- 5 months ago
Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel joins! How important is it to have one voice echoed in the building?
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00:00How's your drain flowing, Wiggy?
00:01My drain's going good, Mike.
00:03I don't know what's yours.
00:04How's yours?
00:05Good.
00:06I gotta tell you.
00:07Strong to quite strong.
00:08I was here Friday night for the show.
00:12Looked like it was flowing pretty good during the walk out there.
00:16I was nervous.
00:17That's street cred right there.
00:19How are you?
00:20I'm assuming you guys...
00:21How was vacation?
00:22It was good.
00:23These guys were having fun while you were gone.
00:25No, no, you took a shot at me for vacation.
00:27Like something about Myrtle Beach or something like that?
00:28Well, I just thought that that would be somewhere where you would...
00:31Everybody kind of agreed.
00:33Myrtle Beach?
00:34Kind of.
00:35Really?
00:37From what I can remember.
00:39I've been there numerous times.
00:42Putt-Putt was more of the...
00:43Putt-Putt was kind of the shot.
00:46I'm assuming you and Morgan Wallen know each other from Nashville?
00:49Yeah.
00:51I saw him play in front of 1,200 people in a warehouse in 2019.
00:57And yeah, he's doing pretty good for himself.
01:02Does he...
01:02How does that work?
01:03Does he call you or do his people call...
01:06Like how do they lock you in for the walk out?
01:10He handles that.
01:11He does, yeah.
01:12It was cool.
01:13Gronk did a good job on Saturday night.
01:15I mean, he spiked the guitar.
01:17I don't know if he saw that or not.
01:18Well, we are...
01:22Do you want...
01:22By the way, do you want some sort of a walk-up song for this interview every week?
01:26Is there...
01:26No.
01:27No?
01:27No, I don't think we have to do that.
01:28You don't?
01:28You don't?
01:29Okay.
01:29Maybe a coffee, but other than that.
01:30Oh, wait.
01:30We'll get you a coffee.
01:31What do you want, Black?
01:33Almond 3 Splendor.
01:34Okay.
01:35I like the Almond.
01:35So, we're getting down to it here.
01:39Meaningful football in less than two weeks.
01:43Your first training camp here as a head coach.
01:46Are you in the same mindset as Wiggy and Ty Law?
01:50Some of the old heads that we hear on our show that, guys, the way training camp is now,
01:57you can't hit enough.
01:58It's a lot of walk-throughs.
02:01Well, it's different.
02:02You know, it's different.
02:03So, I don't know if that's good or bad.
02:05I'm just telling you, it's different.
02:06That's what some of the rules are.
02:08That's what the, you know, the tracking and the science of everything, of the mileage
02:14and, you know, just how much they're running and the pads that you can have on a certain
02:20amount of days and, you know, just the schedule's different.
02:25And so, again, we just have to make sure what we know with the rules and that we follow them
02:30and make sure that we're doing everything we can to get them prepared.
02:34Mike, it's different.
02:36Mike, it's about the balance, right?
02:38I know the balance is different, especially for preseason games.
02:41Do you feel like Drake May got enough reps opportunity to, in the preseason, to make
02:47sure he's able to be prepared and ready to go week one?
02:51Yeah.
02:51I mean, I think that through the joint practices with Washington and the volume there and the
02:56volume with Minnesota and, again, wanted to get him out there for some action.
03:02But then, you know, I think it was all, there's a balance there.
03:06There's a balance of, you know, how much you want to go out there and play, but you have
03:10to get out there and do a little bit and take some hits and make some throws and stand in
03:14a live pocket and all those things.
03:16Mike, when you look back at preseason so far, for you specifically, what's been the most
03:20challenging part?
03:21Your first season as head coach here, what's the challenge that comes along with that?
03:26Well, I mean, there's something that comes up every day.
03:28It's schedule, rain, this, that, the other, travel, guys injured, guys can't go in the
03:36morning, adjusting, you know, practice or moving things around.
03:41That's the challenge.
03:43I think it's just to try to, you know, have some consistent efforts, build a routine,
03:49have a flow, I think, to training camp.
03:51And I appreciate the fans that came out each and every day.
