How's Vrabel Getting the Pats Ready?

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Seth and Sean discuss how Taylor Lewan and Will Compton say Mike Vrabel is getting the Patriots ready for the Texans on Sunday.

Transcript

00:00Taylor LeJuan and Will Compton, Bussin' with the Boys podcast.

00:03They do a good job.

00:04They're on ESPN quite a bit as well.

00:06Former offensive linemen and wide receivers for the Tennessee Titans.

00:09They played for Mike Vrabel in Tennessee,

00:11and it's very evident they enjoyed playing for Mike Vrabel.

00:15They were on Kay Adams' podcast yesterday,

00:18and Taylor LeJuan starts out with, and to keep in mind,

00:21the Texans are going against Vrabel this weekend.

00:23He's the head coach in New England now,

00:24so we're looking at this through a lens of how is Mike Vrabel

00:27going to attack this assignment here going up against the Houston Texans.

00:32LeJuan starts in with, what is Vrabel, Kay Adams asking,

00:35what is Vrabel saying about the Texans right now?

00:38He's sitting there, and he's talking trash about the operation

00:42and how things are taking place from fumbles and interceptions,

00:45operation when it comes to the offensive side of the ball.

00:48They're going to give it to you.

00:49Yeah, they're going to, hey, boys, it's right there for the taking.

00:51Like, if he wants to give it to us, just give it to us.

00:54But then the defense is going to come on,

00:56and it's going to get quiet.

00:58That room is going to be like, oh, yes.

01:00Like, they can kind of operate.

01:02I think every team in the NFL was hoping that the Steelers

01:06would win that game so they did not have to see that defensive line.

01:08That's how I don't think we've ever –

01:11we probably in history, I mean, in black and white TV,

01:14but, like, those guys, every quarterback is terrified of the idea

01:19of playing that Houston Texans defensive line.

01:20Right.

01:21So dismissive – that was Taylor LeJuan.

01:23Dismissive of the offense, but will show proper respect for the defense.

01:27Yeah, extreme respect, it sounds like.

01:29And it jives with some things I've heard about Belichick,

01:33you know, because Brable's his own man,

01:36but he obviously is going to take something.

01:37Just like Nick Casario took some things from Belichick that –

01:40that, you know, and then he – and then Casario's operated as his own man,

01:45but there's clearly going to be some lessons you learn from being with a guy

01:47for 20 years that you're going to use some of them.

01:51The stories that I always heard about Belichick –

01:54and, you know, I remember Ted used to talk about that with you –

01:57was just that there is that element of kind of cockiness of, like,

02:01look at these guys, look at the way they operate.

02:03Like, what are you going to lose to that?

02:04You're going to let these guys beat you?

02:05And they're very – yet at the same time also does a really good job

02:11of building an opponent up or whatever,

02:13just kind of getting a feel for what motivational ploy do I need

02:17for this week and this game plan.

02:19And I could totally see Brable.

02:20You know, his personality and everything and just how blunt he is.

02:25I could imagine him watching that offensive film from last week

02:29and saying, look, look, it's right there for you.

02:32Look, you're going to make –

02:32Almost.

02:33You're going to let these guys operate?

02:35Better than this?

02:36Yeah.

02:36You know, it's right there.

02:37All you've got to do is this and that and that and boom, boom.

02:40Yeah, it's a mess.

02:40He's trying to give it to you.

02:41He's trying to give you the game.

02:43So that was interesting.

02:44So that's – you know, what is Brable saying about the Texans?

02:47Now, this is Will Compton and Taylor LeJuan both talking about –

02:52keep in mind, Brable was in the building here back from –

02:55about the time Bill O'Brien got here through 2017.

02:58So about the first three or four years of the O'Brien era,

03:01Mike Brable was in this building,

03:02and he was in the building with J.J. Watt.

03:05So they talked about how Brable, once he got to Tennessee,

03:08would break down guys like J.J. Watt and Miles Garrett.

03:12You know Braves ain't shying away from that fight.

03:14Like, of course, remember when he used to break down J.J. Watt and the Texans?

03:17Yeah.

03:17In his heyday?

03:18Yeah.

03:18How he'd break down Miles Garrett.

03:20What did he do?

03:21He's going to find flaws in Anderson and Hunter,

03:24and he's going to be like, guys, you make him do this.

03:26Like, he's not the same player.

03:28Like, take the fight to – oh, he's a power rusher?

03:31Hey, Taylor, just get on him quick.

03:33Like, if you just get on him quick, he's going to stop his feet,

03:36and it's basically over from there.

03:37Like, it is – the thing that Brable does well is you see the game management

03:41that he had with his last playoff game.

03:43You've seen it when he was with the Titans.

03:45Like, he handles situational football better than any coach in the entire NFL.

03:49But he also, like, puts a belief in players.

03:52When you're going against monsters like you're about to go against this weekend,

03:56and it's like, if you just do X, Y, and Z – he makes it so a matter of fact.

03:59If you just do this, it's over.

04:02Like, you're going to handle it.

04:03Like, guys, listen, I played 14 years.

04:06I think I know what I'm talking about.

04:08You do this thing.

04:08And it's like – it's something we joke about with Brable a lot,

04:11but also, like, as a player, you sit there and you're like,

04:14this guy's always bringing up 14 years.

04:16And the other side of your mouth, like, well, he did play 14 years,

04:18and he does understand this game quite a bit.

04:20And you see it.

04:21And so, with the Patriots, they're going to – Hunter and Anderson are not going

04:26to have a moment where they don't have multiple sets of hands on them

04:29during that game.

04:30Okay.

04:32That's a – the part that at the end was interesting,

04:34because I think Taylor LeJuan's going right back to what it was like with J.J. Watt.

