[Curran] Vrabel’s ‘put it on me’ approach is a fresh one for Patriots
March 31, 2025
[Curran] Vrabel’s ‘put it on me’ approach is a fresh one for Patriots
6 comments
From Tom E. Curran:
There’s been a whole lot of blame-laying for a long time. Blame it on Tom. Blame it on Bill. Blame it on Robert. Or Jonathan. Blame it on Matt Patricia or Mac Jones. Blame it on Mayo. Blame it on Eliot Wolf. We could go on.
The point is, nobody’s been willing to anybody to publicly say “Blame it on me…” and truly mean it without wheedling behind the scenes to make a case it really wasn’t their fault.
It’s not a unified front when people are shivving each other behind the curtain with regularity.
“We want to try to eliminate those things from our program, the ‘I told you so’s,'” Vrabel said when asked about the organizational dynamic when things go wrong. “You can put it on me. I’m a big boy, trust me.
“We’re going to have a lot of things that go well, which will be good to the players and the assistant coaches, and they’ll have some things that won’t go so well, and you can put those on me. I can handle it.”
The Krafts will be the first to…”put it on” Vrabel if the team underperforms.
It’s just brave talk with little actual significance.
Eh Mayo pretty much always took the blame short of a few incidents.
Doesn’t exactly feel noteworthy to have a head coach say “I’m responsible”.
Proactively steering the “BCD” (blame, complain, defend) mindset.
One thing that just struck me while listening to Vrabel. Last year Mayo made a lot of comparisons, and subtle digs, at the previous regime (less hardass, more collaborative, etc). Vrabel has done _none_ of that. Despite having more to criticize.
6 comments
From Tom E. Curran:
There’s been a whole lot of blame-laying for a long time. Blame it on Tom. Blame it on Bill. Blame it on Robert. Or Jonathan. Blame it on Matt Patricia or Mac Jones. Blame it on Mayo. Blame it on Eliot Wolf. We could go on.
The point is, nobody’s been willing to anybody to publicly say “Blame it on me…” and truly mean it without wheedling behind the scenes to make a case it really wasn’t their fault.
It’s not a unified front when people are shivving each other behind the curtain with regularity.
“We want to try to eliminate those things from our program, the ‘I told you so’s,'” Vrabel said when asked about the organizational dynamic when things go wrong. “You can put it on me. I’m a big boy, trust me.
“We’re going to have a lot of things that go well, which will be good to the players and the assistant coaches, and they’ll have some things that won’t go so well, and you can put those on me. I can handle it.”
[Read more here](https://www.nbcsportsboston.com/nfl/new-england-patriots/mike-vrabel-nfl-owners-meetings-tom-curran/699166/).
What’s novel about it?
The Krafts will be the first to…”put it on” Vrabel if the team underperforms.
It’s just brave talk with little actual significance.
Eh Mayo pretty much always took the blame short of a few incidents.
Doesn’t exactly feel noteworthy to have a head coach say “I’m responsible”.
Proactively steering the “BCD” (blame, complain, defend) mindset.
One thing that just struck me while listening to Vrabel. Last year Mayo made a lot of comparisons, and subtle digs, at the previous regime (less hardass, more collaborative, etc). Vrabel has done _none_ of that. Despite having more to criticize.
I’m so tired if being lonely