03:55And we try to build a flow and just the daily routine.
03:58And now we're switching back to, you know, what we would consider an in-season schedule.
04:02So that was a little bit of an adjustment.
04:04And that will continue to be one from yesterday to today and moving forward.
04:08So I would say that's probably the next challenge is just getting acclimated to a regular season
04:13schedule.
04:14Travion Henderson said Wednesday that you and the organization have done such a great job
04:19of helping them become closer as a group.
04:22Are you, do you see that and feel that?
04:25And what, you know, how do you do that?
04:28Well, I mean, I think that you just try to invest time in the players and obviously be
04:32intentional with building a locker room.
04:35I mean, we're going to be together for a long time.
04:37I mean, this is a long season and we don't, you know, we don't want these to be one-year
04:43rentals.
04:44We want to try to build something with players and build around them and those pieces.
04:49And so, you know, there's a lot that goes into it.
04:52There's a lot of, you know, again, there's a personal side of this business and a professional
04:56side of this business.
04:57And, you know, hopefully we don't let those interfere with each other.
05:00And, but we certainly are trying to be intentional with, with making connections throughout the
05:07building and between players and between coaches and players.
05:10You talk about being intentional.
05:12How important is it to have one voice that's echoed throughout the building?
05:16I just think to the public comments, I think a week or two ago where Elliott Wolfe said,
05:22well, we're willing to trade a first or a second round pick to acquire a talent.
05:27It seems like there are multiple people speaking about the direction of the organization.
05:32And that struck me as just odd.
05:34I would never envision you saying publicly what you would be willing to trade for an asset.
05:38Well, I mean, I think that when you talk about player acquisition, I think it depends.
05:43That's a hard question to answer without talking about who that player is.
05:47And I think that we have to go to great lengths to improve this team.
05:53And there's, those are different options.
05:55And if that's through the draft or trading somebody or trading for a player, you know,
06:01I'm not certainly not going to speak for, for anybody or Elliott or anybody else,
06:05but we, we will have to go to, we'll have to make sure that we invest a lot of time
06:11into what those decisions are, look at them and then say, is this what's best for the team?
06:16And then if it's not, then, then don't do it.
06:18But if it is, you know, then we would have to consider it.
06:21So, you know, I just, you know, the one voice or two voice, you know what I'm saying?
06:26Like, I think that it's pretty clear that, you know, we're, we're, we're in alignment as an organization,
06:32what we want from our players, what, what we expect, what we want our identity to be.
06:37And then we'll go about trying to get there.
06:39I know you don't want to talk about players that are on other teams, uh, understand that,
06:43but players like that, like there are two, maybe three legit playmaker additions that you could add
06:51to this football team who seem to be disgruntled.
06:53Are you, are you guys working?
06:56Is it, is it your philosophy that the organization's philosophy, you want to go do whatever it takes
07:01to go and get somebody who can add to this team right now?
07:04Well, again, we want to continue to strengthen the roster.
07:07And I don't know if that's the players that you're talking about or some other players
07:13or how that may come about, but I know we have had conversations.
07:16We'll continue to have conversations about, uh, continuing to improve the roster.
07:21Um, and then again, if it makes sense and then we feel like it's advantageous to us,
07:28um, then we'll consider it.
07:31A couple of them can get after the quarterback and one can catch the football pretty well.
07:35I won't say no names, but when you look at this roster, um, one of the guys that I think
07:41a lot of fans and you guys have high expectations for Steph Diggs, what's, I know we hadn't seen
07:48him throughout the whole preseason as far as the games.
07:51What, what's the expectation for him week one?
07:55Uh, I mean that he's ready to go and that he helps and he helps us on, you know, helps
08:01our offense and that he helps Drake.
08:03And again, I think that they're building a connection.
08:05I think that there's, you know, we've, we've played a lot of different receiver combinations
08:09and I think that that's been good, whether that be in the red zone yesterday or in the
08:13two minute drive and, you know, guys are rolling in there and kind of finding a role.
08:17And, you know, so again, I think the expectations are high for all of us, whether it be Steph
08:22Diggs or, or Drake or me or Kyle Williams or anybody out there, you know, the, the expectations,
08:28this is professional football.
