Jones & Keefe: How Mike Vrabel has found success in year one

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Transcript

00:00How do you think Vrabel has got it done?

00:02You know, the idea of getting the Patriots to come in, compete,

00:07be where they are at this point in the year.

00:10You just said it, week 15, competing for a division championship,

00:12which we didn't see.

00:13How has Vrabel done that in year one?

00:15Well, we were talking to Christian Ellis yesterday about it,

00:17and he gave us sort of the answer of like, you know,

00:19you can talk to Vrabel about anything, and he's like,

00:22you can go have a one-on-one in his office,

00:24but you're also very comfortable taking his instruction on the field,

00:27in the locker room, whatever.

00:29He seems to be, I think in today's game, like the ultimate head coach,

00:33or he oversees the entire team.

00:35He's not like a specialized, oh, I work really well with quarterbacks,

00:39which again, I'm not even saying it's the worst thing in the world.

00:41I think there's definitely value in that too,

00:43or I'm the guy that X's and O's defenses, and like that's my thing.

00:47Like I'll figure out a way to shut down the other quarterback.

00:49He is sort of in charge of the entire 53-man roster,

00:53and I don't know if this is more of a modern athlete thing

00:57because Bill Belichick was great, but he wasn't a former player,

01:00and it worked for Bill Belichick, right?

01:02But we see it certainly in basketball,

01:04and I think we're also seeing it in the NFL.

01:06I wonder if some players just take the message from a former player,

01:11or it's easier to take the message from a former player,

01:13or a guy that's literally won Super Bowls.

01:15I think that helps for them.

01:16He's like, oh, if he's asking me to do this,

01:18he's probably been asked to do it, and he's asking me for a reason.

01:22So I think they completely trust the guy they've bought in immediately,

01:25and some of it might be sticking by guys after mistakes.

01:29You and I wouldn't have done that, talking about Ramondre and Pop Douglas,

01:32and I'm sure there are many other examples that are sort of smaller mistakes

01:35that he saw, and then just coached it up, trusted in the players,

01:39and then they've sort of returned the favor.

01:41But, yeah, I think it's just been a lot of it is him sort of changing the culture,

01:47which is such an easy kind of cliche thing to say,

01:49but that's what's happened.

01:51Like, we've watched it firsthand.

01:52We saw it in camp, and it's continued throughout the season.