Mike Vrabel Discusses Marcus Jones Punt Returns in Win vs. Panthers | New England Patriots on WEEI

Mike Vrabel Discusses Marcus Jones Punt Returns in Win vs. Panthers | New England Patriots on WEEI

Morning, coach. Morning. What do we got over here? Are we opening this on air? Oh, yeah. I guess so. Okay. That that chews up some of our time. Okay. Well, you’d rather that than the questions. Nice. Oh, look at that. All right. It’s all good questions today. Very nice. Very, very nice. Very nice. I’m very emotional right now, so don’t cry. It’s got to be a onesie. Probably for Greg or for Oh, side football. Oh, look at that. All right. All right, coach. I mean, really, good job. This is bribery at its finest. Yeah, I know. There’s a little baby Vel jersey down there somewhere, too. Oh my gosh, that is very nice. Fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. That’s very kind. Thank you. Well, as as you were walking in, we were talking about uh all facets of the game. Uh everything looking good and uh much better result than than the week before. Uh yeah, I mean, if you can take care of the ball, get some uh explosives in the return game and uh you know, get some stops defensively, I think that’s what we’re capable of doing. Mike, other and you you brought up uh getting some stops and explosive in the return game. Other than that one series where Carolina had their opening drive, that punt return, was that something that like spocked the team or was it just Well, I mean, I think I think that’s what it we’ve talked about. it just takes one play. And I think that that’s continued to be the message that it’s whether it’s in Miami and we hit one down the sidelines and uh gets us going with a big play or on punt return or maybe defense there’s an interception. Uh but it just takes one play to get this thing back going and and that’s what we have to look forward to in the games when it’s not going great or it’s a close game, what have you. um that you just keep, you know, plugging away and then it just takes one play for this thing to break open. You didn’t I I I don’t think I saw you running up the sideline on either one of them yesterday. Is that you got away from that? Well, I just that’s not good for the Achilles. Yeah. Be careful. Uh when it comes to lack of turnovers, that’s something that’s plagued you guys for the start of the season. None yesterday. What changed in practice, if anything? What do you guys focus on in practice, if anything, to to We focus on it all the time. And I think it’s just taking care of the football using great technique and understanding that everybody else has a has a role to play as well. They have to protect the guy with the ball. So quarterback’s got to make good decisions and everybody that has it uh that’s not theirs. It’s they’re only protecting it for you know for the play and then you know it goes to somebody else. So we have to uh continue to do that. That has to be a focal point. It’s just critical in this league. So you didn’t have Aroundre walk around with a football. Tai Law said that that’s what he used to have to do. Tai Law Tai Law was a DB. So, no, but he used to say that that’s what all the guys used to do. Yeah. I mean, they don’t get hit, you know. I mean, again, I I’ve heard that, you know, but they’re not getting hit and they’re, you know, be there aren’t people coming in and and hitting them. Uh, so we just want to try to do it, you know, practice it and and make sure that it’s uh done with good ball security, that we have two in traffic, and that everybody else is doing their job. So, there’s a lot of ways to to do it. Mike, you talk about ball security and it is interesting because when you get into that mode of maybe you fumble a couple times sometimes you’ll put two hands on and you’ll overseure it which takes away from maybe your ability to run after catch or hit holes. How do you make sure that you balance the ball security but still being an aggressive runner? I think that that’s obviously what the the balance is and you know, we needed to put the fire out this week. So, we we were able to create some explosives and but you’re right, you can’t just sit there and run through with with two hands on the football and and and crouched over on it and gain three yards. So, but but you also have to take care of it and I think it was important for us to put the fire out and and like you said, continue to still be aggressive with the football in our hands and be able to make yards after the catch or the run. Do you think Drake May is ahead of schedule about where you thought he’d be through four weeks? I really didn’t have a timetable. I’m not really sure. We’re just trying to throw the guy that’s open as soon as he is in the progression and then take care of the football and when he’s not there, use his legs and I think he’s he’s done that at times and we’ll continue to work on it. Do you see a comp between him and Josh Allen? That was the big sort of I’m not big into comparisons. I think you guys know that by now, but if not, we’ll keep reminding you. Not big into comparisons. Steph Diggs said that his comfortability within the offense is a five out of 10 right now. Is that just how he feels? He should study more. Okay. I I love this you, by the way. This is like Let’s go. Five out of 10. We Let’s go get We need to get going. I’ll have to talk to Steph today. Got to know. You got to know the playbook inside and out. Yeah. I just didn’t know. Five out of 10. I went to Ohio State. That’s failing. Yeah, that’s not good. No, no. I just didn’t know if it was him feeling comfortable coming back from injury or if it was how he felt with Drake or within the offense. I didn’t know. I Well, again, I’ll we’ll have to clarify what part of it is 50%. We’ll have to have a winning effort physically, mentally, and whatever the third one was. We’ll have to we’ll have to bump it up a little bit here to see what’s going on. I think the third one’s emotionally. Emotionally, we need to be we need to be better in all three phases then cuz that’s not good enough. Mike, what was the difference after the first series defensively adjustment wise that you made against, you know, I mean, trying to disguise a little bit and just, you know, get our eyes in the right place. They’re moving guys and motion in and and flashing them after the snap. And, you know, that that was um, you know, then we pick each other, you know, I mean, guy that that weak side bunch formation that we’ve seen for pretty much since we we started practicing football and we, you know, we run into each other. So, uh, I thought when we settled down, I thought just the the being able to to hold the disguise, they were trying to motion and shift and do different things and we just needed to settle down and relax and play football and fit where we’re supposed to fit, push the pocket, not let the quarterback scramble, extend plays, which I thought that that was good. Um, he had had a lot of just third down conversion just by