08:29So, um, but his attitude has been good.
08:32He's had a willingness and I've decided to keep him out of those preseason games that you
08:36mentioned.
08:36So that was not, uh, I think one of the great things about being able to interview you is
08:41you get to, there's a lot of nonsense that floats around.
08:44You get to come on the show and, and clear it up for all of us.
08:47So you decided to keep him out of games, nothing to do with.
08:51He's gotten a lot of reps, you know what I mean?
08:53He's gotten a lot of reps and.
08:54So you're happy with him.
08:55Yeah.
08:56I mean, I think where he's at, I mean, he's been able to string days together and, you
09:00know what I mean?
09:01Whether that felt amount of individual and brought them out for team or I'm just trying to get
09:06each guy what they need to be ready for the season.
09:08When you were asked about Jalen Polk last week, you said, you know, rats.
09:12Is there a rat problem that you have in the building?
09:15Have you figured out where the leaks are?
09:16No, you guys, I love how you guys, I love how you guys take everything I say.
09:19I mean, you say rats, we got to run with it.
09:21You got nervous.
09:22We don't have much else to talk about.
09:22You guys get all nervous.
09:24Yeah.
09:24There's rats all over the place.
09:25But I mean, whether that's in this building, whether that's outside this building, I just
09:30love the flow of information and I just felt inclined and I was pissed off because we stunk
09:35and we couldn't do anything.
09:36So I tried to entertain you guys a little bit.
09:40I was ready to get home and get back to Foxborough.
09:42So you don't have to smoke them out?
09:44No, I don't think that we'll have to smoke them out.
09:46But I think we just want to be careful, again, the information that gets transferred to the
09:53media.
09:54And again, we always want to do right by the Patriots and this football team.
09:58I think that's the most important thing.
09:59How difficult is it to compete when it looks like your first week roster will have only
10:07one player from the 2024 draft class?
10:10Can you compete when you have one guy from an entire class last year?
10:15Yes.
10:15How much more, how difficult is that as an organization to overcome?
10:20I've never even looked at how difficult, it's hard to compete in this league.
10:23So however, wherever the roster shakes out at, it's going to be hard to compete, whether
10:28we have 15 guys from the draft class or two or one or none.
10:35We'll have a roster and we'll try to figure out the best way to win each and every week,
10:38however that is with whoever we have, just like we've always done.
10:41And how much have you, as a new guy in the organization, scouted and seen what has transpired
10:48in the front office and then use that to sort of say, okay, this is who we should have making
10:52decisions going forward, given what they did last year in the draft?
10:56No, I haven't looked at that one bit.
10:58I haven't paid any attention to that.
11:00I've just tried to communicate with Ryan and Elliott and try to figure out who we need.
11:06And that's been my focus.
11:07You're talking about Drake May earlier, some panic when the quarterback is running the
11:13football.
11:13How do you balance his, I mean, he ran a lot in college.
11:16How do you balance that with the need to keep your quarterback healthy?
11:22Well, I mean, I think that you have to be able to use his ability, whether that's to
11:26extend plays and when we drop back and throw it or by design at times.
11:32And, you know, he just has to understand that, you know, we're not trying to take any unnecessary
11:38risk and making sure that he protects himself and gets down and protects the football.
11:44And so I think he'll continue to do that.
11:46I think we've seen glimpses of that.
11:49And I think the more that he does it, the more comfortable he'll get and understand that.
11:54But I think you have to be able to use, you know, what he brings in his athleticism.
11:59Mike, what's that relationship like?
12:00Because I think a lot of people, like we look at you and we know what you've been able
12:06to accomplish in this league as a head coach.
12:08You've been very successful.
12:09And I think the relationship between you and Elliott Wolfe, what's that relationship like?
12:14Because I think that you have a voice because you wouldn't be in this position without being
12:21the Mike Vrabel that you are.
12:23It's like, okay, here's what we need to do.
12:26Is he on that same page with you?
12:28Yes, I wouldn't get caught up in that.
12:31I mean, we meet every day.
