ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel got penalized Sunday for something he’s done “87 times” during an NFL game.
Vrabel drew a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct after arguing a holding penalty against Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones on Sunday against the Bills.
The CBS broadcast showed a video of Vrabel, which lip-readers translated as the head coach saying, “That’s a (expletive) terrible (expletive) call.”
Vrabel copped to it after the game.
“I told him it was a terrible — I’m not going to say — effing call. I said that 87 as head coach,” Vrabel said. “There was nothing derogatory. You’d have to ask him. I think he was a little sensitive. Once I get the word from upstairs that it wasn’t what we felt like was a good call, which I’m going to trust Stretch (vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher) with my life.
“I probably shouldn’t have swore. But I can tell you that in my history of being on the sidelines as a head coach, I’ve said that. And I apologized to him. And again, players responded. It was unfortunate, and I have to be better in those moments.”
Here was the official pool report between ESPN’s Mike Reiss and referree Bill Vinovich:
Q: What led to Mike Vrabel being assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty?
Vinovich: “He was out of the box, came up to the official and said, ‘That was a (expletive) terrible call.’
Q: In a situation like that, is there any warning given?
Vinovich: “I don’t know how you’re going to give a warning. It’s not something that is going to happen twice. When you use language like that, it’s pretty much a given.”
It’s Vinovich’s word against Vrabel’s about how common swearing is in an NFL game.
The Patriots still won the contest 29-26, but the penalty did hurt them in the interim. Jones’ holding penalty and Vrabel’s unsportsmanlike conduct took the Bills from third-and-goal from the Patriots’ 16-yard line to first-and-goal from the Patriots’ 5-yard line. The Bills scored three plays later to make the score knotted at 14-14.