scrambling. That can that can be deflating. Well, that’ll be huge this week obviously coming up. So, uh did a lot of those things. Well, you said you spent a couple hours watching film this week on the Carolina kickoffs. You like the when it comes to the rule change the offense the way that that’s creating offense opportunities. Yeah, I mean it does it’s it’s created a play. Uh it’s also you see some of these kickers and the different style of of kick that they may want to hit at knuckles and lands and skips and again the dirty kick as you called it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and so we fielded that one well. We got it to the 40. You know, they they called Dell 40 yards from the ball. He kind of, you know, got run over and and in that instance, sometimes they call that holding, but but again, it’s it’s 40 yards from where the football was. So, it’s disappointing. But I’m trying to take a and say, “Hey, we we fielded it well. Well, everything we practiced and we didn’t look ridiculous with the ball skipping and bouncing all over the place and being inside the 10 yardd line, got it out to the 40, but then obviously the the penalty on all all those returns really just kill those yardage. What makes Josh Allen such a tough guy to defend? Oh, I mean, he’s big, he’s athletic, he’s strong, he’s stiff arms. Um he he’s he’s good with obviously he can he can play quarterback but then he plays running back and uh just a great athlete, great competitor, a great play strength. You know, it’ll be a huge challenge just to to defend him and make sure that that one we are aggressive when we pass rush and when we do that, you know, we’re not loose and and those scramble plays out to the right and be ready to defend the stiff arm. You know, it’s interesting that you bring up the pass rush. Like when you’re going against a guy like that, how much is really being, you know, gap disciplined versus, excuse me, trying to go get him because he can make so many plays and almost like keep him in the pocket, you know? I know. No, you don’t. There’s a balance. There’s a balance there to some of these athletes and, you know, you have to be able to go rush and try to affect them and then also maybe build in. And then again, we wanted to be relentless and coordinated. I think that that’s something that we talk about is you have to be coordinated, but also relentless in the pass rush and not really just stand there. That’s not going to do anything either. Hunter Henry had a great game yesterday. Has he become the leader in this locker room? I don’t think he’s the only leader. I think he’s certainly, you know, a leader. He’s a veteran player who’s had success that’s very consistent. Uh so I think, you know, that would help him to be a leader. So, I think he’s one of them and and gotten off to a good start. One of the areas that, you know, I think we all had concern coming into the season this year was the offensive line and it looks like, you know, they’re doing a tremendous job. I know um I thought I saw uh Wilson wasn’t in at left guard. I don’t know if there’s an injury thing, but talk about the offensive line and what they’ve been able to do when it comes not only protecting Drake May, but obviously what they do in the run game. um what they what they’ve been able to do through the first four games. Yeah, Ben stepped in for Jared and Ben’s been, you know, working extremely hard. Has worked at center and guard throughout camp and uh played a little bit last year uh for for the Patriots and so uh he stepped right in. I thought he played well. I thought he had a great play demeanor, great push, and um yeah, that the the ability to protect, you know, and some of these sacks are a little misleading, you know, that just goes in as a sack and then you go back and watch him, you’re like, “Oh, Drake scrambled and and ran out of bounds for no gain.” And that’s a sack. So again, but there there’s there’s other ones and so I don’t get too caught up in that. But, you know, as long as we’re trying to create a a good pocket, you know, when we are behind, you know, when we’re not moving the launch point that that that’s firm in the middle and that we’re able to run the edge guys by and that we’re not getting beat inside or we’re not loose inside because then the quarterback and the timing gets broken down and they have to, you know, step and avoid and now their eyes sometimes go down, doesn’t stay on the the receiver or or the routes. And so when we can do that, um, which they have, and again, they’re working extremely hard, you know, on third down, there’s games every week, there’s loaded fronts, there’s mug fronts, and guys are twisted, and you have to work with the guy next to you to protect them because these guys are trying to come and and and pick, and you have to flatten out the penetrator. So, those are things that they’re working extremely hard on, and I it’s good to see some of that translate. I I used to be firm in the middle. Okay. How long we known this guy? Never been firm in the middle. We have a mug shot that does not look very firm in the middle. You You had a You You teased a big parody question. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was going to ask you about that, but because as fans, I look at it and go, there’s a lot of parody in the NFL. And I wonder as a coach, do you kind of utilize that and saying, “Hey, listen, is it’s wide open. If we play the we the way we’re supposed to play, we can play with anybody. I I know I feel like it was a little different when New England was successful back in the days. It was very difficult to beat them and they seemed like they were ahead of everybody else, but I don’t see a team like that in the NFL. And I wonder if that’s a message that you give to the players at times. Well, the message is is that you have to play good to give yourself a chance to win. And if you play bad, you’re guaranteed to lose. uh that that’s the message and uh we believe that we can play with anybody when when we do the things the right way um and play to our identity and play complimentary and all those things. So you know that that’s the National Football League. I don’t think that that’s any surprise um on how you try to win and going on the road is going to be even more difficult to handle in that environment and being able to operate offensively in in that environment. All right, coach. Get to talk to Mark Wahberg at all yesterday? No. No. No. No. I did not not see that. No, I we didn’t cross paths. Uh top three favorite Wahberg films before you go. Uh the potted count. Departed. Fantastic. Do you do you prefer do you do you prefer the departed over the town or do you think the town is coin flip? Coin flip on them. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Um, that’s Mike Rabel, head coach of the New England Patriots, on with us every single Monday.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show on Monday, September 29, 2025.

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