Mike Vrabel Speaks on Drake Maye’s Confidence Following Primetime Win vs. Jets on WEEI | Patriots

Mike Vrabel Speaks on Drake Maye’s Confidence Following Primetime Win vs. Jets on WEEI | Patriots

Good morning, coach. Good morning. How are you? We’re great. We were wondering We thought you were here at 6:30. I We We had no idea. I think there was just a little miscommunication. I was waiting for our shots to chill up and All right, victory shot on Monday with the coach here. Here we go. Thank you. We had to wait for him to chill up. There we go. Chill him up. Wiggy don’t like him. Straight. Very good. Very good shot. Really? Honestly. Well, that’ll put hair on your chest. Yes, it will. I don’t have no hair on my chest, but I’m gonna ask. I got to catch up with uh with Jen over the weekend and she’s like, “I I like that show a little bit.” She goes, “I miss Wiggy. He wasn’t the fastest tight end, but he always caught everything.” So, the fastest. All right. She goes, “I bet you guys had fun in the locker room.” We had a good time. I know we did have a good time. She’s like, “Courtney’s so cute.” She’s like, she’s like, “The bald guy bugs me.” But other than that, no. All that was made up. She said, she say anything about the host of the show or she she thought that we were all the host. Oh, she know she thought you guys were all How was all made up? By the way, we saw you’ve reached Bigfoot status. We saw like uh grainy blurry pictures of you at the airport on Friday on social media. So, uh how was the how was the weekend away? Oh, good. Good. I got to go back and see uh uh saw Carter in Nashville and hung out there. Saw some of our friends um and his buddies and that we’re close with and so it was good. Um, fellas got some time off, too. Although I I saw a bunch of them showed up here anyway over the weekend. Is that accurate? Uh, well, we don’t keep tabs on them, but I mean, there was treatment and everything else, and there was guys that uh had to be here for different things. Uh, so we’ll get back to work today. Uh, try to have a little bonus day, get them moving, and get out on the practice field. Mike, in the game, Drake had a couple opportunities where he was able to extend the play with his legs and throw the ball downfield. How difficult is that from a defensive standpoint when you have a quarterback that can do those type of things? Well, it’s just a lot to defend and how many guys you want to allocate towards that and to the scrambles or to the spy or um you know, Fields got us early. you know, we we got off of our assignment and we got a little wide off the hash and those guys that are spying or whatever help it inside if they, you know, stray off the hash, especially quarterbacks with some speed can can circle you up and extend the play, but then when you can throw it downfield and remain a passer, uh, very difficult. You know, guys come out of coverage and, you know, you’re again can extend the all the way to the line of scrimmage and be able to throw. that puts a lot of pressure on the defense and you know we we can use that as a as a weapon hopefully. The MVP chants were loud for Drake during the game but then after when you guys were talking to Thursday Night Football they continued with the fan base. The best part about Drake besides his play, he seems confident but not cocky. Is that just the type of guy he is? I think so. I think that’s about his upbringing and understands how this league is, you know, it’s so uh it just finicky. You know what I mean? you have to continue to do it each and every uh day and it’s certainly on game day most important. So, uh no naps. That’s that’s what we’re going to start talking about. No no naps. We don’t want to take any naps and and have any days off. Uh that postgame interview I thought was really great with you two side by side. We saw a side that we hadn’t seen. How much of a role did what you saw out of Drake May in his rookie year lead you to return as the head coach? Well, again, I touched on that. Uh there was quite a bit, you know, being being able to watch the tape and uh you know, preparing for for the different interviews that you take, you got to try to get a feel for the team and what that looks like. And certainly the quarterback position is such an important position in our league and really any any league that plays football. So I think it had uh you know a lot to do and how he reacted and again his difficult season and think how he handled things or his his ability certainly stood out. Was the reporting accurate that the the Jets wanted you so bad they they called you last minute and they were willing to willing to do anything for give you a private jet whatever whatever you wanted. Was that I mean in coaching I I added that part in I’m sure you guys add a lot of a lot of things in but was that was that accurate that they were they were really I’m not sure um you know again you go through the interview process um you know there’s a lot of conversations that are had and then ultimately you try to make a decision and this is the decision that I made and extremely happy about being here. So are we. So are so are the fans. Mike, you you you say no napping and now I’m just sitting at home and I’m watching the game. Love that. You look like a guy that looks No, I don’t I don’t really nap because then it messes with my sleep at night. So then I’m like up all night. Agreed. I But you say no napping, but I’m watching the game at home and I’m saying on my TV at points in time, it looks like you guys are sleepwalking or like and there was a point in time where I seen you telling them pick it up. Did did you feel at times from in that game that maybe it took your foot off the gas a little bit or Well, I mean, we missed a kick before half. Uh, you know, went three and out to start the second half. So, um, again, it this is not always just going to be a 80 yard drive or it’s not always going to be a three and out on defense. It’s this is still professional football. Um, and yeah, I don’t think we’re sleepwalking. I just think that there’s a play here or a play there or one guy or a mistake and you know we just have to try to clean those things up and continue to improve. That that’s the