 3 running back to this point in the summer:

“I mean, I felt like Lan certainly had a good performance, a gritty, tough, performance tonight and did some really good things. It’s 4th and 1 and he gets hit behind the line of scrimmage and finds a way to get the first down. And then we’ve got, another long pass and he makes [it], and then he’s able to break a couple tackles there in 3rd down when we needed it at the end of the game. So did some good things.”

On the fact he doesn’t have the benefit of looking at the tape, but just his thoughts on maybe where Gabe Jacas is at this point:

“I mean, I think just still inconsistent. I think that the effort is certainly there. The willingness, he’s a very coachable player. We’re just putting a lot on him right now as far as special teams and covering kicks and playing on kick return. We have to be able to see what he can do and what we, maybe what we feel like we can count on when the regular season comes. I think he’ll just continue to improve because he has that type of attitude and he’s willing. And, I know he’ll get back to work real quick.”

On toward the end of the first quarter, he called a timeout and he had the conversation with his defensive unit on the side, and what he see at that moment made you feel like a conversation was needed:

“I saw dogs*** defense and I wanted to talk to them. And I figured that if I didn’t call timeout, that I wouldn’t be able to get what I wanted to say off my chest.”

On, in the big picture, how important is it to him for Drake [Maye] and some of the starters to play in the final preseason game, the feel of the game, or is the joint practices that he’s experienced lessen the need for that:

“I don’t think we have a very deep team, Mike, so I think we have to make sure that we’re preparing our football team and that we’re doing everything that we can to keep our best players available. And if that means playing Thursday as part of preparation, then that’s what we’ll do. Have not made that decision yet, but I would say that that’s something that I’m confident in with where we’re set up currently.”

On how he’s weighing the joint practice reps specifically for the wide receivers versus what some guys like Kyle Williams are doing in the preseason games:

“Well, I think that that’s a great question. the guys that – just want to give Kyle as many opportunities to continue to improve and do the things that we’ve asked him to improve on and he knows he needs to improve on. And I just, I love his ability outside the numbers to be able to stretch the field. And we wanted to give him some more opportunities to be able to do that as well as work on some of the stuff, that Todd [Downing] and Josh [McDaniels] have him, trying to improve on. And so the guys that played or didn’t play, excuse me, I felt like they got a lot of work and Kyle probably needed a little bit more work. And it was good to see Chizz [Efton Chism] come out tonight and do some things and just try to be able to evaluate everybody as we look to build this roster.”

On what he thinks he needs to learn over the next 5 days and within that, what he can learn about his team:

“I mean, I think we just have to continue to not make the same mistakes twice as far as some of the younger guys, we need to make new mistakes. Because you need to be able to count on some of these guys when we put the roster together to be able to contribute and as we define their roles. So, I think that’s probably the first thing. And then we’ll have practice and then we’ll have another game on Thursday. We’ve got 2 really good days lined up, I think, on Monday and Tuesday. And then we’ll travel and we’ll play in Cleveland. So, those are opportunities. And then, the schedule gets a little funky and we’ll have to be ready to go.”

On the fact he mentioned he wanted to see some of the younger players, rookies fight through adversity, and what specifically he’s looking for and how how important that is in building, their character and who they will be as individuals moving forward:

“I mean, I think that this is— there’s a lot of ebbs and flows of a professional football game and how can you, handle making a mistake? How can you handle getting blocked? How can you handle being, having a good play and then coming back and be able to do it again? And, how they bounce back, how they handle different situations, what they do in live action, I think is really critical.”

(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.)

About Ian Logue

Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.

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