Here’s what Mike Vrabel had to say during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Tuesday:
Morning, Coach.
“Good morning.”
How are you?
“Did they like our advertisement last week with the men’s health and the clean drain, or how did that work?”
I think they did. They liked that. They reached out.
“We were talking about Wiggy’s drain or something.”
They actually reached out. They wanted to know if you need any help.
“No, I don’t.”
Everything’s okay. I’ll tell you who doesn’t need any help, and that is your Buckeyes. Nice win over the weekend.
“Yeah. I mean, I think it was a slow game. I felt the fourth quarter brought some action, but we’ll see how it goes. I watched a little bit of it and go from there.
You played against an overrated Manning at one point in your career, so you can relate.
“Well done.”
I was here …
“Social media is a brutal, brutal place. It never misses.”
No, it doesn’t.
“Some of the stuff is just-”
Do you look at any of that?
“Well, it’s hard not to. It’s hard not to see some of the references and just … People send them, and then it’s just one thing after another. You didn’t think it could get any better, and then it does.”
It’s the first 30 seconds of his day. First 30 seconds of your day is looking at social media. That’s what you said.
“Get the news.”
It was a new Manning face. It was this all the rage. You created the old one, now there’s another one.
“There were some good ones.”
I was here Wednesday night for the kickoff, and you talked about this team’s identity. In fact, you said that we should all ask any of the players that were there on Wednesday night, and they ought to be able to tell us what the identity is. What is in your mind the identity of this football team?
“Well, again, we can talk about it. Again, and I’ve heard and learn that I see better than I hear. And so our identity is going to have to be what we put on tape. But ideally, what we would like is our play style, our play demeanor, how much, how hard we play. I think it certainly starts there. We have to be smart with the football. We have to have guys that take the football away. I think that looking for opportunities to do that, finding ways to tip passes that get intercepted, finding ways to hit guys hard enough to knock the ball loose. We need guys that are willing to protect the guy with the ball, and I think that you’re going to see that, and hopefully, that we get the right guys that care about, if we throw it to Wiggy, we all need to go and protect them.
“There’s one football, there’s five guys that are eligible. The quarterback decides who to throw to. Everybody else has to just go and finish. We would love to play with great fundamentals, understand the details of the play, and make great decisions that don’t cost the team. And I get penalities happen. Penalties are going to occur. But I think the things that when it’s a decision-making, is it full body weight on the quarterback? Is it a blindside hit, or do I high screen on a punt return? Defenseless receiver, being the second guy in, all these things where I feel like that’s a decision. That’s a conscious decision. Hopefully, we’re making great decisions, and that we can take advantage of bad football.”
When you look at the actual scheme, Mike, you come from obviously Tennessee, where you ran the ball first, and then you try to play good defense. Are you going to be a week-to-week game plan type of team, or are you going to say, ‘We want to try to run the ball first and play great defense,’ or is that just going to change based on who your opponent is?
“I think it changes based on who your opponent is. I think our best player in Tennessee for most of those years was our running back. And so I think you do what your teams are equipped for and have the ability to adjust. I thought when we had to throw the ball and we threw it on our terms and you let plays marry and partner with each other and build that there’s complementary plays, I would think that hopefully the majority of our first and second down offense, if you’re talking offensively, you have to be able to run the football, you have to be able to marry those passes up, you have to be able to throw some screens to guys. It’s hard to live in a drop-back passing game in this league. I just think that to do that play in and play out is hard. And so you don’t want to end up living in that game. There’s times where the game dictates that you’ll have to. But we always want to be balanced and do what the defense will allow us to do on our terms.
When it comes to Drake, he’s made a point to say that throughout the preseason, he’s felt like he’s been a bit jittery right off the jump, and he needs to control that so that he makes less mistakes. What have you, as his head coach, seen him do to prepare for week one to be better at that?
“I think it’s about just his preparation to… Not the preparation of the game or the game plan, is just making sure that he’s in a place that he’s comfortable when the game starts. And again, I want them all to be excited. We are going to need energy and passion and enthusiasm, but that can’t override our job. Making sure that we get into drives and we try to structure practice the same way we would with the games and try to focus on that and how we start the game and the break and trying to finish strong and win the second half.”
I know you talked a little bit about Jabrill Peppers yesterday, said it wasn’t a scheme thing. Looking at it from the uneducated outside, which is where I sit, I know there’s … in some areas not necessarily a lot of depth on this team. How difficult is it to make a decision like that to release a guy who looks like somebody who should be on this 53-man roster?
