Mike Vrabel: “I’m Just Excited for These Guys.” | Patriots Press Conference

Mike Vrabel: “I’m Just Excited for These Guys.” | Patriots Press Conference

Karen, I’m assuming you’re here. Okay. What do you got, Jules? Uh, it looks like you’re trying to keep up with Antonio on the sideline. Yeah, the official, you know, I mean, again, we I told you we had to have those guys be a weapon for us and we’ve too many times had penalties and and we didn’t. And Raandre answered and then Gibby answered and again, we had a similar situation in practice where we had a couple bad plays and I’m like, we we got to just keep going on. we got to snap the next play and but then somebody hit a play a back hit a play and I’m like you see it just takes one play and that’s exactly what Raandre did to kind of get us out of that wall. Um you know we unfortunately just gave up the punt return uh but then answered and Gibby answered and that unit answered. So again um I felt like we were willing to get into a street fight. We had a little law and and we didn’t and we didn’t pack it up and and quit. Follow up to follow up on that. Are you has any bones heard by you running along with you talk about that like where where you were when all happened? I mean I just was watching about the 50 and I’m just excited for these guys. I’m really excited that they could uh you know fight and compete, come on the road, you know be in a game, get off to a good start, not be front runners, everything that we talked about. You know we tried to get the drive stopped sometimes. We ended the drives with scores, with touchdowns. We were much better in a red zone on offensively. The only thing that stopped us today was us. Uh so there was a lot of really good keys there. You know, again, the penalties on special teams, there’s a lot to coach from, but it’s going to be easier to coach um from a win. We’ll be able to coach them hard and make sure that uh you know, we’re trying to fix the things that, you know, hurt us. But we got off to a good start. And again, we knew that a lot of that was just to make sure that we made them earn it and we didn’t get the drive stopped on a couple of those X plays. They scored touchdowns. Mike, on the extra point in the kicker, Goralis misses two extra points, but then you put him in for the 53 y and he nails it. Yeah, got to have a lot of confidence in him. And I do have a lot of confidence. I didn’t waver. It’s going to go for the fourth and five to try to, you know, get it there. And then when we got backed up, I immediately just, you know, kicked the field goal. I’m happy for Andy. Uh that’s why he’s here and um thought after the first two uh really settled down and you know that’s what we’ll have to have. Mike talk this week about your quarterback. I’m sorry. Your thoughts on the performance of your quarterback this week? I mean I think there’s a lot of good things and a lot of things we’ll have to fix and you know the command the operation and and when he feels that law you know that’s when we got to tighten the screws on these guys and you know get them set faster, get them out of the huddle faster and you know really push them. And I mean, he’s a jockey and he’s got to know what the flow of a team looks like offensively and you know, we had a couple penalties and then there’s false starts and again things that we really aren’t going to be able to overcome eventually. Mike, you talked a lot this week about precise over perfect and kind of pushing through when bad plays happen. Do you find this win revealed more about the character of your team or filled it? Well, again, I I appreciate the character. certainly don’t have to put it to the test all the time with mistakes and, you know, silly penalties or being off sides and having an interception. I mean, there’s a lot of things out there that, you know, we have to do better, but we didn’t we didn’t pout. We didn’t drop our head. We went on to the next play and we kept competing and I I appreciate that. We had to learn how to compete and and believe um that we can come down here and win football games and I think they did. Mike, as you try to put your fingerprints on this program, game two, I know it’s early in long season, but what does a game like this represent to you? Group five league changes back and forth on the road. Again, that uh that we’re not front runners, and that’s a big thing in this league cuz you know, when you play in the National Football League, you you have to be willing to take some punches and and that’s okay, but you got to give more than you take. Um because that’s the nature of this business. Haven’t been in a long time. There’s there’s pros on the other side, there’s good players on the other side, there’s good coaches. So, uh, just again proud of my our team and it would always be about the players now and forever. Obviously, not a perfect defensive performance, but big plays from Milton Marte, Harold Langer at the end. What’s that say about the team in general that they’re they’re still coming? Yeah, I mean, we have to, you know, I mean, those players, we need them to play good for us to win. That’s I’ve said that for as long as I can remember. Your best players have to play good if you want to win in this league. I mean, and again, talking about Tay, uh, our P team has improved and he’s our PP and he takes a lot of pride in that. Um, and he stays into every meeting. He’s into it. He He’s plays a show team and he’s ready for his opportunity. He went in there, made a play, made a huge play. Um, and so I was proud of him. With the defense, how did it go with Zack play? Good. Good. I mean, again, we had some, you know, good plays and we had some plays we would like to have back. Again, it’s a lot of it as long as the operation is good. There’s no perfect play. There’s good good calls. There’s no perfect call. It’s about getting it in there. The players understand it and we’ve made adjustments to things that they’re doing and that it get gives them a chance to to succeed. So, when we weren’t scrambling, I didn’t feel at any point in time. Um, you know, you could look at the other side and they had the delays late in the game. They had different things that backed them up that really, you know, helped us. And so our ability to to get a call in and keep our composure and be ready to go uh again just keep making them uh earn it and get the drive stopped and eventually that was our number, you know, big key for us defensively and and we got the drive stop. We got the one stop that we needed to get stopped. Last question. Last question. Like you go ahead boss. Go ahead. I’ll give two more questions. Thanks man. Um the defense I mean they did make the plays in the end but for a while there Miami didn’t have the ball very much. They’ve taken the lead. how concerned explosive plays were again an issue. What did you see out of the the defense there for a while? Yeah. Um we’ll have to do better and we won’t be the only team that they they get explosive plays against and we’ll just have to continue to be better. I I know that. I understand that. But um you know, there were times where where we did where we took away those throwing lanes and and there were times that we we certainly didn’t. And and I and I told you that we had to be willing to give up some of those plays outside the numbers and and they hit a couple of us. You know, they hit a couple of those sevens and those corners. And so I told the team that, you know, that that was what going in that we were going to make them hit them and they probably hit too many. But again, you know, we’ll be okay. You knew could ground and pound, but how about catches you caught? I think he’s always been I mean, he’s had good hands. I’ve always let you know what I mean. I thought he athletic with the ball in his hand. He makes good catches. He drops steps and goes. He turns second and 15 into third and three. And you know, those are critical when when you can do that and not end up in, you know, third and eight. So, um, excited for him, just really excited that he could have a a real impact on this football game for us throughout the entire day. Thanks, guys.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addresses the media on Sunday, September 14, 2025.

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