- 10 months ago
New England Patriots HC Mike Vrabel joins live at Gillette Stadium!
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00:00congrats thank you tournament is uh set to get underway here yes as you said yesterday
00:06we had some heat on it uh yes yes yes it did um well nice to have milton williams and uh will
00:16campbell back take everybody that we can get back yeah okay uh mike talk about i know you said you're
00:26now it's when you start you guys are in the dance but do you explain to some of these guys the
00:30difference and just the level of play from the regular season into the postseason on how it seems
00:37like it goes to a whole nother level whether it's a paying attention to details just the little
00:41things uh there'll be a lot of things that we'll talk to them about this week but you know we didn't
00:45have that conversation last night um didn't figure most of the things i say last night they're gonna
00:51really remember so there'll be a lot of things that we'll have to focus on and we'll have to
00:57you know do the things that we've done up until this point and just do them a little bit better
01:01and i don't think you can you know jerk the wheel and and you know we just have to
01:08keep doing the things we've been doing do them a little better get special teams to to get us a play
01:13you know try to you know help fill position you know but like you mentioned it's all the little
01:18things that could end up turning the tide here with it with a turnover or a situation play at the
01:24end of the half anything like that do you feel like for you then do you feel like all right this being
01:31my second go-around as a head coach into the postseason are there things that maybe i'm going
01:36to do a little bit different in years past no i'm not other than trying to win i mean no i mean what
01:46what uh there's no secret formula we'll have to prepare we'll have to get to know these guys
01:51it's a team that we don't know it's one that we're not familiar with
01:55um you know they probably would they played some of these guys last year
02:00um you know we'll just again we'll just have to get started with our preparation we're on a
02:05normal schedule we didn't have to move anything up to to tuesday we were talking about this earlier
02:11they were talking post-game about you in in tennessee and that you were known as a bit of a
02:17hard ass and um that maybe you uh adjusted kind of your approach to coaching this year did did you
02:26was that intentional did you do that do you feel like you're you'd have to ask the people in tennessee
02:30i don't know yeah i um i try to be authentic i try to be uh as honest as i can with the players i
02:38try to make a connection with them try to put good people around them uh but you know i don't i had
02:46good connections and i tried to hold people accountable and still coach them and teach them
02:52and care about them the same way and probably had better moments than others um you know there i think
02:58we all kind of have have better moments than others and uh just i i think the thing i keep going back
03:05to is just not taking these opportunities for granted you know when you don't have something and
03:10you aren't uh you know you don't have the ability to play you get as a player you get released or
03:16whatever as a coach you get let go i think you value the next opportunity first three touchdown game
03:23from ramondre stevenson in his career when you go back to the beginning of the season people wanted
03:28to ship him out of town every time we asked you about him you are so supportive and you continued
03:33to play him even though a lot of people said don't it to see the narrative change a 180 for him is that
03:39the work that he's put in the support that you've given him or the coaching staff that you have around
03:43him i think that that's again we always come back to these questions and it always falls on the
03:49player ultimately that they're responsible for their success which i nobody's happier for ramondre or
03:56anybody in our player our team that has makes plays or improves i know the coaching staff works extremely
04:02hard on these things and the details and and it was great to see him go out and have success and be
04:09excited and his mom was there and you know those are those are fun things that's why you coach but
04:16and when a player has success there's going to be some teaching and some coaching that that helped
04:22but the large majority of that is going to fall on the player but i think the one thing that it it
04:28is falling on the player but it's also the coach giving him another opportunity and not banishing him
04:35to the gulag or the doghouse and i've been around coaches like that you have i've been banished many
04:40times right i mean i mean believe me i'm talking but how do you walk that fine line of being like
04:48okay guys made a couple of mistakes you know similar mistakes where he's from the ball put it on but
04:54we're still gonna give him a little bit of a leash versus see you later you know i guess you guys would
05:02just have to go through those experiences and you know try to figure out what's best for the team that's
05:08that's what i try to do well on that you know you have been a very strong you know players coach so
05:13to speak and being very protective and you know i think publicly taking blame and and and defending
05:19your players most cases when you were asked about the off the field stuff with steph diggs and bar
05:24more obviously not getting into the specifics of the allegations you said you weren't disappointed
05:30which was just it hit me i was shocked when you said that i i mean can you give me a little
05:34bit background about why i mean that would seem to be disappointing to any coach that your players
05:39are in those situations no we're just trying to get ready for this week and focus and do our best
05:45you can see that the team is able to handle you know distractions it's hard to eliminate them you
05:50know it's about how you handle the distractions whatever those may be but if the distractions are
05:55brought on by those players wouldn't that be disappointing well if these things are happening every
06:00day we have a family we have a team and you know we're going to try to uh you know do our best
