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Mike Vrabel on the ‘critical’ play vs. the Chargers, the Patriots’ identity, and the state of his bloody lip
He also discussed Drake Maye, Christian Gonzalez, and Rhamondre Stevenson.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was quick to dismiss any concern about the bloody lip he sustained in a celebratory moment at the end of his team’s 16-3 wild-card win over the Chargers on Sunday night.
Having secured victory in his postseason debut as New England’s head coach, Vrabel — who was accidentally hit in the mouth by defensive tackle Milton Williams — was in predictably good spirits when he stopped by WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning.
“It’s fine,” Vrabel noted of the lip. “I was fine the second it happened.”
Vrabel actually appeared ecstatic after the hit, going back up to Williams to show him the cut and give him a second hug. His joy at the performance of the team’s defense was fitting for a former linebacker.
“Everybody’s locked in,” Vrabel said of the defense.
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He reserved a note of humor in alluding to ongoing efforts to improve.
“Well sometimes we don’t know what coverage we’re running, so that’s a good thing,” Vrabel quipped when asked what new coverage calls the Patriots made to confuse the Chargers.
Still, his defense held Los Angeles to just 207 total yards and a 1-for-10 conversion rate on third down.
“We didn’t change the mac and cheese,” Vrabel summarized, referencing the team’s recently adopted expression to maintain the same methodology that has generated success. “You don’t experiment on Thanksgiving.”
Here are a few other topics Vrabel covered:
Notes for improvement
Vrabel consistently praised his team for the win, but was also clear that he wants to see continued improvements as New England moves on to the next round of the postseason.
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“There are a lot of things,” he replied regarding potential points of emphasis.
“Drake knows that when we call a quick game, if it’s not there you can’t sit there,” Vrabel said, referencing a Maye turnover. “That’s just not the recipe, and in that situation reserve the right to punt and take care of the football, [given] where the football was.”
Still, he went beyond the critique of his quarterback.
“Starting at the top, and all the way down,” Vrabel explained of his self-analysis. “I think that’s what’s been great about this thing is we’ve all been willing to accept responsibility and improve and be critical of our performances, and try to get better. That’s what we’ve talked about: The teams that continue to improve are the ones that stick around.”
The “critical” play
After Maye threw an early interception, the Patriots’ defense immediately responded. New England made a goal-line stand against Los Angeles, forcing a four-and-out to give the offense the ball back.
It was cited as a great example of complementary football, which Vrabel endorsed.
“Wherever we have to go play defense and whatever we needed from an offensive perspective from a situation, they’ve been good at,” he said of his team’s adaptability. He specifically singled out the fourth down stop as a pivotal play.
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“Defensively to be able to do that early in a game, in a playoff game, that was critical,” said Vrabel. “It really set the tone for the entire game. Gave our guys a lot of confidence, that wherever they put the ball down, they go play defense. I thought that was great. Being able to get the crowd back into it after an unfortunate tipped pass interception.”
Drake Maye’s night
Vrabel, having critiqued Maye’s play, also praised his capacity to find yards even when passing lanes were closed. He also paid tribute to Maye’s 28-yard touchdown pass to tight end Hunter Henry in the fourth quarter that helped put the game away.
“For what Drake was able to do, I thought it was huge to be able to [make] explosive plays with his legs when he needed to, and then obviously the throw to Hunter off-platform,” Vrabel said of the team’s quarterback.
“That’s a lot harder than it looks,” he added of Maye’s touchdown toss to Henry, also crediting rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson.
“Drake was able to slide and really throw an unbelievable ball to Hunter,” Vrabel concluded. “We needed that.”
A Christian Gonzalez update
While Vrabel didn’t have a lot to say about his starting cornerback (who exited the win over the Chargers with a head injury), he did provide a minor update.
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“Yes, I did talk to him,” Vrabel said of speaking with Gonzalez after the game. “We’ll go through whatever the steps are that would require him to pass through whatever he needs to do. Without having seen him today, I can’t sit here and speculate. I just know that they wouldn’t let him go back into the game.”
Instilling (and defining) an identity
In a discussion of the team’s turnaround, WEEI hosts cited Maye’s postgame quote about the team’s change in identity. Vrabel, credited with leading the overhaul of the Patriots’ identity, tried to give a distilled explanation of what it entails.
“I think we believe in each other. I think that they are a close football team,” he began. “I think they actually enjoy coming to work and playing with each other and building that camaraderie; the jokes, the tough love, everything that goes on inside a locker room.
“On the field, hopefully we see an effort,” added Vrabel. “I hope that people that watch us and say, ‘They play hard. They run full-tilt to the tackle, they try to finish longer than the guy with the ball.’ At our best we take care of the football, we’re good situationally, I think we try to take advantage of bad football. There’s an understanding of what’s going on. I think you hopefully see guys playing with some technique and some details. That’s really what we’re trying to do.”
The Patriots’ coach was also queried about how he’s managed to get wide receivers to block for each other (and the team in general).
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“You just set the expectations, you show them what it looks like,” Vrabel said. “You show them how important it is, show them different clips around the league or something that they’ve done standing around watching a guy getting the s*** knocked out of him. I’m like, ‘Does anybody want to be the guy who has the ball while everybody else is standing around? We can do that too.’
“And then slowly they start to realize, ‘Well, if this guy’s going to do it for me when I’ve got the ball, then it’s expected of me to be able to go and block when I don’t have the football,'” he continued. “And I get it, nobody’s perfect. None of us are, and so you just continue to show them.”
Trusting the players
One of the Patriots’ more important contributions on Sunday came from running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who tallied 128 total yards.
Stevenson’s quality play in the last few weeks has provided redemption after struggling earlier in the season. Vrabel was asked about having faith in a player, and not benching them after initial mistakes.
“That’s a hard way to operate,” he replied. “We can’t operate like that. You can’t get the best out of people if you think that if I make a mistake, I’ll be benched.”
“Now, there’s got to be a certain point that I have an obligation to the football team, and if that becomes something that’s just repeated,” he added, insinuating that eventually a player would be benched. “But I think we want to create an environment where you can go out and play aggressively, and part of playing aggressively is mistakes are going to happen. But you’re not going to win much being cautious either. So we have to continue to try to be aggressive with the football in our hands, to make people miss, to break tackles, but also not be reckless.”
Are the “big dogs” showing up in January?
Reminded of his postgame quote about wanting the “big dogs” to show up for the Patriots in January (in the postseason), he applauded Williams and others for their contributions in a dominant win.
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“There were some of those efforts, and we’ll need to continue to do that,” Vrabel said.
“You talk about the one play making the difference,” he added, “whatever that is, it just takes one play to turn the energy of the team and help us win. I think they believe that.”
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