12:32We talk.
12:33He communicates.
12:35We talk through the injuries.
12:36We talk to who we need, who's available, what we may have to do here.
12:42We met with the players.
12:44And when we had to move on from them, we met with them.
12:47And both him and I talked to them.
12:50We thanked them.
12:51And we tried to do it, like I said, as professionally as we could.
12:53This is a tough time of year, you know.
12:57So again, this is really not an issue for me or going our conversations or how we talk
13:05or what we need to get done.
13:06And, you know, that's what we're trying to do, whether that was in free agency or the
13:10draft or now here.
13:12Two specific players, Drake and Will Campbell, have been talked about as kind of having
13:16Jekyll and Hyde between joint practices and then the actual preseason games.
13:20I always find it interesting.
13:21Wiggy says that he learns more about players when it comes to joint practice and how they
13:24perform in joint practice instead of the preseason games.
13:27Where do you fall there?
13:28Where do you get more out of your players and who they could be in the regular season?
13:32Well, I think the games matter.
13:33I think they do.
13:34I think the live contact and the tackling and some things, you know, everybody thinks
13:41that there's a sack every single play in practice.
13:44You know, I love that.
13:45And I asked the player how many sacks he had in his career, he said five.
13:49And I said, you think you got three in practice today?
13:52I doubt it.
13:54But that's, you know, that's how it goes.
13:56And I think that the joint practices are really good.
13:59And I think that when you talk about evaluation, you have to look at everything and who they're
14:05going against and, you know, but the games are still important.
14:09You know, I mean, I think to be able to do these things under, it's just a different
14:14feel, right?
14:14The play clock, the operation of everything is a little different than practice.
14:22Speaking of stats, I think for you, preseason, two fights joint practice-wise.
14:27I'm telling you, you haven't been in too many fights because those aren't fights.
14:30Those are just wrestling matches.
14:33I love you getting right in there, bro.
14:35I mean, it's like you're 25 years old again.
14:37I just don't want to see any punches thrown.
14:39I think when they go to the ground, I just try to get in there and break it up.
14:42No scarring on the cheek either.
14:44Yeah.
14:44Yeah.
14:44You recovered pretty quick on that.
14:46Never hit a guy with a helmet on.
14:48I learned that a long time ago when Fred Bax to punch somebody with a helmet and then
14:52broke his hand.
14:53Freddie B.
14:53Yeah, Freddie B.
14:54You look at this offense and you look at a guy like Will Campbell, and we've talked
15:00about this before, his nastiness, what he can do in the run game.
15:03I'd like to know, how has his progression been in pass protection, right?
15:09Because that is a huge part of especially all offensive linemen, but especially the left
15:14tackle who's protecting the blind side.
15:16How has his progression been, in your opinion?
15:18It's been good.
15:20All right.
15:21Good.
15:21The thing that we talk about with young players is just starting to build tricks of the trade,
15:27right?
15:28Whatever those are at each position, their craftiness.
15:32And that's something that we talked to Will about and different players, outside linebackers
15:38going against some of these other guys and the tricks that they use, whether that's in
15:42the pass game or the run game.
15:44So just trying to continue to build that toolbox of just craftiness that I think help a lot
15:50of these guys take the next step, take that jump.
15:54I know you want to win every football game.
15:57It's probably a fan media thing that the schedule comes out and we start to predict how many wins.
16:04Is that part of your process?
16:05Do you look at it?
16:06No.
16:07They come in different places.
16:10They do.
16:10Okay.
16:11So you don't sit there and go, hey, this team ought to be an X amount of winning football
16:14team.
16:15No.
16:15We're undefeated right now.
16:19Do you have an idea of what is a successful season for you?
16:22No.
16:22I've never looked at it like that.
16:23I think that there's a growth, that there's a clear identity, that we play to kind of who
16:32we are, that we continue to try to, like we said, be good enough to take advantage of
16:36bad football if we're doing some of those things.
16:39You're going to have to win some close games, right?
16:42You're going to have to win some close games in this league and we'll have to do that.
16:46But I've never looked at what a successful season was.
16:50Obviously, we're here to win championships.