06:05here to to support each and every one of them what they need and also get ready for the chargers
06:11digs was all obviously very emotional after the game yesterday hitting that thousand yard mark it for
06:17that to come off of a week that he's had but also an acl injury like how impressive is that for him to be
06:25able to handle everything going around quiet the noise and be able to hit that milestone again these
06:30guys are focused and i appreciate that they you know with older players they get a routine and i
06:37appreciate you know steph has a routine i think it was cool to see matt collins talk about the routine
06:42and and chiz that he helped him create and then you know hopefully we can have these little pockets of
06:48guys and again we have a leadership um committee and um i think there's probably 12 of 12 guys on
06:58that and there's you know position groups are represented and i just asked each of them i said
07:03between you guys and me if we can all reach for other people or players we'll have the whole team
07:09canvassed right so hopefully we can you know find four or five guys that either hopefully out of our
07:14position group and try to spread that out to spread the message into the leadership and you know but
07:20i think that's what digs has done is is tried to be a great leader and and also create a routine and and
07:27stay uh motivated uh each and every week some some weeks there's 10 targets and there's nine catches
07:35and other weeks there's you know three targets and three catches and so that's that's been really good
07:40to see we've talked about that receiver room they're all trying to take advantage of the opportunities
07:45um and spread the ball around big incentive day yesterday courtney brought it up but digs hunter
07:51henry is that my mind goes through is that one payment direct deposit like the 500 grand like how does
07:57that work i don't know is that right in the immediately i'm not cutting the check
08:02i was cutting the checks i wouldn't be on this show
08:04i'm just curious because obviously you've won three super bowls as a player for this team you're
08:23entering the playoffs on it with the team that doesn't have a lot of playoff experience how much
08:28do you bring up or lean on your experience as a linebacker in these games as opposed to entering
08:33it just as the coach i think i'll just try to draw on all the different experiences and try to put
08:40together a message i don't want to be like well when i played or when wiggie played i just i do try
08:45to stay away from that i know they they give me a hard time about that but i think just trying to
08:51formulate you know some of the attention to detail and how you're just not really sure what play you
08:57know maybe that block field goal yesterday could have been the play that's going to make the difference
09:02um or the the end of the game or the kick at the end of the half you know those are the things that
09:07we have to talk about and not you know maybe my own personal experience as a player but trying to
09:14mold it and shape it in one that they'll they'll it'll resonate and how it hits their mind and helps them
09:20understand um the importance of each and every play the as a player maybe was there anything that
09:27belichick did that you entered a game feeling like we have an edge here you know we we've been
09:32prepared this way i know that martz or cower or someone else is not going to have his team as
09:38ready as we are going into this game on sunday uh i'm sure that that was the case i just don't
09:44really recall specifics but i'm sure i mean we always felt like we were prepared um whatever that was
09:51situationally or um you know maybe from a personnel group or scheme you know we always felt prepared
10:00but i it's hard to just remember and draw on the you know specific examples looking ahead to sunday
10:07night what are the challenges that that this team presents well this is a this is a big this is a
10:13physical football team with you know they're they're a big football team big lineman they got a big
10:19defensive lineman that plays fullback and um the the defense is is good they play a good very good
10:26style of football uh defensively they they make it hard on you a bunch of different mixed quarters
10:33coverages the quarterback is as good as anybody uh can can scramble is tough can make the throws so
10:42it's good big receivers so it'll be a big challenge to to get going on these guys and and like i said
10:50learn who they are and try to put a plan together you you talk about your leadership group and this
10:56team's identity the the one thing that you know at least from afar that i look at and how grateful are
11:01you as a coach that you do have a team where it's about the team goal and not the person or the
11:10individual goal of the player uh that might be more important at times how grateful are you that
11:18you're able to get this team to buy into that well it's just that's a fine line right because without
11:24production you know we're not going to be any good so it's it's just getting them to talked about
11:31chasing wins and not plays and if we make the right plays in order for us to win you'll have made
11:36every play that you needed to make as opposed to chasing plays hey should i run this route um how
11:43i think i should run it or how the offensive play needs me to run it or hey should i do this on defense
11:50because i think it may help me or hey i've got to do this on defense because it is going to be
11:57helpful in the play so that was the the mindset a few few weeks ago and i feel like we've tried to
12:05carry it over and i think you've seen that that in turn the the right plays are the ones that are
12:11going to help us win speaking of running turn the motor on yesterday to get down the sideline call
12:16that time out something you still got it waiting for that planter fast to tear
12:22i cannot get it to tear no you can't get it to happen no you don't want that wait you want it to
12:29tear yes because they say that's the only way it feels better oh that sounds terrible it does but
12:35it can't feel as bad as it does why don't you go for the orthopedics like uh i don't don't look at
12:41me like i'm wearing orthopedics i mean greg has to slip on sketchers yeah stuff to sprint in air force
