Vrabel on Facing the Buffalo Bills: “We are Excited to Go There on Sunday Night.” | Press Conference

Vrabel on Facing the Buffalo Bills: “We are Excited to Go There on Sunday Night.” | Press Conference

Hi guys. Sorry about that. Try to get through the walk through. There you go. Hi Karen. Hi Mike. Um, all eyes are going to be on you and your team Sunday night. Do you enjoy prime time spotlight? Well, I think if you want to be if you want to get to where you want to get to, I think you’re you certainly better enjoy it. Better enjoy playing in prime time games. And um that’s something that you know we’re we’re trying to prepare for right now. And so I think that uh certainly it’ll be a huge challenge. You know, the last time they lost at home was, you know, 14 games ago. We’re we’re aware well aware of that and have to do a lot of really good things uh to give ourselves a a chance. And they um playing good football. They’re playing clean football. They’re not beating themselves. And you know, they’re doing a nice job in all phases. you you faced up against Josh Shan, I believe the first five years of his career, just his development from, you know, year one to then when you saw him year three to five. How impressive was that? Is is there anything you or anyone else can take away from how he grew as a player? Well, I mean, I think he realized that he’s got immense talent and I think he has done a much greater job, better job of taking care of the football and really that’s been the big difference for for me just watching it from afar. Um, you know, a few years ago, you know, forcing things in in the red zone and and that led to some turnovers, uh, some some interceptions and now I think he just has a greater understanding of, you know, taking care of the football in those situations and, uh, and they’re still scoring touchdowns. Do you have an update on July Tobi? You expect him to be out there this week? I expect him to practice. Yes. So, I don’t have an update on the game, but he will return to to to play and practice. How do you find that balance when you’re trying to defend a quarterback like Josh Allen? You want to get after him and you want to have kind of a penetrator from the front, but you also want to be gap. Well, there’s always going to be an extra gap in there unless you send two guys, right? So, there’s a gap somewhere in there if if you rush four. There’s a gap in there if you rush five. And um but but again I I think that it’s just good coordinated relentless coordinated rush. Um you know even when he guys are free he makes a miss. He spins or he’ll extend you know out past the numbers to the red line and continue to make plays down the field or heaven forbid he scrambles up the middle and you know makes a move on a guy like he’s done in the past the last couple weeks or or breaks the stiff arm out. So again, we we it’s a huge challenge, you know, any time that he’s carrying the football and then obviously the accuracy and the and kind of the timing that he’s had throwing the football will be something that we’ll have to work on. What’s allowed James Cook in this Buffalo run game to have so much success and what are the keys to trying to contain them this week? Because he’s a good player, they got good guys blocking for him. I think that the tight ends have done a really nice job. Uh, and then I think his vision and his his patience and and burst. He just everybody’s at the point of attack, he runs where you’re not. And if you have bad discipline or you don’t chase your gap when it’s moving away from you, he he’s going to come back and find it. So, really been a nice um back for him and is just, you know, taking care of the football with with the with the amount of carries that he’s had. M they they seem to embrace heavy personnel more than anybody. Last year was an extra offensive lineman. This year they’re using pause sort of in that role, but it’s 22. I think the league averages three about three snaps a game for for 22 personnel and they’re in the 13 14 range. What what sort of challenge does that present for you guys? Well, not only the 22 personnel, the the 13 personnel that you know those are basically heavier personnel. They do a nice job of of of having a run plan each each week out of it uh that they like and that they think is going to give them success, but then also still having the ability to to keep the um the route integrity uh and running some of the stuff out of that with with Concaid and and Knox and and being able to do all those things that they would do out of other personnel groups. It seems as if with Josh Allen, the Bills embraced really quickly the notion that hey, he’s going to run. He’s going to make mistakes. It’s going to be a little bit of a wild stallion. Let’s do that. So, he’s now come out the other side of it. With Drake, you guys have very much stressed. Let’s let’s be a passer first. Do you anticipate over the course of time that he would become more of a a potent runner and embracing it the way that that Allen does? I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that. I I think that we want Drake to to play quarterback and that that’s to work the progression and work the the scheme of the play and then, you know, have never said not to um to to run and just to protect himself and to protect the ball. So, I don’t necessarily agree with that. Um, you know, and then, you know, with Josh Allen, I think every he’s going to play quarterback how he feels like he gives him the best chance to win and, you know, lead his team to victory each week, which has been pretty successful. Is his athletic skill set, the size, the speed, the power that he