"It just takes one play" Patriots HC Mike Vrabel joins!

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"It just takes one play" Patriots HC Mike Vrabel joins! Did the Marcus Jones return "spark the team"? Was there a focus on limiting turnovers?

Transcript

00:00joining us right now momentary oh oh my lord hold on he's walking in with a gift look at this

00:05he's got a gift for courtney obviously because of the impending the uh bundle of joy that is

00:11that is hold on we're gonna get you on the microphone for this coach uh mike rabel

00:17thank you good morning coach morning what do we got over here are we opening this on air

00:22yeah i guess so okay that chews up some of our time

00:30oh look at that all right it's all good questions very nice very very nice i'm very emotional right

00:36now so don't cry it's got to be a onesie well i hope so it's probably for greg or for ice oh

00:42oh look at that all right all right coach i mean really good job this is bribery at its finest yeah

00:52baby rabel jersey down there somewhere oh my gosh that is very very nice fantastic congratulations

00:59thank you thank you that's very kind well as as you were walking in we were talking about uh

01:04all facets of the game uh everything looking good and a much better result than than the week before

01:10uh yeah i mean if you take care of the ball get some uh explosives in the return game and uh

01:17you'll get some stops defensively i think that's what we're capable of doing

01:21mike other and you brought up uh getting some stops and explosive in the return game

01:25other than that one series where carolina had their open and drive that punt return was that

01:30something that like sparked the team or was it just well i mean i think i think that's what

01:35we've talked about it just takes one play and i think that that's continued to be the message that it's

01:41whether it's in miami and we hit one down the sidelines and uh gets us going uh with a big play or

01:48on punt return or maybe defense there's an interception uh but it just takes one play to get this

01:53thing back going and and that's what we have to look forward to in the games when it's not going

01:57great or it's a close game what have you um that you just keep you know plugging away and then it just

02:04takes one play for this thing to break open you didn't i i don't think i saw you running up the

02:08sideline on either one of them yesterday is that you got away from that well i just that's not good

02:13for the achilles when it comes to lack of turnovers that's something that's plagued you guys

02:21for the start of the season none yesterday what changed in practice if anything what do you guys

02:25focus on in practice if anything to well we focus on it all the time i think it's just taking care

02:29of the football using great technique and understanding that everybody else has a role

02:34to play as well they have to protect the guy with the ball so quarterbacks got to make good decisions

02:38and everybody that has it that's not theirs it's they're only protecting it for you know for the

02:44play and then you know it goes to somebody else so we have to uh continue to do that that has

02:50to be a focal point it's just critical in this league so you didn't have remandre walk around

02:55with a football tylaw said that that's what he used to have to do tylaw tylaw was a db so no but

03:01he used to say that that's what all the guys used to do yeah i mean they don't get hit you know i mean

03:04again i i've heard that you know but they're not getting hit and they're they'll be there are people

03:09coming in and and hitting them uh so we just want to try to do it you know practice it and and make sure

03:16that it's uh done with good ball security that we have two in traffic and that everybody else is

03:21doing their job so yeah there's a lot of ways to to do it mike you talk about ball security and it is

03:27interesting because when you get into that mode of maybe you fumble a couple times sometimes you'll

03:34put two hands on it you'll over secure it which takes away from maybe your ability to run after

03:40catch or hit holes how do you make sure that you balance the ball security but still being an

03:46aggressive runner i think that that's obviously what the the balance is and we needed to put the

03:52fire out this week so we were able to create some explosives and uh but you're right you can't just

03:58sit there and run through with with two hands on the football and and crouched over on it and gain

04:03three yards so but but you also have to take care of it and i think it was important for us to put the

04:08fire out and and like you said continue to still be aggressive with football in our hands and be

04:12able to make yards after the catch or the run do you think drake may is ahead of schedule about where

04:16you thought he'd be through four weeks i really didn't have a timetable i'm not really sure we're

04:20just trying to throw the guy that's open as soon as he is in the progression and take care of the

04:24football and when he's not there use his legs and like he's he's done that at times and we'll continue

04:30to work on it do you see a comp between him and josh ellen that was the big sort of i'm not big into

04:34comparisons and i think you guys know that by now but if not we'll keep reminding you not big into

04:39comparisons steph digg said that his comfortability within the offense is a five out of ten right now

04:45is that just how he feels he should study more okay i love this you by the way this is like let's

04:53go five out of ten let's go get you get going i'll have to talk to steph today

04:57you gotta know you gotta know the playbook inside and out yeah i just didn't know i mean

05:02five out of ten i went to our state he said he's failing yeah that's not good

05:09i just didn't know if it was him feeling comfortable coming back from injury or if

05:12it was how he felt with drake or within the offense i didn't know well again i'll

05:16we'll have to clarify what part of it is 50 we'll have to have a winning effort physically mentally

05:22and whatever the third one was yeah we'll have to bump it up a little bit here to see what's going

05:27on i think the third one's emotionally emotionally we need to be we need to be better in all three

05:32phases then because that's not good enough mike what was the difference after the first series

05:38defensively adjustment wise that you made you know i mean trying to disguise a little bit and just you

05:43know get our eyes in the right place they're moving guys and motion in and flashing them after the snap

05:48and you know but that was um you know then we pick each other you know i mean the guy that uh weak

05:54side bunch formation that we've seen for pretty much since we we started practicing football and we

06:00you know we run into each other so uh i thought when we settled down i thought just the the being able

06:07to to hold the disguise they were trying to motion and shift and do different things and we just needed

