{"id":1050301,"date":"2026-11-09T18:09:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1050301\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T18:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:09:16","slug":"patriots-hc-mike-vrabel-on-christian-gonzalezs-struggles-cant-take-a-play-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1050301\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots HC Mike Vrabel on Christian Gonzalez’s struggles: ‘Can’t take a play off’"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBORO \u2014 Sunday\u2019s loss<\/a> to the Packers brought an uncharacteristically terrible<\/a> performance from Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez gave up a career-high 192 passing yards and two touchdowns, per PFF\u2019s charting.<\/p>\n

The highest-paid cornerback<\/a> in the NFL and player on the Patriots\u2019 roster, Gonzalez hasn\u2019t looked like the same player since missing two weeks with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Head coach Mike Vrabel was asked Monday morning what\u2019s changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t take a nap in this league,\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cAnd you have to be \u2014 whoever the receivers are, especially the good ones, you have to play with great technique. You have to challenge when you can. Same things that happens with all DBs, right? When you look back at the quarterback sometimes \u2014 and they\u2019re going to catch passes \u2014 it\u2019s just they have to earn it. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cChristian had a few plays I\u2019m sure that he\u2019d like to have back, and I said this: We have high expectations for him, and he certainly does too. So, I think it\u2019s about answering the challenge in this week and then coming back. To play corner in this league, you got to have a short memory, whether that\u2019s on the good plays or the negative ones, and I\u2019m confident that he will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vrabel has used the \u201cnap\u201d analogy before. He was asked to clarify exactly what he meant by that in this instance with Gonzalez\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, you just can\u2019t take a play off or think that they\u2019re not going to challenge you or throw the ball at you,\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cThat\u2019s it. You think that you\u2019re going to not draw attention, I mean, the quarterbacks in this league, the skill players in this league, they run a route and they have a read, and if it\u2019s open or they like the look, they\u2019re gonna take it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think: confident with where he\u2019ll be and how he\u2019ll improve and look at things, and he studies it. But obviously, it\u2019s the entire pass defense last night, which really was ineffective at times and frustrating going into the game, and whether that\u2019s in the man or zone, some good plays, some well-executed defenses, some impactful plays on the quarterback, and then certainly a lot that left a lot to be desired.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Patriots allowed Packers QB Jordan Love to complete 23-of-29 passes for 372 yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers. Wide receivers Christian Watson and Matthew Golden both had over 160 receiving yards with a touchdown.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez gave up multiple explosive plays, but safety Kevin Byard and cornerbacks Carlton Davis III and Marcus Jones also gave up receptions of 20-plus yards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOXBORO \u2014 Sunday\u2019s loss to the Packers brought an uncharacteristically terrible performance from Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Gonzalez…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1050302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[4955,833,839,7,838,1167,249,2326,2094,6,15,835,61050,208,107497,43714,112574,19972,112575,834,61051,61052,80497,724,837,505],"class_list":["post-1050301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-drake-maye","tag-eliot-wolf","tag-football","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-nfl-news","tag-nfl-patriots","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-2026","tag-patriots-free-agency","tag-patriots-free-agents","tag-patriots-game","tag-patriots-moves","tag-patriots-news","tag-patriots-schedule","tag-patriots-stats","tag-patriots-trades","tag-pats","tag-robert-kraft","tag-super-bowl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117587827960742951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1050302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1050301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1050301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}