Mike Vrabel on Facing the Giants: “I Think We’ll Have to be Ready for Anything.” | Press Conference

Mike Vrabel on Facing the Giants: “I Think We’ll Have to be Ready for Anything.” | Press Conference

I was practicing. What happened, Jeremiah Smith? But it was a little controversy because he didn’t have control of the ball in the end. And so what did they call it? So what was the controversy? Oh, what do you got, Karen? Uh was wondering if you could update us on any of the statuses of your uh will Jerry Wilson will be out, Brennan Schooler will be out. Uh Harold and Landry and Kyus Tonga will be questionable. How big of a challenge are the Johns when it comes to running the ball? You know, they came into the this week being in the attempts. um good good running football team um led by quarterbacks that are are mobile and that can run whether that’s designed or you know play extension. So I think it’s just a testament to them and the way that they’re calling the game and the fact that they’re in games that are you know one possession games or they have the lead and you know they’re able to run the football. You know they’re averaging I think 35 carries in those you know last three games that that’s a lot of carries. So, they’ve got good backs and they’ve got multiple scheme. They do it from under center, they do it from the gun or they do it from the from the pistol. What allows them to have success on some of their RPOS’s with the rules in the NFL where it’s tough for linemen to actually have be able to get downfield and block? Um, well, I mean, again, they they’ve coached it a long time. You know, usually when you have a puller and combination block that those time up well enough for the quarterback to to make a decision and throw it. You know, you can bring the tackle around and by the time you throw it, he’s not downfield. And you know, I think just once you commit to doing that that you get good at the timing of it and you know, back, you know, before it used to be like don’t be overly aggressive, but I, you know, see that out there. You know, they’re aggressive in their combinations. They’re aggressive blocking and they haven’t had too much trouble with with getting called for that. Mike, I know we’ve asked about the uncertainty of facing an interim head coach and defensive play caller, but how much if at all do you go into the psychology of a guy like Kafka who clearly wants the job and understands, you know, there’s almost not nothing to lose, but is willing to go to trick plays as recently as we saw last week? I think we’ll have to be ready for anything that uh they could possibly do. It’s flee flickers, reverses, fake punts, and we have to be sound and in all areas. And then we’ll have to defend, you know, be be prepared and, you know, try to handle anything that they they could do. Um, you know, they’re going to try to win the football game. They’re going to try to uh coach their team to however they feel like is best for them and put the players in the position to to succeed. So, you know, whether that’s uh running inside zone or, you know, quarterback throwback and whatever it may be, we’ll have to be ready for it. Is no naps vest a early Christmas gift for you, Mike? Apparently. I mean, stuff I say ends up on a vest, I guess. I don’t know. I didn’t make it myself. I can promise you that. Who gave it to you? Stick. Stick hooked us up. Hooked me up. That’s great. What did Miles battle do to earn the the 23. Uh Miles’s been working hard like a lot of guys on the practice squad and you know with double A going down we just you know need to kind of figure out where to you know rotation. I think there’s other guys that are deserving but Miles was certainly going to have to be ready for this game. So u was able to bring him up to the to the 53. We didn’t get a chance to watch the back of the quarterbacks a whole lot now through obviously course throughout this season. How have they progressed Joshua the course? I think good. I think we use our Thursdays practices for competitive reps and they’re, you know, leading the show team and, you know, we don’t ask those guys to throw it to a certain guy. We tell them to read it out and play quarterback and uh do that down here in the red zone on Fridays and try to put them in positions to to read the coverage and middle field open, middle field close, pressure, whatever it may be. So, I don’t ever want to do that. I want to let them know every player at every position try to play the game and practice and and be ready to go. We talked to Zach yesterday. Yeah, yesterday obviously his background in New York. I was talked to Tommy. I talked to Tommy a little bit. How much of a resource has he been this week for you guys or is that kind of Well, I mean again the play styles of certain guys that he would understand and know and you know again whether you know the call sheet is what it is is just you know if you could tell me when one of those calls is coming off of the 120 that are on the call sheet, you know, man that’s that’s be a pretty good skill. So, I think a lot of get that gets overblown and unless Tommy can tell us what what plays coming next, you know, once the game starts, I don’t know if he’s going to be able to help us. Stefan um described your coaching style as being the perfect parent, kind of knowing where to meet players where they were emotionally. Where did where did that derive from? Was it something that just kind of came over time with a particular individual? What kind of informed that particular style? Well, I mean, I’m far from a perfect parent. I think you could ask my my kids that. Um, no, I just try to have a good relationship or a relationship with with the players and figure out what they need and um be honest, be direct, be authentic, I think, is the biggest thing. Try to be as authentic as possible. Don’t try to bull them. Try to give them information that they’ll need or things that they’ll need to to help them have uh individual success, which hopefully leads to to the team success. and you know just trying to manage everybody here the best that I can. Team was quick to pick up great routes. What do you expect from him? Uh he’s played he’s got value on fourth down special teams and and figured that you know if we need him that he he’s played on Sundays and always liked his play demeanor and how hard he plays and his ability to play on special teams. Have favorite Monday night football memories over the years? uh had two touchdowns and a sack on the last Monday night game on ABC. That’s not bad. With Brendan out this week, is that I’m assuming that’s multiple guys building in for him. Is that kind of a puzzle to figure that out? Um, yeah. I mean, we’ll have to have, you know, Gunners will have to work and, you know, Miles will get a shot and and Dell will get a shot out there and everybody else and Woodsy and, you know, it’s hard to replace a guy that has had that much success on special teams, but, you know, those other guys have stepped up and and helped us as well. And, you know, it it’ll be a group effort and you know how critical that gunner’s position is out there on when we punt. speak a bit about the second and seven foundation and why literacy is such an important cause for you. Uh yeah, I mean I think that that’s you know something that’s really grown over the years. started it when we got out of um out of college and you know the first year that we only had enough money to buy seven second grade classrooms books and uh it’s grown to where we’re um you know writing our own children book series and great staff to to be able to spread the message and and allow you know promote literacy. It’s been something that you know we always enjoyed doing. it was something easy to kind of get into the schools and talk to kids and you know we we have to you know no matter what you do you’re going to have to be able to not only read but also comprehend what you’re reading and I think that was the biggest thing that I learned is is being able to understand what it was that you just read whether that’s a playbook whether that’s a a manual or whatever that is you know those are things that are important okay guys have a great Saturdays

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addresses the media on Saturday, November 29, 2025.

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