- 2 days ago
Patriots HC Mike Vrabel joins live at Gillette Stadium! Vrabel discusses- Bills, Will Campbell, Bye Week and Bakemas!
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00:00What did you end up watching?
00:03Watch the Bills.
00:04Yeah, Bills, Bengals.
00:07So you're in the heart of it here as the season gets to the third, third,
00:16or however you want to describe it.
00:18Third quarter?
00:18Third quarter, I guess.
00:20We could say third, third it.
00:23You look ahead to this game, and obviously you want to get guys off the bye week
00:27and focused on this.
00:28How do you do that?
00:30As a head coach.
00:30Well, I think we're going to meet this morning, and we're going to go over the
00:33stuff that we feel like we've done well up until this point, talk about the
00:38things that we can improve, that we have to improve, but not lose sight of the
00:43things that we've done well.
00:44Try to be positive but truthful, I think, is something that we're going to focus
00:48on, and then practice and go against each other and get moving and get back
00:53to the fundamentals and get back to the things that we know are important,
00:57especially this time of year.
00:58What are some of those things from your perspective that you can improve on this
01:02football team?
01:03Well, you try to look at it positionally, and I think that whether it's the
01:08offensive line and being able to get into the line of scrimmage or just focus on
01:13pad level, talking about pass rush games and then continuing to do what we've done
01:19well, stay inside out.
01:21You know, our combinations have improved.
01:24Wide receivers talk about just this time of year, being strong at the top of the
01:29route, being able to play through the contact and the grabby and the contested catches
01:33with the weather and all those things.
01:35You know, so there's a litany of things at each position that we'll try to go over
01:39and review.
01:40You know, I think continue to try to stay complementary and get these guys to keep feeding
01:45off each other is something that's important.
01:49And then just the little things in each phase is, you know, short yardage, red zone.
01:55You know, just those are the things that I think we'll continue to focus on our kickoff
01:59return on special teams.
02:01You're very intentional in what you say everywhere.
02:06So it was of interest to me that you used the word champion twice this past week.
02:14Once with the guys after the game and once talking to the media on Tuesday.
02:21And some would say, oh, I'm reluctant to say that.
02:23What's the intention there?
02:25Well, it's what we're playing for.
02:26We're playing for a championship this week.
02:28Each week you have a new opportunity, a new message, and, you know, this is a championship
02:32week for us, an opportunity to win the AFC East, something that this team hasn't done
02:37in five years, or the Buffalo has done it five years in a row.
02:40So, you know, to do that, there's, you know, you have to go out and play a certain way and
02:45you have to do things and continue to improve.
02:49And so I don't, I mean, we didn't start and say, oh, we're going to win the Super Bowl
02:54in November or then in November.
02:56It's not that, it's just conversations that I have with the team and try to focus on things
03:02that we need to try to do and want to do and understand that this is a great opportunity
03:06for us this week here at home.
03:08And, you know, since the last time we've played, they've changed, we've changed.
03:13Hopefully it's going to be a fantastic game.
03:15You know, that team's not going away.
03:17They have a quarterback who is an MVP quarterback that under any circumstances is going to be
03:23ready to either win the football game with whatever running or throwing that he has to do.
03:29And then whenever they need a play, he seems to make it.
03:32Mike, you guys, obviously, getting the bye is great for guys to get some time off.
03:37But what's the thing that you'll be paying close attention to today, especially at practice
03:42when guys get back?
03:43I mean, whether they're, you know, the energy level or, I mean, again, we haven't done anything
03:48in a week, so I'm not going to pay attention to anything too closely.
03:52I'm going to make sure that we're, you know, that we're moving the same way that I'm used
03:56to us moving in and out of drills and not standing around and that we're going and moving,
04:01that we focus on the details in practice, that we take care of each other, that we stay up,
04:08that we practice fast.
04:10I've said this numerous times that, you know, good teams know how to practice without pads on,
04:17less than full speed or full speed without pads, all these different tempos and things.
04:22So, you know, we'll have to continue to work on that.
04:25But your track record coming off of a bye week as a head coach is excellent, 6-0.
04:29So, do you have a secret sauce that you use for guys coming off a bye to make sure that
04:33they're not coming off sluggish?
04:34Well, if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you.
04:36That is true.
04:36That is true.
04:37I know.
04:38You might have jinxed it.
04:39No, come on.
04:40Greg's the jinx.
04:41Jinx.
04:41But how do you make sure that these guys...
04:43It's like the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny.
04:46Which are both real.
04:47Well, the guy that said the media was the one that got your players hurt after that game
04:50of the season.
04:50Did you think I was serious?
04:51Did you really think I was serious?
