Mike Vrabel DOES NOT Want to Be The Center of Attention

Beasley Digital

On Wednesday's edition of Felger and Mazz, the guys reacted to Mike Vrabel's press conference before the Patriots first full-squad training camp practice. This led Mazz to make the point that the Patriots head coach is trying not be to the center of attention surrounding the team.

Transcript

00:00innocuous q a but something standing out to mass what is it mass so it's the fact that he doesn't

00:04want to talk about himself and this to me goes all the way back to the off season and mini camp and

00:10you know all the otas all that stuff when is whenever he's asked a question about himself

00:15this happened yesterday happened today and if you remember uh i i mentioned this yesterday back in

00:22the off season you're gonna have to help me when he first started to address the players might have

00:26been during mini camp and there was a clip that showed up online that was tweeted out by spanish

00:32broadcasting yeah or that shortly thereafter it was scrubbed and the clip that was tweeted out

00:40was vrabel giving sort of laying down the the rules and his expectations for the players and it really

00:47came across as mike vrabel coming in and laying down the law and i don't mean that in like a

00:53authoritarian kind of way no but it was it was about vrabel and it was vrabel center stage and

00:59that kind of thing yeah it was mike vrabel is here to clean up the town it's sort of the vibe you got

01:03from it yeah and then it was scrubbed and now the last couple of days in this question in particular

01:08he's asked about the question is about him coming back as a former player to coach the patriots and

01:14he says well yeah you know we're all grateful and then he starts talking about the presentation of

01:19the players he completely changed the subject he does not want to talk about himself and i actually

01:26think this is a smart move for two reasons one first of all he doesn't want to turn off any of

01:32the players many of and i should really say more than two reasons but he doesn't want to make the

01:37players think it's about him that would alienate the players it would immediately make them look at

01:41him and go this guy is this guy just here about him or is he about is he really believe what he is

01:45preaching so he's preaching this whole concept of building a team he wants to live it he wants to

01:53set it by example and the other two things i will add because the guy i'm gonna say the guy before him

01:59the guy two guys before him totally made it about himself whether or not he said it on a daily basis

02:06or not it was about bill belichick and he let you know it was about bill belichick so that's one and

02:12secondly let's not forget in tennessee when it went bad for vrabel at the end they went in the

02:17opposite direction and they said they do not want a you know for lack of a better term dictator as the

02:24head of their football operation they didn't want someone with a giant personality and someone who is

02:29going to be at the center of the whole thing and that those were i think shots at vrabel in the way

02:35he may have conducted himself in tennessee at the end so i would say i think he's learned from his

02:41mistakes i think he's learned from what other people have done wrong and he's i think making

02:46it about yourself as a coach can be a cardinal sin and he's not going to do it he's making it clear

02:52he's not going to do i liked how you said he wants to live it because i just thought some of the optics

02:55of that today at least to me maybe i'm a sucker for this showed that like the guy is still built like

03:00he could throw on the pads and play a few downs and we just rolled in with some of the video today

03:04he's active with some of these guys running alongside them probably john at these players

03:09at the same time like come on come on let's keep it up but like i don't know i like that i like the

03:13the thing of a young coach that's still going to like get into his players but be alongside them and

03:17live it like you say maz i certainly like it a lot more than if he was just standing there like a

03:21big boob dictator twirling his dumb whistle grunt like yeah okay that worked for a time but at the end

03:27like get out of here with that so again maybe i'm a sucker for that and just the optics of it

03:30but i did like the look of that today with rabel so here's the uh exchange that maz was talking

03:35about yesterday chris gasper asking him about how much a coach can impact winning here's rabel

03:40yesterday if you could jimmy there's a lot of optimism because you're here as a coach you've

03:47been on both sides of it as a player and a coach as a coach how much can you impact winning versus

03:54the players well again i have to continue to teach develop and and make connections with our

04:00guys and through that you know preparing them to win and the situations and getting them to

04:07understand that there's different ways to win a football game there's a lot of ways to lose them

04:12but we want to focus on the ways that we're going to win and sometimes that's going to be different

04:16each and every week with whatever that plan to win is each and every week and i have to try to do

04:22that i have to get our coaches to do that and get our players to understand that word salad nothing

04:27answer bingo because he doesn't want to go there he doesn't and there being like the essential

04:32question he's been on all sides of it now so wouldn't he be the perfect guy to weigh in on is

04:38it talent is it coaching how much can you actually affect this thing and he doesn't want to go there

04:43because that's all about him so he's doing the same thing maz yeah he is he's just being very careful

04:47about it and i think it's smart i do because i think the worst thing you can do when you come in

04:53as a coach with any sort of credentials and vrabel's never won a super bowl but he's generally

