{"id":881750,"date":"2026-05-04T00:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/881750\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T00:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:03:32","slug":"patriots-star-christian-gonzalez-addresses-coach-mike-vrabel-and-dianna-russinis-photo-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/881750\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots star Christian Gonzalez addresses coach Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini\u2019s photo scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Collage<\/p>\n

Collage of a man in a Patriots jersey and two separate images of Robert Kraft and his girlfriend Dana Blumberg.<\/p>\n

New England Patriots star Christian Gonzalez defended head coach Mike Vrabel after his and NFL reporter\u00a0Dianna Russini\u2019s<\/a> photo scandal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t going to speak on what we talked about inside the building, but I mean, that\u2019s my coach,\u201d\u00a0the cornerback told reporters<\/a> at a press conference on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s who I go out and play for, and he\u2019s proven what he can do as a coach. That\u2019s my guy, and I\u2019m right behind Vrabes any time of day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A New England Patriots player defended head coach Mike Vrabel after his and NFL reporter Dianna Russini\u2019s photo scandal last month. \u00a9 Page SIx<\/p>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

Christian Gonzalez (seen here in February) told reporters that he would be supporting Vrabel. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gonzalez expressed his support<\/a> for Vrabel after Patriots quarterback Drake Maye\u00a0emphasized that he was standing by the coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019re here for Coach, we love Coach,\u201d Maye told WHDH-TV 7News last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he does for us, what he\u2019s done for us this past year, you can\u2019t speak into words, and just thankful he\u2019s our head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t going to speak on what we talked about inside the building, but I mean, that\u2019s my coach,\u201d Gonzalez (seen here with Vrabel) said. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThat\u2019s<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s who I go out and play for, and he\u2019s proven what he can do as a coach,\u201d Gonzalez (seen here) added. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Maye admitted that he was aware Vrabel was \u201cdealing with some stuff off the field and out of the coaching world,\u201d emphasizing that the team was \u201chere for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s gonna come back,\u201d Maye continued.<\/p>\n

Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, came under heat after Page Six\u00a0published photos<\/a>\u00a0of them holding hands at a ritzy resort in Sedona, Arizona.<\/p>\n

\"Last<\/p>\n

Last month, Page Six published photos of Vrabel and Russini at an Arizona hotel. \u00a9 Page SIx<\/p>\n

\"At<\/p>\n

At the time, they were seen in a hot tub together. \u00a9 Page SIx<\/p>\n

C<\/p>\n

\"They<\/p>\n

They were also seen holding hands. \u00a9 Page SIx<\/p>\n

\"Photos<\/p>\n

Photos of Vrabel and Russini at a NYC bar in 2020 later surfaced. \u00a9 Page Six<\/p>\n

However, no one else was photographed with the journalist and Vrabel.<\/p>\n

Russini resigned from her position<\/a>\u00a0at the Athletic as an NFL insider while Vrabel was absent for Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft to\u00a0seek counseling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Page Six later published 2020 photos of the two kissing and getting handsy at a New York City bar<\/a> despite Vrabel being married to his wife,\u00a0Jen<\/a>, and Russini being engaged to her now-husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collage of a man in a Patriots jersey and two separate images of Robert Kraft and his girlfriend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[6032,6164,7,6496,838,119107,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,91706,119108],"class_list":{"0":"post-881750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-christian-gonzalez","9":"tag-dianna-russini","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-head-coach","12":"tag-mike-vrabel","13":"tag-my-coach","14":"tag-new-england","15":"tag-new-england-patriots","16":"tag-newengland","17":"tag-newenglandpatriots","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-patriots","20":"tag-patriots-quarterback","21":"tag-photo-scandal"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116513382444291409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881750","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=881750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}