04:53You guys don't know me that much.
04:55My God.
04:56But how do you make sure that they are motivated coming off?
05:01Motivated.
05:01I've been through this.
05:02Do we think that professional athletes need to be motivated?
05:06The new athletes, some people wonder.
05:08I think they need to be inspired.
05:10Okay.
05:10And you try to inspire them by giving them confidence and the trust in doing their job
05:15when they go out there that they know what to do.
05:17They trust the guy next to them, that they're prepared, and that they feel like this is going
05:23to give them a chance to win.
05:24The motivation, I used to say that, and then I ran into some guy, somebody talked somewhere,
05:30and he talked about they're motivated.
05:33Whether they're motivated by winning, money, dating somebody, the cheerleader in high school
05:39to be a starting quarterback, there's some motivating factor.
05:42We have to be able to inspire them to do their job better.
05:47Mike, what did that Sunday night game in Buffalo do, if anything, to your expectations of this
05:51team?
05:51Because I feel like for everybody outside of this building, that was a moment that said,
05:56wow, this team is different than the ones we've seen recently.
05:59Well, I think, I don't know if it did anything for our expectations.
06:02I think it gave us some confidence to be able to go and play on that stage and play on the
06:09road and beat an undefeated team at the time, which we all know is a good football team,
06:15which is fundamentally a sound football team, one that you really, every time you beat them,
06:21you're going to earn it, and they're not going to usually hand it to you.
06:25You know, so that's, you know, that's a long time ago, but I don't know if it changed the
06:30expectation, you know, in my mind.
06:33I think it just gave us some, you know, some confidence moving forward.
06:39Devin McCourty was talking this week about being here for the Monday night game and what
06:43an advantage he feels like the crowd is here.
06:47And he was saying it's a little bit different now than Dynasty time because the fans then
06:55would kind of expect it, but they are, they're into it.
06:59They are an advantage for the team.
07:01You feel the same way?
07:02Absolutely.
07:02And I've said this, I think that we have to give, continue to give them things to, to
07:07cheer about and be excited about and be into.
07:10And, you know, I think a lot of that is effort plays.
07:13I think a lot of that is their physicality, it's the X plays, it's negative plays on defense
07:19or, you know, obviously turnovers or returns, all these things that, you know, it leads to
07:26leads to excitement, to their excitement and their enjoyment.
07:31Mike, I don't know how many guys on the team have been around success and winning, but you've
07:37been there before as a guy who was able to win your first year and then win a few more
07:42championships as a player.
07:44What type of advice would you give to some of these guys that might not have experienced
07:48the success that you're having now for them to kind of keep their eye on the prize and
07:53maybe not get caught up with all the hoopla of what we're saying about the expectation
07:58of this team?
08:00Just focus on what we've been doing.
08:02You know, I mean, that's what we say when you take a nap, no naps, you know, you take
08:06a nap and you lose or the quarterback fumbles the ball or they score on defense.
08:11And, you know, you just can't take any breaks in this league.
08:14It's too competitive.
08:17I think we've done a good job of understanding that whatever we did last week isn't going
08:21to be, you know, good for this week.
08:24And we have to start back over and, you know, continue to build throughout the week and have
08:28a plan.
08:28And however the game unfolds, you know, being ready to play it in that manner, right?
08:35Whether it's we need a situation at the end of the half, we need a situation at the end
08:39of the game or we get out early and, you know, whatever, however the game plays out, it's
08:45going to, we have to be ready for it.
08:48After last week when we talked to you about Will Campbell, there were a lot of people that
08:51took what you said, your response about not rushing him back and thought that maybe his
08:55injury was worse than what we first expected.
08:58Is there any way that you can steer people in the right direction on where that injury
09:02stands?
09:02Is he recovering in the right way?
09:04And I don't know what I said and I don't know how they took it.
09:07I apologize, Courtney.
09:08But, but it's not, it's not way worse than we thought it was going to, not season ending.
09:13I would hope not.
09:15He's recovering well?
09:17So far, so good.
09:18I haven't seen him yet today.
09:20I mean, guys, I'm, I'm pretty entertaining here for you, but I don't talk much about injuries.
09:26That's fair.
09:27Certainly not going to start here with you guys.
09:29No, we wouldn't want that.
09:32When you, we would love that.
09:34Really?
09:35Reverse psychology.
09:36I like it.
09:39I don't want to help yourself to all of my stuff here if you want.
09:43When you, you talked about Josh Allen and watching a little bit of that game last night.
09:47And when you look at the Buffalo Bills and the football team and a guy like that, what,
09:52what's, what's the key as a defense that you got to make, I guess it's, excuse me, pick
09:58your poison.