04:59regarded as a respected coach in the league so the worst thing you can do is come in and do what

05:05matt patricia did in detroit and say i got my rings let me show you how it's done and they're all

05:11looking at him going this guy's some kind of a-hole like egomaniacal a-hole and you have to have a

05:17presence as a coach without being an egomaniac it's a it's a delicate balance man and and look

05:24i think vrabel's got a pretty good grasp on it so i give him credit for this now look maybe some of it

05:30is just lip service maybe he's just playing the game and he is some sort of i don't want to say

05:35tyrant that's too strong but some sort of self-centered leader who's going to make it about

05:41him maybe that's what it'll be like on a day-to-day basis he knows not to show that publicly and he

05:46knows not to show it to his players uh just to just to endear himself to the fan base and not

05:53necessarily the guys that are reporting to him and working for him because i think those are the

05:57ones that really matter okay so that's how he's playing it and good for him another sign that he's

06:01a smart guy uh now the reality of the situation he doesn't want to make it about him but i think

06:09right now it's pretty much all about him definitely i think i think he's not just the star of the show

06:16because he's interesting to listen to and the way he carries himself is uh we can all sort of

06:22relate to and it's endearing and i i like listening to him talk about football i like listening to him

06:27talk about drills that he's running in training camp i like the way that he busts balls and his sense

06:32of humor and we all like it so right now it is about him he is front and center the star of the show

06:39but that's just the show in practical terms in terms of the football team i think it's all about

06:44him right now too i know they've made improvements on the roster of course they have uh but there's

06:50still the roster is still really weak overall young and or weak and it's up to him and his staff

06:59to bring functionality and normalcy and competence back to the operation because it has been years

07:09since they've had it really and i it's been three four straight years definitely the first year of mac

07:17jones uh when josh mcdaniels was still here and they made those free agent signings and they you know

07:24made the playoffs that was a relatively functional season since then it's been one debacle after the

07:31next starting with patricia judge and then the deterioration i don't need you don't need the

07:36history lesson but patricia judge they blow them out but the relationship between belichick and jones

07:42had deteriorated you know badly belichick clearly like half out of his mind being led around by his

07:50pecker and never mind other things to gerard mayo and that ridiculous coaching staff last year

07:56so i mean we're talking four straight years of just it's a mess right now it is all on vrabel and

08:04that staff to clean that up and the the talent level is the talent level that's going to take a little

08:10bit of time but going from debacle to functional right now it's all about vrabel i'm sorry that's that's

08:19not going to come from the players no no but but again and i think that's why i think he sort of

08:24knows that which is why he's not playing himself up because i just think that that that would be uh

08:29you know from a pr standpoint it would look bad i i think 100 it would yeah you're so right but

08:36let's not lose sight of the fact no no it's definitely about him right now i'm saying right

08:40now it's all about him yeah when you're when you're at this stage of the rebuild it is it's his show

08:46this is who we're going to credit when they go from four wins to eight wins or whatever it is

08:51and you should and if they don't it's who i'm going to blame and it's where i'm going to start

08:57you are here to clean up this mess you're capable of it it's what you were hired to do

09:04it's what you promised to do and now i expect you to do it so downplay it all you want big fella

09:11it's about you i and he's he's right to play it that way but make no mistake it's up to him to get

09:18the most out of drake may it's up to him to do the thing that he promised which is we're gonna take

09:23advantage of bad football and get to that point that is attainable smart it's a good smart first

09:29step that he has laid out we have to get to a point where we can take advantage of the idiots on

09:35the other side of the ball just do that and that's what we're gonna judge him on it starts now and it

09:41is all about him and you should feel good about it frankly because i think he's he's equipped for

09:46this for this level for this stage of your return ah but either way training camps upon us got some

09:53news and notes anything notable we get a live look in from training camp firsthand report the big boy

09:59makes his first appearance here in uh training camp coming up next but real quick murray anything we

10:04should know yeah nice little synopsis from mike giardi also of boston sports journal the good

10:08from foxborough today rookie wide receiver kyle williams making a couple of catches in front of

10:12christian gonzalez didn't detect any hint of a limp from stefan diggs he had a little hitch this spring

10:17he moved well uh saw a lot of key on white around the quarterback that's the good the bad

10:22maz get ready for this one pass protection less than optimal some would even say subpar a lot of heat

10:29off the tackles huh josh dobbs the pastor not spraying throws here there and everywhere uh and

10:35didn't notice any of the receivers who are fighting for their jobs such as uh javon baker kendrick bourne

10:40uh and uh kashaun booty okay so a tough day for short arms over there at left tackle yeah apparently so

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