“Yeah, those are always tough. I mean, those are always tough. They’re difficult. We’re trying to do what’s best for the team. And again, we try to make decisions that we feel like are going to help us in the long term, in the short term, and those are difficult. I had a personal relationship with Jabrill. I loved getting to know him and coach him, and we’re just trying to get it right and obviously understand where we are from the youth and the veterans that we have in the position room and how it was and how it sat.
Mike, the roster turnover, I think it’s about 50 % from last year. And it feels like it has been a point of emphasis to get new leaders. I think all the captains are new. Two of the six captains, I believe, are people that were brought in this offseason. How much of your approach to this year was predicated upon making sure that the leaders that were 4-13 the last two years were not the leaders this year?
“Somebody asked me that yesterday, and I don’t think anybody else has been intentional on that or with that. I can see that’s how things go when there’s change and there’s turnover. Some of those players were free agents. Some of those players we’ve moved on from. In the offseason, some of them have been currently, but that was never anyone’s intent. We’re just trying to build the position groups and build the team and try to figure out what we need. Leadership, I think, will always continue to grow and evolve. I hope that we have many more leaders than just the six that were named captain.”
And on that, Stef Diggs was one that a lot of people were surprised was not named a captain, given that we had heard he’d been leading the receiving group. Were you surprised that the players didn’t vote for Stef Diggs?
“Again, with this league, I don’t think I ever try to use the word ‘surprised.’ I think Stef got votes. And again, we just try to look at where the voting came out and recognize how the players voted.”
Mike, one of the things as a Pats fan, I woke up, can’t remember when it was, and I said, damn, Micah Parsons is in Green Bay. Were you guys in on him?
“We continue to have conversations about all players that are available. I think you love saying ‘Micah Pahssens.'”
I mean, I would love to have seen that. The first jersey I would have gotten.
“No Vrabel jersey? Do you have jerseys?”
I do have a Vrable jersey.
“He’s a dynamic player. Great player. But that wasn’t something that we really invested a lot of time or resources in. I think when you just try to look at what we feel like is best for us right now, that wasn’t entertaining that specific transaction.”
Interesting. But Generational. My guy, Sean, would say generational player that you get at a bargain price.
“Yeah, maybe bargain price. I think we just have to be very smart on building this thing, and I hope that everybody else sees it the same way outside of here. We want to bring in players that feel like give us the best chance, but also we have to build some depth there to this roster, and to do that from the draft and just, it hasn’t been, we’ll call it what it is, it hasn’t been real great. The depth of the roster has not been through our draft the last handful of years, and that has to change. We all know that. We’ll focus on that when we get there in April. Right now, it’s putting guys in roles that have some versatility and building the game-day roster and all these different things. But I think the best teams in the league draft well. They develop their players, they resign them, and then they carefully choose the players that they want to add in free agency.
Could you say that the drafts that being bad the last several years precluded you from trading first-round picks because you need those?
“No, I was just saying that when we build this thing and moving forward, we want to build it and make sure that we’re building through the draft. Then again, like I said, retaining the players that we feel like have developed and have earned contracts. While Micah Parsons is a great player, just probably wasn’t the best fit or the right time, I think, for us.”
You added Tommy Cutlets [DeVito] to the roster. Did you have to negotiate with Sean Stellato?
“I didn’t, no. When you claim somebody, you don’t have to negotiate with them. You just take them. You just grab their hair and drag them.”
So you don’t have to really…
“No. Big St. Anthony. St. Anthony’s Feast. Yeah. Sean Stalotto. This is like Christmas Day for Sean. How you doin’?”
Back to Stef Diggs. Last week, we talked to you about him. You said you expect him to contribute to this team a lot. Now that it’s game week, he’s still on track to be able to go week one and be good?
“Yep, I would imagine that as of today, he’ll be out there.”
Great. What’s the update on [Christian] Gonzales? And I know he didn’t practice yesterday.
“He didn’t practice yesterday. That’s the only update I can give you. I haven’t seen anything from… I haven’t met with the trainers. I got to see you guys before, and then I’ll see the trainers.”
But that’s injury-related. People look at a young player sometimes and wonder, Hey, is there some quiet hole?
“Yesterday, I said he’s working hard to come back, and when he’s ready to get back out in practice, hopefully that’s this week, and then we can decide and go from there.”
Mike, you look at Will Campbell, first game of the season. I think you, better than anybody, can give him the advice he needs, especially to see a guy like Maxx Crosby and maybe some of the techniques and some of the, I don’t know, veteran tips that might be able to give him to help with a guy like that. What are you saying to Will about this matchup?