09:58You don't want a guy to use his legs, but then again, you don't want him to have the ability
10:03to just have all day in the pocket and pick you apart.
10:06Like what's the, he has some advice.
10:07He's already shared it on the show.
10:09I would love to hear it.
10:10Coach Wiggins.
10:11Did you know, did you, you missed when Wiggy was coaching Rock in high school for a season?
10:15Boxes.
10:16Yeah, well, you know, the union made me out of that.
10:18He got let go after one year.
10:20I wasn't a union guy.
10:21That was it.
10:22Usually agreed to part ways.
10:23I had a freshman quarterback.
10:25We were young.
10:25Yeah.
10:25My second year is when we were going to turn things around, but I wasn't a union guy.
10:30They were like, no, you got to beat it.
10:31His acceptance speech went three hours.
10:33Well, the reason why I say that is I'm watching that game last night, Cincinnati, or yesterday,
10:38and it's third and 15.
10:39And I just go from a defensive standpoint, and I'm, listen, I'm no defensive coordinator,
10:44but I'd rather put pressure on a guy who's that good of a runner and say, you know, we're
10:48going to get the ball out of your hands and let you beat us throwing it versus you running
10:53for 18 yards.
10:54I thought they pressured him a little bit.
10:56There was a little bit of pressure, Wiggy.
10:57And then he took off.
10:58All right.
10:59Yeah.
10:5988 and out the gate.
11:00Yeah.
11:01I just, there's a, you got to stop the run.
11:03You know what I mean?
11:03This is a big physical offensive line that does a great job running the ball.
11:08Cook has got great vision, got great burst.
11:12They have a very good scheme.
11:14And then, you know, they mix up personnel, a bunch of different personnel.
11:17And then obviously the balance of Josh Allen and, you know, 40-yard touchdowns by quarterbacks
11:24are tough to defend.
11:26And that'll certainly be a huge challenge for us.
11:30Every critical play, the ball is in his hand.
11:33I know you said you watch a little bit of football.
11:36Do you get to see that Isaiah likely TD get overturned?
11:39Is that weird to you?
11:42Like, do you see that play at all?
11:44I did.
11:45And I think just on first glance, it looked like the ball was out before the third step.
11:50So, okay.
11:52We were, Wiggy was.
11:53Yeah, I didn't know the third step also, they meant that as well in the field of play versus
11:58in the end zone.
11:59Because I always thought once you showed possession, you got two feet down, I'm like, all right.
12:04And that's when guys get, they relax and they take a deep breath and they take a nap.
12:09And on that third step is, and you've seen that before.
12:12There was a play that Trey McBride had maybe two years ago with the Steelers as well, that
12:19he caught it and it was like one, two, and somebody knocked it out of his hand.
12:22Or, you know, you see guys finishing.
12:24And just like we've shown our DBs that just go and finish in the end zone.
12:28And you never know, you know, if they've completed the process of the catch or not.
12:32And they take a deep breath and then all of a sudden it's two steps and then the ball
12:36comes out.
12:37I'm getting a signal we got to let you go.
12:39Okay, go ahead, one more, one more.
12:41Well, if that was a non-football, I had to know if, and Michael May, if you've tried any
12:46of her bake mists.
12:47I had the, there was an apple crisp bar.
12:51Good.
12:51Yeah, delicious.
12:52Okay, because they look good on social media.
12:54I wanted to know if they were good in real life.
12:56Yeah, she brings them in for the alignment.
12:57Careful with that because the sport coat won't fit anymore.
13:00But how was the 5K?
13:01I heard that there's...
13:02Oh, it was, we walked.
13:03Courtney and I walked.
13:04Good.
13:04She's pregnant.
13:05Congrats.
13:05I'm also.
13:06Yeah, nailed it.
13:07But it was great.
13:08We had 2,000.
13:082,000 people on the seaport.
13:10It was awesome.
13:11It was great.
13:12Did you guys run all over the place?
13:14Yeah, we went, ran all the way down past, like, Saver, OP, all the way down, down around,
13:19back out by the docks and everything.
13:22It was awesome.
13:23Raise some good money.
13:24Great money.
13:24Yeah.
13:25So, all right.
13:25Good luck.
13:26This is a good one.
13:27Thanks.
13:27All right, Braves.
13:28Go get it.
13:29That is Mike Rabel, head coach of the New England Patriots.
13:32And the...
13:33And the...
13:33I do.
13:33That is true.
13:34I do.
13:34I do.
13:35Yes.
13:36Great.
13:36I do.
13:37Yes.
13:37I do.
13:38I do.
13:43You're.
13:44I do.
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