Head Coach Mike Vrabel on WEEI 12/28: “Excited for the players that have put a lot into this thing”

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Coach, good morning.

Mike Vrabel (0:02)

Good morning.

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

How are you? Happy holidays, great win yesterday.

Mike Vrabel (0:07)

Happy holidays, thank you. And Stacey and I just did our little breakfast shot.

SPEAKER_1 (0:14)

Tell Stacey he can have mine this morning so he can double up.

SPEAKER_3 (0:17)

We can have mine too so we can triple up.

Mike Vrabel (0:20)

We didn't wait to ask you, Courtney, just so you know, we already did it.

SPEAKER_1 (0:23)

Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad. I'm glad. But this late in the season on the road, some guys banged up to go and have that dominant of a win against the Jets. How proud are you of the guys after this one?

Mike Vrabel (0:34)

Well, I mean, I think they came out ready to go, always proud of their efforts and, you know, especially being able to go on the road and finish off, you know, opportunity to go and defeat it on the road. And, you know, it came out ready to go, which I appreciated. And, you know, we knew we would have to bring our own energy. We did that with our with our play and being able to get some some quick stops and some quick scores and, you know, covered some some kickoffs. So we had to we knew that was a huge strength for them. And that was great to see.

SPEAKER_3 (1:07)

Michael, a win like that, what does it say about your team when you look at them, that you have been coaching them up all year long? What does that win mean to you coaching this football team?

Mike Vrabel (1:21)

Well, again, I just want them to be, feel prepared and have confidence in what they've been taught and confidence in what we want to do as a team and how we want to play and then push piles and you know, full tilt at a tackle and take care of the football and you'll get off the field on third down. And you know, that's really what we're trying to do. Where we have to be able to have a, you know, we have to prepare like every week to play offs and know how the margin for error is so thin in this league. And certainly moving towards, you know, January and all those things that you have to be able to do. So there's a lot of good things, a lot of things that we have to coach and we'll continue to do that. And but again, excited for the players and everybody that's put a lot of work into this thing since the end of the off season.

SPEAKER_1 (2:16)

You bring up going undefeated on the road. Obviously as a coach now, you know how hard it is to coach on the road. But as a player, as a former player, how hard is it to go undefeated playing in those types of conditions, whether it's rain, snow, hot weather, enemy territory? How hard is it to go undefeated on the road as a player?

Mike Vrabel (2:35)

Well, I mean, I think the numbers would just speak for themselves. However many times it's been done, I don't know. We try to take them whatever the situation presents, whether we're up early or we need to come back or we need to execute a certain situation. You just know that it's, there are certain things that are a little bit difficult when you talk about the road environment and traveling and, you know, just, just a different, just different mindset. So I appreciate the way that the players and, and I think that our staff, one, our staff here, you know, the, the travel logistics and everything, it starts with that. And then the, the equipment staff and the training staff and everybody that, that transports this building to, to another place and to another hotel to make the players feel comfortable and, and get every thing that they need and the treatment and the preparation. And then obviously our fans, the way that they've traveled, and I know that our team appreciates that. And I'm glad that we've been able to give them something to travel for and cheer for. So going all the way back to Miami, I can appreciate our fans being and want to travel.

SPEAKER_3 (3:48)

Mike, this game is played and you've played it before. And you know that people always talk about playing with controlled aggression. There was a situation with Bob Moore. It looked like just from my perspective of watching the game, it looked like he felt like a member who had like a dirty play on him. He was very emotional. You were talking to him, trying to calm him down. How important is it that you make sure guys know, like you gotta play with emotions, but you gotta know when you get into that line where you don't hurt yourself or hurt your team penalty-wise?