12:47once well i mean i'm not sprinting anywhere clearly so i'm impressed by it every time i
12:51see you do it um and then obviously uh a little bit bothered i guess by the opi call when it came
12:58to hunter henry uh i we had talked about that in practice i think we just have to do a really good job
13:05of you know i think when you get two hands on whether that guy's pressed or not these are the
13:12things that they're looking for and so they're looking for the mechanics and i i just think that
13:17he has to have his outside arm free or inside arm whichever way so i think you run the risk of when
13:23you have both hands on the guy even though he is creating contact with you i think that's they're
13:30going to probably look at those it was great to have will campbell back yesterday i know after the
13:34game you said you thought he played well uh he after the game said he never wants to play for
13:38another coach besides you i i know that you put everything on the players but the impact that
13:43you've made in the locker room do you feel that gravity that these players are are really not just
13:49playing for themselves but playing for you well i hope so i mean i enjoy coaching them i do and um
13:55i try to again just come in every day be consistent um you know they probably get tired of me after a
14:03while but that's okay um i i enjoy the group i enjoy coaching them i i i enjoy watching them improve
14:12i enjoy watching them come together you know they have their little inside jokes and if they're making
14:19fun of me then i'm glad that they're at least paying attention and they're listening in the meetings and
14:24you know so there's a good banter that we have and a good workflow that we have is drake may the most
14:30valuable player in the nfl yes he is yes he is yes he is mike you you you we dropped a blueberry
14:38these are amazing aren't they great really fantastic you you talk about you win you win
14:43sunday night i'll get you another
14:49um you talk about you know playing in the postseason and and you know teams and that you're
14:55playing against and when you play against a coach like harbaugh who's been there
14:59harba who's been there before what what kind of um problems does he present for you know when
15:07you're going into a game against somebody like they have a specific style and their their style
15:13is uh built for the postseason and they don't mean they they play good defense they're physical
15:20they don't beat themselves and those are things that you have to understand michigan guy must not
15:24be a big fan you know do you do you ever have your paths crossed with uh jim harbaugh uh i mean not
15:30as a not as a player right no he's older he is a little older yeah no not as a player but great family
15:36good football family um excellent coaches and you know they're good for the game and he obviously loves
15:43football and i'm excited to uh to prepare prepare our team um first uh home playoff game here in six
15:51years and you've talked a lot about the uh the fans this season so you're uh i'm sure expecting that
15:56they uh are here fully expecting fired up start early on sunday start early and early yeah and have
16:03fun okay all right they've been great they've traveled i can't i forgot how well they travel and i think
16:09that's the thing that's been probably um the most exciting about our fans i know they're going to come
16:16here and they're going to yell but it's just cool to be on on the streets or when we pull into the
16:21the hotel and there's fans around the hotel there's fans as we pull up to the stadium so that's been
16:28that was different for me when you guys are playing during the regular season you guys were exceptional
16:33on the road so do you give credit to that to the fact that fans traveled so well i included that as
16:38part of the uh the overall package for the the road warriors because when wiggy talks postseason he says
16:45it's a different animal as a player but the home field advantage really strikes wiggy does that
16:50happen for you as well are you are you happy that you're starting at home uh yeah i mean i think that
16:55we're happy that we're we're starting at home of course we are yes absolutely you know you know the
17:01one thing that i really i sit here and i listen to you talk about and i wonder when you give this
17:07message to the players how important it is that they get it is like you know being present within that moment
17:14and enjoying the journey and not overlooking something because we all get to a point when
17:20we're done where we're like damn i should have been in the moment you want to take anything for
17:25granted yeah you want to address the fellas is that what you're asking no no no no no i don't think
17:30he was no no i'm just i'm not excited trying to take things for granted is there an opportunity
17:35is there time we'll have alumni days in the summer
17:37i don't need the summer time but i mean the way the way that i think as a player as a former player
17:54like those are the things that you now reflect on like i should have been more present in the moment
17:59i couldn't agree more all right i try to tell them all the time that you can't take things for
18:04granted there's been there's been instances uh in each of our lives throughout this season that
18:12we may have took took something for granted and try not to do that on the football field because
18:17you only get so many opportunities so i appreciate them having done that most of the time and we'll try
18:23to keep getting that message home well it's a really impressive turnaround well thank you so
18:27much um i hope you get a minute or two to stop and think about that before you get right back to work
18:32no probably not but that's okay we're uh we're happy videos videos are always cool now as i wish
18:38i wish we had more videos we do have an amazing content team and they are they don't miss a trick
18:44yeah uh we get a lot of things filmed and it is they it's impressive the work that they do so
18:50again just a lot of great efforts from everybody to make this product work no naps yeah no naps yeah
18:55well we want to trademark that yes there you go all right thanks congrats and we'll uh we'll look uh
19:03sunday night get some t-shirts no nap i'm napping a lot but i'm glad you aren't all right