16:53That's what that goal is.
16:56You know, win the division.
16:57We've talked about this.
16:58Win the division, host home playoff games, and play for championships.
17:01So that's our job.
17:04I saw recently one of your media rules for the guys is speak for yourself.
17:08What does that mean?
17:10Well, he asked me what Elliott meant and I said, well, I'm not going to speak for Elliott.
17:15I'm going to speak for me.
17:16So you guys are interviewing me.
17:18I'll answer questions about me and what I think.
17:21And if Wiggy's got something to say, he'll say it.
17:24And I'm not going to say what Wiggy thinks.
17:27How the hell do I know what Wiggy thinks?
17:29I'll let you know.
17:29We don't.
17:30I'll let you know.
17:31Nobody knows, really.
17:31Well, nobody knows, right?
17:33But doesn't that make sense?
17:34I don't know.
17:35You guys want to speak for me and how I think and everything else.
17:38So I'll just speak for myself.
17:40We dealt with a guy for a lot of years down here who wouldn't say, we tried to get him
17:44to say one thing during the interview.
17:45It was very difficult.
17:46How were those?
17:47I was going to go back and watch.
17:48It was like pulling teeth.
17:49That's what it was.
17:50The scariest Sunday night into Monday of my life.
17:53How much, when it comes to your, who you are as a coach, how much of that is Bill Belichick?
18:03How much of that do you think you learned from Bill?
18:05I mean, quite a bit.
18:06Just as I learned a lot from Urban Meyer or Bill Cowher or Bill O'Brien and big BC guys
18:12over there.
18:13Yeah.
18:14Bill was on the show last week talking about your son being on the staff over there.
18:17Tyler's helping out and he's excited and I'll tell you, I don't know how much time we have.
18:22We have plenty.
18:23No, I don't know how much time I have.
18:25What do you mean you?
18:26All right.
18:26What's the story?
18:27We're here in old time.
18:28I was hoping to be.
18:28You've got plenty of time.
18:29I was kind of hoping.
18:30So he says, I want to come down to the office.
18:32So he's like, he's like, after the first scrimmage, I said, how'd it go?
18:35He's like, well, you know, the, you know, we threw the ball.
18:38Okay.
18:38We couldn't really run.
18:39I said, what was it?
18:39He's like, oh, they had some movements and stuff.
18:41He's helping out with the O-line.
18:43And he's like the third group, but I didn't have handled movement very well.
18:46And he's like, and the crazy thing is, is we, we fall started four times, which I don't
18:52know how we only use the same effing cadence.
18:54Every time I said, I texted back, welcome to coaching.
18:59O-line's the hardest part for them this season though.
19:02I said, welcome to coaching, Tyler.
19:04Nobody knows what it's like to be on the other side.
19:06You know, what's interesting, Mike, you, you bring up and you say you can only talk about
19:10you and the identity.
19:11Andy, what do you want the identity of this team to be?
19:16I know you talked to them.
19:17What, what is that?
19:18Well, I mean, I want you to see, I want our fans to see a team that plays together.
19:22You know what I mean?
19:23That has a playing team defense that finishes guys that are finishing around the football.
19:28We got O-linemen that are down the field.
19:29We have receivers that are, you know, willing to protect the guy with the ball.
19:34A team that takes care of the football, that values the football.
19:37Somebody that, you know, is able to turn the football over and affect the quarterback.
19:43And then a team that makes great decisions.
19:45I think that those are important when you're out on the field is that, you know, we don't
19:48have guys that are the second guy in or blindside blocking guys intentionally.
19:53And, you know, just like, you know, Marcus hit a big, big return a couple preseasons ago.
19:58And we got three guys that are high screening and using the rules and doing it the right
20:03way.
20:04All right.
20:05Well, thanks for taking the time.
20:06Yeah, it was great to see you.
20:06Well, it's great to see you too.
20:08And we'll, we'll be back here.
20:09You got it every Monday.
20:11So just set the, set the date, 638.
20:15Okay.
20:16And if I'm not here, I'll send Stretch.
20:18All right.
20:19That is Mike Vrabel, head coach of the New England Patriots.
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