Head Coach Mike Vrabel 11/6: "We're going to have to find ways to affect the quarterback"

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Trevion let people in on his health struggles on social media.

It doesn't appear he has any answers yet. How tough is something like that for the group, and how have you tried to support him?

Mike Vrabel (0:17)

Well, to speak on how hard it is for the group, I think that's a question for each individual player.

I know that he is well loved and respected on our football team. My support shows up in a lot of different ways. I'm just trying to make sure that Trevion, that he's cared for and that the recovery plan is intact, and he's comfortable with it, and that his wife Kenzie is cared for, and understand what was going on due to process, and support him the best way that I know how is just to care for him, listen to him, and do whatever we can to get healthy and get back, and help this football team, and do what he loves.

SPEAKER_3 (1:02)

What kind of options do you have at this point when it comes to rosters?

Mike Vrabel (1:08)

Well, Lans on the roster, and Lans and Corey, so that's the first thing, and then we'll kind of go from there. But the same three guys that helped us win in Miami will be available.

SPEAKER_4 (1:23)

Is there even a thought of putting him on non-football illness?

Mike Vrabel (1:27)

A lot of faults, and we'll see. You know, me, just work through whatever, and I can't even put a timeline on it. I don't think that that's fair to anybody. So we just have to focus on the guys that are available, and how we prepare for the Packers, and then also, you know, continue to care for Trevion and, you know, his wife and his family.

SPEAKER_4 (1:51)

Any update on some of the game statuses for AJ, Hunter, Marcus?

Mike Vrabel (1:58)

I would say that outside of Trevion being out, I would say AJ would be out. Hunter will probably be questionable. Marcus would be questionable. The rest of them will be questionable.

SPEAKER_5 (2:12)

Mike, in years past, Trevion has opened up about battles with mental health. In any capacity, is there any correlation with what he's handling in this moment and what he could potentially be dealing with mentally?

Mike Vrabel (2:29)

Just take a look at Trevion's statement and that will kind of speak for itself. I think that that's why he did it. Not going to speak on somebody else's health. I think that that was what he wanted to put out there, clearly supported it.

And I think that that just speaks for itself. And so, yeah.

SPEAKER_6 (2:51)

Mike, the Packers, the deep passes have been well talked about this week. What do you want to see from the secondary in terms of defending those deep passes?

Mike Vrabel (3:05)

I mean, I don't think it's just on the secondary when they complete a pass. It's like it's not always on the front seven when they run a football. So, I never really coached defense like that or looked at it like that. We're going to have to find ways to affect the quarterback, understand what the coverage is, how we execute it, where the ball probably needs to go in certain coverages. And we're certainly going to have to have opportunities to play the ball in the deep part of the field. We'll have to do it without Fallon. They do a great job of tracking the ball. They do a great job of sometimes completing them, sometimes getting a penalty, and then sometimes the defense intercepts it. So, we understand that that will be part of what they do. It's not everything, but certainly they have the skill set to do it. They've got the quarterback to be able to put it in good locations.

But that's also about being able to affect the quarterback and understand the concept of the coverage that we have called.

SPEAKER_7 (4:00)

We've asked you a lot about Ramon Gray, but on the other side, Corey Kiner, just how have you seen him kind of grow and maybe step into that, a bigger role, now that Travion will be out?

Mike Vrabel (4:10)

Well, I mean, Corey got here, again, he was one of that group that wasn't really with us in offseason or with training camp and worked really hard.

You know, I know that it probably doesn't seem like it, but when you look at understanding one playbook and learning one playbook with a new offensive staff in Arizona, and then coming here at the end of training camp, you know, that's just not as easy as people really think it is. And, you know, there's protections, there's routes, there's calls, and they all are about the same, but they just are completely different. It's like learning a new language. And so Corey's worked really hard, and I think that his spark and energy going back to the Jets game has been noticeable, being able to run, kick off returns, provide impact there. He's a great teammate. He's got great energy. I love seeing him in the building each and every day. So hopefully his role can continue to grow and be able to help us out there.