most important thing. We we’ve talked with you about it before. It it might maybe it doesn’t bother you. I don’t know. But this team ends up defense-wise giving up points on that first drive more so than than not. What What is it about that when you when you look at it? because well I just think you look at it in totality and there’s some things that they did and you know again we haven’t been in a in a situation where there was this probably as much quarterback run or designed quarterback run or read option and those are things that that are hard to to create and practice against and you know while we practiced against it you know it’s one thing when you get some moving parts out there and a uh you know and the quarterback’s able to extend some plays so uh we were able to account for that and then they kind of went away from it a little bit and you know we settled down. So man I think in in totality I think we play pretty good defense. We have to continue to to play better. Certainly don’t want to u I like the way that we respond. So you know we’ve had you know drives you know the one the one game we joked about we stopped them on the first drive and then we weren’t very good the rest of the game or whatever that was. I’d rather have it the other seven and then nothing for the rest of the game. Um, but it is, you know, it’s a it’s a entire body of work and and how you can remain consistent throughout the game and finish and get off the field on third down and, you know, hopefully we could start to we have to create some turnovers. You know, that’s uh we’ve talked about how tough that is, but you know, we had three threeandouts in the second quarter, which, you know, is real positive. You guys were banged up going into Tampa Bay, coming out of Tampa Bay, then you lose Milton um against the Jets. You talk about treatment this weekend. Are we are we expected to see some guys I know Milton Williams will be out three to four weeks the reports are but the guys that weren’t there for Tampa Bay or the Jets after this 10day stretch do you expect hopefully yeah hopefully I expect them to see him at practice today so uh that would uh once they get through that and then we’ll move on to Wednesday and see where they are and how they progress through the week but yes I think they’ll be out there today. Okay. Did you watch any football over the weekend? Did you see the uh the Bills I mean not the Bills the Chiefs Broncos game last night? Is there any is there any teams that you watch specifically or do you kind of wait to actually see the the film? Don’t watch waste your time watching on TV. No, I I I watch the uh Bengals and the uh Steelers and Steelers. Yeah. I mean, we try to we went back and forth between, you know, the old four screen, you know, the old four square. Mhm. And and the single one and and it’s hard, you know. I mean, there’s it’s a very everybody yells and you don’t know which screen you’re watching at, which one you’re yelling at. So, I have six I have a six screener. Well, I’m not quite there yet. I’m not quite there yet. So, but we watched you watched the Steelers and the Bengals and then I saw saw the um the Broncos and the Chiefs a little bit and a little bit of the last night’s game. Would you agree it’s pretty wide open in the AFC compared to years past? Uh I don’t know who says that or agree with anything. I um I I’ve never really looked at it like that. I I haven’t. I’ve kind of just always tried to be in the weeds and and focus on the next week and and not look too far ahead about oh this team or that team and I just I haven’t and I think that that’s probably something that’s interesting to fans or people or media. I just things happen too quickly in this league and haven’t really looked at it like that. Mike, you you you look at your like coaching career and the success that you had at Tennessee and now the success that you’re having here through the first 11 games. What have you kind of learned in your coaching career that maybe you’re doing a little bit different here? Um because you look at this team and we all the players we talk to, everybody talks about your authenticity. Is there something that like you maybe you learned and you said, “All right, I’m going to do different this go round versus last go round.” I mean, I think just try to enjoy it and try to enjoy what we do and where we do it, who we get to do it with. Um, you know, I’ve had players that have been released before and you get them and they know that that what that feels like to have been cut and they don’t want to feel that again and so they do everything they possibly can to to not let that happen. Maybe they don’t take things for granted and you know certainly being let go or fired or cut, whatever you want to call it, you know, you don’t want to let that ever hap happen again and and try to take advantage of the opportunity that we have. You look like you’ve been enjoying Tayvon Henderson. What’s changed with him that has made him backtoback weeks just show out? Um, well again I mean we averaged we didn’t average four yards a carry so it wasn’t like we ran for 250 yards. I think he was had some really good runs. I think that we can block better. I think that he uh found the end zone which was really really important. And uh one time we we helped him in there with a pile push. Uh he made a good cut to make the first guy miss. And then uh we had a heck of a pile push and I think the other, you know, some of his better runs are are when he can knife inside. I think he finished strong on a safety. Uh helped us out in the two-minute was able to catch the ball, get vertical. Um, you know, I think just from a probably uh a confidence and understanding of where he’s at and being able to get in there and know who to block, which isn’t an issue, but being able to understand that the players are a little bigger and are faster and get into the line of scrimmage to to block them. Um, so I think he’s continued to develop and continued to um, you know, do do a lot of really good things to help us and excited that he’s having success. Will Campbell’s a guy that you would generally only talk about if things weren’t going right. He’s been relatively, you don’t hear his name on