uses, it’s like I mean, McNair or Rothllessber, he’s bigger than um not into comparisons. I think that he’s a very very good athlete. I think he loves football. I think he’s got an energy to him. Um and and there’s a willingness to run. Certainly contact courage doesn’t lack any of that. Um you know, it’s like Wildcat when they when they choose to to run him on designed runs. Without getting into the one for one comparison, is is his uh skill set as difficult to defend as maybe any other quarterback you played or coaches? No, it will be this week. You know, it’ll be be the toughest challenge this week. And um but again, his reason that he’s up there in the MVP every year and that he’s his teams are very successful. Got a lot of respect for him and and he knows that. With four games under your belt now, uh how far along do you feel like you are in identifying the consistent strengths of the team week to week and is it kind of where you expect it to be? I didn’t really have many expectations just because you never really know. I think we’re just trying to do it each and every week and we have to continue to build that and practice that. But it’s a good reminder of that when we can do those things that that we can have success and we give ourselves a chance to win. Mike, just picking back a little bit on what Karen was asking about it being a big moment in the spotlight on a Sunday night. Do you relish the opportunity to go into a place like Buffalo where they’ve had so much success and the crowd is so into it? Sure. I mean, I think you have to. I mean we one we don’t have any other choice but I think you have to and I think it’s important that we can take the next step and and show that uh that we are ready and that maybe some of our identity uh has a chance to to let itself out on on Sunday night and um but it’ll be a great challenge. It’ be a challenge to even just prepare today and get going and and focus on all those things that are going to help us in the road environment. Mike, you know historically Todd Downy’s done a lot of work in the red zone for the other teams you worked with. Where has his work shown up there for you guys, if at all? Uh, same. You know what I mean? It’s the same. You know what I mean? I I’d like to go in and talk with with Todd and Thomas and get some preliminary thoughts and some things that we may like and then be able to present it to Josh as we work through the week. So, you know, those guys are as involved as they always have been. But, how do you assess your depth at safety and if you needed to tap into that? anyone in that corner room that might have some flexibility to play back there? Um, I I don’t I haven’t thought about I don’t think we’ve thought about taking any corners and making them safeties just yet. Mike, what’s made their pass defense as effective as it’s been? I think they’re number one in the league in yards per pass. Very sound. Uh, the great vision and break players. You know, they got some guys on the corner on the edge that have some length. Backers are fast. They’re instinctive. Uh, and the safeties do a great job at disguising and then once the match or the route declares, you know, being able to match it and and play it, it’s uh, they’ve done a nice really nice job. They they stay multiple uh, proficient in a lot of different coverages and and they mix it up on you. Are they trying to keep things in front for the most part? Seems like not a lot of deep passes. Yeah, I mean, I think that’s probably fair, but I don’t think, you know, it’s not like they’re playing cover two uh, extensively. You know what I mean? on a post safety and you know they get into their quarters and then they blitz uh different people off of it. But it’s a very sound and instinctive defense with guys that trigger and when it gets thrown short they do a great job of of breaking and vice tackling and and not missing a whole lot of tackles when the quarterback decides to check it down. We’ve seen some at linebacker over the last couple weeks. Do you see that continuing or would you prefer to stick with one guy next to splint? Uh I don’t mind rotating. I think that everybody’s just trying to help us out. We got a lot of guys that play special teams. We got guys that play rotate in there on defense. We play a lot of different skilled players offensively. So, you I think that that can be a good, you know, I mean, good balance. This will be your last visit to Buffalo unless you go back and close. Do you look at the What are your recollections of that stadium, that environment, and did you really really love the visitors locker room? Uh, yeah. Didn’t Wasn’t it Ralph Wilson stadium? Yeah, I mean I think again I love the ride up. I love the passionate fans and you know I mean coming up into that thing and driving down the you know the road and seeing the same things you saw for you know 20 years you know being in this league. So it’s a great sports town and uh you know we’re excited to go there on Sunday night.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addresses the media on Wednesday, October 1, 2025.

Subscribe to the New England Patriots YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/2IOD2e9
For More Patriots NFL Action: https://bit.ly/2Y1e9zz

#NewEnglandPatriots #Patriots #NFL

For more Patriots content: pillar.io/patriots
Stay up-to-date on Patriots news: https://www.patriots.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newenglandpatriots/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/patriots
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriots
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@patriots
Get the app: https://apple.co/2vvd8mU