Head Coach Mike Vrabel on WEEI 10/5: "It was a well-timed win for us"

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

And we got victory shots ready to go here, coach.

SPEAKER_2 (0:03)

Good morning, cheers, cheers.

SPEAKER_1 (0:08)

Fantastic, tastes great. Tastes so good when you get your lips. Only week four, but that seems like a really big win for this football team.

Mike Vrabel (0:17)

Sure, yeah, I mean, on the road, division opponent. Yeah, we talked about us being able to get back into the race, and that was a well-timed win for us.

SPEAKER_4 (0:30)

When you look at missing Gonzalez, Barmore, and you look at the defense, them being able to keep Josh Allen only four Russian yards, how much credit do those guys deserve for a win?

Mike Vrabel (0:39)

A lot. I mean, again, playing the second play was huge. We didn't play it very well early on a few times. Certainly was able to do it when it mattered. So they did a great job. We still have to continue to try to get some red zone stops and force them to kick field goals, and that really can help us down the stretch here or in the next part of the season, second quarter.

SPEAKER_5 (1:03)

What was the difference in Drake May's performance from the first three weeks of the season to yesterday? What did you notice that he did differently to play at the level he played at?

Mike Vrabel (1:14)

Well, I mean, I felt like there was, you know, he was decisive in whether that was him scrambling and taking off. And, you know, if he saw that, you know, running lane was there to be able to use his legs, to be able to extend, you know, I thought he looked out in front of things. And if it was there, I thought he let it go. And if not, you know, try to find somewhere else to go with the football, put the ball in really good spots down the field. You know, I thought obviously the the one to Rome, you know, we could have had down the field, whether that was the one deal, missed Kyle probably and then came back and was able to give Chiz a great ball.

SPEAKER_4 (1:48)

When it comes to the game plan, for me, it looked like it was a more aggressive game plan. Would that be safe to say? And if so, is that just because of the match up you have?

Mike Vrabel (1:55)

No, I don't see it that way. I think we call a lot of the same stuff and it's just kind of where the ball determines, you know, decides to go.

SPEAKER_1 (2:03)

Did you feel like you were more aggressive, you know, went for it?

Mike Vrabel (2:06)

Yeah, I mean, again, I think, yeah, I think that's probably accurate. I don't know. I didn't know if he met like from the offensive or defensive game plan or just the... Yeah, I wouldn't say that that was any different. I think that those same types of plays and those same things have been getting called in the games.

From that, I think when you're playing that type of quarterback and being on the road and knowing what you're probably going to need to win, which isn't a lot of field goals, I think that's where we kind of decided that we needed to be aggressive.

SPEAKER_2 (2:40)

The locker room, the Bayard and other guys commented on how you are as an underdog coach and how you galvanize guys when it feels like the world outside of the room that you're in is against you. What about your maybe underdog player, how you came about as a star with the Patriots? What about your upbringing as a football player makes you successful in that spot?

Mike Vrabel (3:06)

I really just try to give the players everything that I think they need or can handle each and every week.

Lay out the ways to win the football game, figure out who's available.

Again, this is a great testament to the players to go out there and perform. I mean, guys like Draymond Jones, who's battling and wanted to be out there and finding ways to be out there, and Craig and all the guys that were competing. That's what it's about. I just literally try to figure out, hey, where are we at coming into this week? What kind of message can I give them? What can we talk about?

And understanding that the past can't sit there and predict the future. And it has to just say, hey, man, that was a bad week. Here's what we have to do to go win and not try to think that that's somehow going to affect what we're going to do in the next game.