06:12to settle down and relax and play football and fit where we're supposed to fit push the pocket and not

06:19let the quarterback scramble extend plays which i thought that that was good um he had a lot of just

06:25third down conversion just by scrambling that can it can be deflating well that'll be huge this week

06:31obviously coming up so uh did a lot of those things well what you said you spent a couple hours watching

06:38film this week on the uh carolina kickoffs you like the when it comes to the rule change the

06:42offense the way that that's creating offense opportunities yeah i mean it does it's it's created

06:47a play uh it's also you see some of these kickers and the different style of of kick that they may want

06:54to hit knuckles and lands and skips and again the dirty kick as you called it yeah yeah you know and so

07:01we fielded that one well we got it to the 40 you know they they called dell 40 yards from the ball he

07:08kind of you know got run over and in that instance sometimes they call that holding but but again it's

07:1640 yards from where the football was so it's disappointing but i'm trying to take a and say hey

07:21we fielded it well everything we practiced and we didn't look ridiculous with the ball skipping and

07:27bouncing all over the place and being inside the 10 yard line got it out to the 40 but then

07:32obviously the the penalty on all those returns really just kill those yardage what makes josh allen

07:39such a tough guy to defend oh i mean he's big he's athletic he's strong he's stiff arms um

07:46he's he's good obviously he can he can play quarterback but then he plays running back and

07:50uh just a great athlete great competitor a great play strength you know it'll be a huge challenge

07:57just to to defend him and make sure that that one we are aggressive when we pass rush and when we do

08:04that you know we're not loose and in those scramble plays out to the right and be ready to defend the

08:09stiff arm but you know it's interesting to bring up the pass rush like when you're going against a guy

08:15like that how much is really being you know gap discipline versus excuse me trying to go get him

08:23because he can make so many plays and almost like keep him in the pocket you know you don't there's

08:29a balance yeah there's a balance there to some of these athletes and you know you have to be able to

08:34go rush and try to affect them and then also maybe build in and again we want it to be relentless and

08:39coordinated i think that that's something that we talk about is you have to be coordinated but also

08:45relentless in the pass rush and not really just stand there that's not going to do anything

08:49either hunter henry had a great game yesterday has he become the leader in this locker room

08:55i don't think he's the only leader i think he's certainly you know a leader he's a veteran player

09:01who's had success that's very consistent uh so i think you know that would help him to be a leader

09:06so i think he's one of them and and gotten off to a good start one of the areas that you know i think

09:13we all had concern coming into the season this year was the offensive line and it looks like

09:18you know they're doing a tremendous job i know um i thought i saw uh wilson wasn't in it left god i

09:24don't know if there's an injury thing but talk about the offensive line and what they've been able to do

09:29when it comes not only protecting drake may but obviously what they do in the run game um what they

09:35what they've been able to do through the first four games yeah ben stepped in for jared and ben's been

09:39you know working extremely hard has worked at center and guard throughout camp and

09:44played a little bit last year uh for for the patriots and so uh he stepped right in i thought

09:49he played well i thought he had a great play demeanor great push and um yeah that the the ability to

09:56protect you know and some of these sacks are a little misleading you know it just goes in as a sack

10:02and then you go back and watch him you're like oh drake scrambled and and ran out of bounds for no gain

10:06and that's a sack right so again but there there's there's other ones and so i don't get too caught up

10:10in that but you know as long as we're trying to create a good pocket you know when we are behind

10:16you know when we're not moving the launch point that that's firm in the middle and that we're able

10:20to run the edge guys by and that we're not getting beat inside and we're not loose inside because then

10:25the quarterback and the timing gets broken down and they have to you know step and avoid and now their

10:30eye sometimes goes down doesn't stay on the the receiver or the routes and so when we can do that

10:37um which they have and again they're working extremely hard you know on third down there's

10:42games every week there's loaded fronts there's mug fronts and guys are twisted and you have to work

10:48with the guy next to you to protect them because these guys are trying to come and and and pick and

10:52you have to flatten out the penetrator so those are things that they're working extremely hard on and

10:57i it's good to see some of that translate i i used to be firm in the middle okay

11:05how long we known this guy never been firm in the middle

11:09that does not look very firm in the middle

11:13you had a you teased the big parody question oh yeah yeah i was going to ask you about that

11:19because as fans i look at it and go there's a lot of parody in the nfl and i wonder as a coach do you

11:27kind of utilize that and saying hey listen is it's wide open if we play the week the way we're supposed

11:33to play we can play with anybody i know i feel like it was a little different when new england

11:38was successful back in the days it was very difficult to beat them and they seemed like they

11:43were ahead of everybody else but i don't see a team like that in the nfl and i wonder if that's a

11:49message that you give to the players at times well the message is is that you have to play good to give

11:54yourself a chance to win and if you play bad you're guaranteed to lose uh that that's the message

12:00and we believe that we can play with anybody when we do the things the right way um and play to our

12:08identity and play complementary and all those things so you know that that's the national football league

12:12i don't think that that's any surprise um on how you try to win and going on the road is going to

12:19be even more difficult to handle in that environment and being able to operate um

12:24offensively and in that environment all right coach get to talk to mark walberg at all yesterday

12:30no no no no i did not not see that no i did that we didn't cross paths all right uh top three favorite

12:36walberg films before you go uh the potted count yeah departed there you go do you prefer do you

12:44do you prefer the departed over the town or do you think the town is point flip point flip on them

12:50yeah yeah all right um that's mike rabel head coach for the new england patriots on with us every single monday

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