Head Coach Mike Vrabel 9/28: "It was good to see us respond"

Mike Vrabel (0:00)

All right, thanks for your patience. You don't have to raise your hand, Karen. I think we come to you anyways.

Karen (0:08)

How fair is it to say that Marcus Jones kind of lit the fuse today for you guys?

Mike Vrabel (0:13)

Well, I mean, I think that that's what we've been looking for. We, you know, I talked about that throughout training camp and how those return units need to be, you know, a weapon for us. We're still, you know, we've got the one kickoff return, but, you know, to be able to do that on the punt return, fantastic effort by Marcus and everybody else out there. But I think a lot of that was, you know, just his own individual will, skill, and effort. And so again, that has to be a weapon. It was something that we felt like could be through this season and getting ready for this year.

SPEAKER_3 (0:51)

Mike, what is it about Marcus that makes his skill set so superior?

Mike Vrabel (0:56)

Well, I think he's, you know, he's not the biggest player, but he's got great play strength, I think, with the football in his hand. He's got great vision. And again, you have to be, you know, fearless at some level to catch that punt and know that you're going to make the first guy miss. And we're confident in that.

And, you know, I think you kind of just, it's just a natural skill. It's hard to teach, you know what I mean? It's hard to teach with all those bodies and traffic and make, you know, catching it first and making great decisions with it back there. So it's a lot of comfort with him back there. And we need to continue to make it a weapon.

SPEAKER_4 (1:37)

Mike, right in front of you. Coming off of last week's loss, how much did you need a performance like today and how good does it feel to be able to put together a performance like this?

Mike Vrabel (1:46)

Well, you always need, I mean, you only have so many opportunities. So whatever you do in one week, it doesn't really matter.

John (1:51)

It's about what you do.

Mike Vrabel (1:54)

The next week, moving forward, hopefully we take that same approach, whether we win or we lose. And I think that's what I've tried to do is, you know, whether you win or you lose, we've got to embrace moving on and we have to do that. We have to be prepared here for a division opponent on the road is going to be a, you know, great environment. And hopefully we'll see, you know, where we're at.

SPEAKER_6 (2:18)

John, here on the right.

John (2:20)

Coach, talk about the defense, obviously, you give up that opening score, but then you guys bounce back and pretty much shut them down the rest of the game. Talk about the adjustments you guys made and how you were able to kind of take control of the game on that side of the ball.

Mike Vrabel (2:30)

I just settled down, you know, just settled down a little bit. They did a nice job early on and moving guys around and, you know, we have to, you know, continue to disguise better and tackle better and all those things. And, you know, I guess if that's the trade-off for playing great defense the rest of the way, you know, then we'll have to go through those growing pains early in the game. I don't anticipate that we should, but it was good to see us respond, you know, and we've done that.

And I'm proud of our guys for not, you know, going in the tank or, you know, complaining or pointing a finger or anything like that.

SPEAKER_7 (3:09)

Mike, what did you see from Drake today in the way that you guys were able to spread the ball around on the offense?

Mike Vrabel (3:15)

Just throw to the guy that's open in the progression as soon as he's open. And then if not quickly progress through, those are the things that that quarterbacks have to do and they have to have a command of it. And we, you know, we did that. And, you know, I think the red zone clearly is a big factor. Our ability to convert those chances into touchdowns, you know, was important. And I saw a lot of extra effort, guys blocking downfield, springing guys.

And again, I like when everybody is involved and the quarterback just throws to the guy that's open every play, no matter, you know, who it is.

SPEAKER_6 (3:52)

Lock room is open, Mike's yard in the front row. Mike, I saw you with the T-strong shirt. A lot of the players were wearing them as well. What does it mean to get a W when he's going through something obviously pretty serious here?