Head Coach Mike Vrabel on WEEI 9/22: "We are always trying to improve our discipline"

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Hey, Coach.

Mike Vrabel (0:00)

Morning.

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Frustrating to watch, so it must have been even more frustrating to coach that one yesterday.

Mike Vrabel (0:06)

Well, you know, it's never frustrating to coach it, it's frustrating to watch it. You know, I mean, you're in the moment, you're trying to, you know, keep everybody together, you're trying to get some stops, you're trying to focus on the situation. So it's never frustrating to coach it. It's frustrating to watch it.

SPEAKER_1 (0:24)

I'm sure happy with, at least from a perspective of those guys not giving up, not getting frustrated by the turnover.

Mike Vrabel (0:31)

No, you know, I mean, we can polish the turd however we want to.

And just understand that, you know, you got a 5% chance to win a game where you have that many turnovers. You the average margin of victory in those instances is probably 18 points. And to think that we still had a chance. So there's a lot of good stuff in there. There's stuff that's very detrimental, obviously. And we have to, we got to correct it. And we have to be able to move on. But we have to be able to coach it and acknowledge it and then fix it.

SPEAKER_1 (1:09)

First five turnover game for the New England Patriots since 2008 And I think you were playing in that game. I don't know if you remember it. That's a long time ago.

Mike Vrabel (1:18)

I don't. I'm pretty sure I didn't have one of them, which was probably a good thing.

SPEAKER_1 (1:23)

Yeah, that is a good thing. Yes, absolutely a good thing.

SPEAKER_3 (1:26)

Mike, take us through the operation because we've been sitting here and we've been kind of discussing the Pop Douglas play. It looks like that they bring a blitz and Drake may got to get the ball out hot. Looks like Pop could be running a little flat route. Is there somewhere he should have went a little bit deeper or because of the blitz, it caught him in that position? What happened on that fourth and two play?

Mike Vrabel (1:48)

Well, I think, you know, I think we just have to make a great decision. We have to, you know, in those vice tackle situations, we've talked all along about knifing, about knowing where the sticks are. We had a couple of examples, especially last week. We had some examples yesterday. You know, you probably just have to be able to knife and get what you need and know where you're at and be able to get to the sticks. I didn't, again, you just can't, you know, those are tough to try to circle those guys up in that situation.

SPEAKER_3 (2:24)

I don't mean, but in that situation, did he not, excuse me, realize where he might have been on the field? Like, shouldn't he be thinking about that pre-snap? Okay, here's where the first El Mocker is.

Mike Vrabel (2:34)

Yeah, I think we're close. I think we're close. We probably just need to get another revolution. And then if we're not, you know, if we stop, we have to be able to knife. We have to be able to get the yardage that we need. So, clearly want to be able to get to the sticks. And if we're not, we got, you know, we're not matched. We have to sit down what you did. And then during the, you know, being able to knife through the defender or get a half a yard.

SPEAKER_4 (2:58)

I know after the game yesterday, when you were asked about Ramondre Stevenson, you said that you need, you guys need to fix it when it comes to ball security. But this has been an issue for him under Bill, under Gerard, now under you. How do you fix something like that?

Mike Vrabel (3:11)

Well, it starts with everybody else. You know, I mean, it starts with him, but it also starts with, you know, protecting the guy with the ball. And so, we'll have to do a better job of that. If you look at, you know, the second guy coming in or somebody else is making a play or not finishing, certainly it's easy to look at the guy with the ball. And that has to be where it starts. And, you know, our technique. But it's also, you know, it's got to be put on everybody else to make sure that they're protecting the guy with the ball. And the guys aren't coming off of plays late, diving in there or, you know, trying to avoid those. Just as you can see, there's times where they can make the guy miss when you can see him and when the guy is the guy that you don't see. And we have to protect them from the guy that he can't see him and be able to block. So it goes on all of us. It goes on everybody out there and it will keep keep repping it. And just unfortunate.