“Well, it’s going to be with all of them. And then Max can line up wherever he wants, or they can put him wherever they want. So I think it has to be for everybody blocking him. He has a certain play style. I think if you drop your head, he’s going to jump around. And if you’re over-aggressive, he’s going to try to make you miss. I think just a certain play style of just making sure we’re not overextended to where, and again, he has a very unique play style where he’ll jab and jump around, and he uses his length and athleticism as opposed to, let’s say, maybe more of a power player. Not that he can’t do that, but again, he makes his money with instinctiveness and jumping under. If you overreach him, he’s coming under, and he’s getting in the backfield.
Do you tell him, be patient?
“It’s just making sure … you can’t sit there and wait. In the run game, you have to go get on them, but you have to make sure that you’re not out of control and that your head’s up and your eyes are up and that you’re able to redirect and again not be overly aggressive when you’re trying to block players like that. Again, it’ll change based on who the player is and who you’re going against, but that would be Maxx’s skillset.”
Did you watch the UNC-TCU game last night?
“Probably maybe a few snaps. That’s all the… maybe the end of the first half.”
You saw the good stuff. First drive was fire.
“Oh, thing of beauty.”
If they would have ended the game after the first drive, it would have been good.
“You guys seem to be excited about that.”
No, no, no. Listen, I’m rooting for the guy, and I think, you know, you’ve coached in college. It takes a while, don’t you think, to get a program going in there like that?
“I don’t know, Urban Meyer, won 12 of the first 12 games in Ohio State, so it didn’t take him long. That’s my experience in college football.”
All right. Okay. But we have the comp.
“I mean, I think I can only imagine the landscape of college football now. ‘Hey, who are you? I just came from wherever.’ I’m sure it’s probably not as easy outside of the top few programs.”
Ohio State guys have to take a pay cut when they get to the NFL.
Yeah, maybe. Hopefully. It’s called the put it on the budget line for winning right there.”
But isn’t that the difficult thing that obviously Bill is going to have to navigate through?
“I don’t know what he’s going to have to navigate. You know what I mean? I’ve got plenty to navigate here.”
Was your son happy with the Eagles win on Saturday?
“Yeah, he was. He was excited for his first game. And yeah, he got to wear a headset. So he’s official.”
That’s awesome.
All right. Well, the Mike Vrabel era gets underway Sunday. And so-
“Yeah, it does. It’s here.”
And we wish you the best of luck. I know Wednesday night, you sort of refused to answer the question about your favorite restaurant in Boston.
“Well, there’s going to be a lot of places I go to. So why would I… I mean, it’s like, who’s your favorite co-host?”
Well, I mean, I kind of like like them all equally.
“Of all the choices that he had, of the three choices he had, I would not pick Wiggy. I’d put it out there right now.”
I was your favorite teammate, though.
“Well, yeah, you were fun.”
I heard from some people down in the Seaport, they were like, ‘Wait a second, guy can’t throw us a little plug out there?’
“Yeah, I guess … everybody’s pillow talking. That’s the problem with this place. Everybody pillow talks.”
We got rats. Whoever gets restaurant rats. It’s all about the talk.
“Put a name on it or I’m not paying attention. I’ll live my life. You live yours outside of here. How about that?”
It’s all about the freebie.
“No, I don’t mind paying.”
Wiggy does. He’s already asked you for a jersey.
We’ve always been on two different pay skills, even when we played.
You got a parking pass for Sunday. You wouldn’t even pay for it.
I can’t get one yet, believe me.
“You can’t get a pass? We’ll get you a parking pass.”
Okay. You know what’s interesting, though, in-
“North Street entrance. We’ll get you right … ”
I was trying to come in the back way. Brock Bowers. I want to talk about Georgia Bulldog like myself.
“Oh, here we go. That’s where the comparison stops.”
That’s where it stops.
“Very, very good player. Very athletic.
But the match-up nightmare that he presents…
Yep. You treat him as a wide receiver. He will play in line. He will block. Great length. I think the biggest thing that he continues to gain speed as he’s down the field and try to locate and find the ball, he doesn’t lose speed. I think you have to treat him as a receiver. They do a lot with him. The full route tree, they’ll take shots to him. That’ll be an important matchup. Also, just being able to know where he is and be able to find him and understand what he’s trying to do from the different locations that they put him in.”
(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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Tags: Mike Vrabel New England Patriots WEEI Interviews
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