broadcast outside of praise. What have you seen from him 11 games in as the, you know, your fourth pick in the draft as your left tackle? I think he’s uh been, you know, consistent each and every day. I think he works hard. I think he uh makes adjustments quickly, you know, to to the players or the skill set or, you know, whatever he’s seeing. I think he’s able to adjust quickly. uh during games and understand, you know, what it is somebody maybe tried to do and come back and and combat that for a young player. Um are you going to go with the stash or what they I heard that Gillette gave out those mustaches on I mean I’m I feel like I’m on Thursday. You look good by the way. Yeah, it’s not bad. It’s coming in. Patriot I heard rocked one. Yeah. And also less than two weeks. I could never do it, brother. Love the shirt. I was gonna I don’t know if I don’t know how busy you are today, but could I get an oil change after the when you wanted $5 on on pump five? Remember when you were in high school and you’d get like $3 of gas? Yeah. Well, that’s a long time ago back then. We took the train in the bus. So when we had a car, we try to figure and had a cop. But I mean, I remember the days when you’d be like $2 on number three. Yeah. Like it be gas or Kodiak, whatever it was going to be. And always the cheapest kind. I just want to ask you, we’ve covered the the uh SK, we covered the schedule thing and those who uh comment on the ease of schedule a couple times with you, but is it weird like this team there’s a been a turnaround here. This team is eight and two and yet you still hear like somebody like nine and two you still hear you still hear you still hear somebody like Cam Newton on Friday say that it’s fool’s this team is fool’s gold. Is that is that weird to you? Uh, no. Nothing’s weird to me. No, because people could come on the radio or t, you know what I mean? It’s just like they could whatever. It’s just things that get their attention or we are okay with that. We I promise you we we were okay with anything that anybody says. We are going to come to work. We’re going to focus on us. We’re going to try to improve and we’re going to focus on the Bengals and going on the road and trying to uh to get our 10th win. That that’s all we’re going to focus on. Um, you know, it just seems that whatever it is, people are going to have something to say, which is great, and they’re entitled to their opinion. And, uh, what’s most important is what we do here and how we work. I I promise you none of that, uh, is offensive at at all. I I we we just enjoy playing, you know, coaching these guys and watching them be excited and and enjoy those moments. uh like Thursday night. Bill used to use those as motivation for you guys when you were playing. Do you use any of that with your team now? No. No. I meant Well, we’re going to put Cam Cam Newton clips up there. We’d rather put our clips or the Bengals clips up. That’s I don’t think that’s even remotely close to how we should try to inspire our players to to play better. Well, you you you talk about guys, you know, getting an opportunity after they might have been cut and doing some different things. You see a lot of guys making plays on this team. Uh whether it’s uh Chson uh the Tonga kid. There’s It seems like that, you know, little kid. He’s I mean, age-wise, age- wise, he’s probably in his 20s, so he’s a kid to me. But you see a lot you see a lot of these guys taking advantage of their opportunities or maybe some of their second goound. Um, how important is it that you make, you know, having a little bit of that experience of of yourself, letting these guys know how important that is? Yep. It doesn’t matter. We tell them when it doesn’t matter how they get here. The only thing that matters what they do when they’re here. Uh, that’s all we can evaluate them by. And, you know, we’ll see what they can do. And then once they do something, then we try to give them a little bit more and continue to grow their role. I could play for you. You coaching when I was playing. Yeah. You don’t block. I don’t block, but I catch right. Ball forward blocks nowadays. Do you mind the Thursday Night Football? I know like we were talking earlier, John Gruden says the league ought to do away with it. Is Is it an issue for you? Uh, no, but I don’t play. I mean, again, I was appreciative of coaches getting the players prepared and players are the ones that have to go out there on on a short week and we understand what it is and know that’s It’s when when the schedule comes out, they tell us the dates and they tell us who and that’s what we get prepared for. Yeah. You know, had a good we had uh Splain on what was that Friday and he said, “Listen, we whether when we play you just you got to go out there and play and like I feel like that’s a good mindset to have because obviously you can’t I never played I told him I never played on a a Thursday night and so how difficult it has to be and he says you can’t even think about it. You just kind of got to go out there and play.” Is that something that you preach to defense? I think probably once you get into the game, I think probably once four or five o’clock on Thursday rolls around, I think you’re kind of ready to go. I’m sure they feel like crap on Monday and Tuesday. Um, but we try to trick ourselves and say that when we walked in here on Monday, it was like a Thursday and then, you know, the next day was a Friday and just try to mentally I guess that I don’t know what else to do other than say you we’re flying home on Wednesday night, tomorrow morning’s going to be Thursday. Look at it like that. just because we’re so trained for our, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then two days before all that stuff. All right. Well, we appreciate you taking the time. We’ll let you go get it. I made your job a little bit more difficult. You got to get win number nine and 10 uh on Sunday. So, if you can get if you can get both of those, we appreciate it. Thank you, coach. Thank you. That is Mike Vrael, the head coach of the New England Patriots.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show on Monday, November 17, 2025.

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