04:36Yep.

04:37And that's what the Patriots – or that's what – that's what the Patriots

04:40did a really good job of.

04:41Now, like, Taylor LeJuan obviously wasn't there with it,

04:44but he was there with Brable in Tennessee.

04:48But I just – when I'm thinking about kind of this Patriots mindset

04:51and because it's a Patriots team, what would Belichick do to J.J. Watt?

04:54There would be six hands on J.J.

04:56Yep.

04:56In the first half.

04:57They would – they would assault J.J. Watt in the first half.

05:02And they would get it – and because J.J., they would turn one of J.J.'s

05:06biggest strengths into a weakness because J.J.'s got such an incredible motor

05:09and he's going to go hard whether he's double teamed or triple teamed or not.

05:13And what that does is it saps the energy and it takes the juice out of your legs.

05:17And they would kind of make J.J. less effective just by, A, limiting his production,

05:23but also just putting so many bodies on him and J.J.'s fighting against it,

05:26fighting against it, and that mounts up into the second half.

05:29With Will and Daniil, it gets trickier because, all right,

05:32if you're going to commit two guys to Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter every single time,

05:38it's really hard to have that explosive passing attack you're talking about

05:41because you don't have – you've got two guys out on routes.

05:44So it's not going to be every single snap, but they're going to throw bodies at them.

05:49They might play with six offensive line, three tight ends, all that stuff.

05:53I think, really, the biggest thing that Vrabel and Josh McDaniels are going to see

05:59with Daniil Hunter and Will Anderson is that if they throw kick-out blocks at them

06:07and have – so when you've got a tight end coming across the floor,

06:14that'll slow those guys down a little bit and put a little bit of indecision in their minds.

06:19But there's also times where Will and Daniil have misread those blocks.

06:23So in the run game or as a play action, a lot of that stuff –

06:28and, you know, sometimes it'll make – the good teams and the well-coached teams,

06:31the tight end will be coming across the formation

06:33and looking like he's trying to kick you out.

06:35And then at the last second, nope, oh, it's actually that he's – it's an outside run.

06:39Yeah.

06:39Like, that stuff has been effective at times versus those guys,

06:43and you're going to see a healthy dose of that from the Patriots.

06:46Two things – well, three things.

06:47One is just the thought.

06:49To me, where the analogy breaks down a little bit is just the Texans have so many guys.

06:54Like, they've –

06:55Yeah.

06:55It's just a better defense we're talking about than any that J.J. Watt

06:58or Miles Garrett back when they were going against him back in the day can throw at you.

07:03So, how big a concern is Josh McDaniels for you in this game?

07:08I mean, he is an offensive coordinator.

07:10He's always a huge concern.

07:12Yeah.

07:12I think that's, again, what Josh McDaniels learned and did when he was with Bill Belichick

07:16is finding the weakness.

07:18And it's as simple as that.

07:20And it seems like it should be easier to do because it's so simple.

07:24But it's exploiting the weaknesses of your team.

07:28One of the things – the Texans have had blown coverages.

07:31And, you know, throughout the season, really.

07:33They've allowed big plays, but sometimes it's because of a broken – because of a busted coverage.

07:39McDaniels all week long is going through and figuring out exactly when, why,

07:44and where they've had those blown coverages and trying to replicate that

07:47but with a little bit of a different wrinkle.

07:49Set them up for it early in the game.

07:51Yep.

07:52By giving them, hey, we're going to play our tendencies for the first three quarters.

07:56Yep.

07:57And we're going to do exactly what these guys know is coming.

07:59Maybe they have some success on it.

08:00Yep.

08:00You know, maybe, hey, Derek Singley feels like, yeah, he knows exactly what route is coming here.

08:04And then in the fourth quarter, that's when they break their tendency.

08:08My other question to you is it's really hard to throw resources at two guys like this,

08:12Hunter and Anderson.

08:13You just run out of guys.

08:15Who is the J.J. Watt in this analogy on the Texans' side of things?

08:18If you had to pick one to throw the greater resources at to try to slow him down,

08:23is it Will Anderson Jr. or Daniil Hunter?

08:24That's a tricky one because then I guess it comes down to, is it first down or third down?

08:30Okay.

08:30You know, I think it's Will Anderson in either scenario just because Will has been so effective

08:37at beating combo blocks and chips and everything else like that.

08:42But, I mean, it's perilous with either of those guys.

08:46Yeah.

08:47It's a really good question.

08:48I think with Will, it might be misdirection that they use with him more than anything.

08:54With Daniil Hunter, it might just be extra bodies.

08:56Yeah.

08:57That's how I feel.

08:58I feel like Daniil's got a bigger arsenal of moves.

09:01Yeah.

09:01That you might need to throw a second guy at.

09:03That he's maybe better with the spin moves and the Euro steps at beating a guy one-on-one.

09:07Yeah.

09:07He kind of knows what's coming with Will.

09:09It's going to be sheer power and him just shoving you back into the quarterback.

09:12Well, and I think that's where, with Drake May, he's a very good runner.

09:17It looked like in that Chargers game, he realized, you know, okay.

09:23These young quarterbacks, it's funny because everything's shifted so far in the NFL

09:27from where it used to be trying to encourage quarterbacks not to run as often a lot of

09:33the time.

09:34But now there's so many quarterbacks that when they're athletic, they're trying to prove

09:38it to themselves and to others that I'm a true pocket passer.

09:41Right.

09:41That the coaches are actually encouraging them to be more.

09:44We saw it with CJ.

09:45You know, like, no, go ahead and run.

09:47It's easy money.

09:47Go ahead and take it.

09:48And I think with Drake May, there's a little bit of that.

09:51And last week it looked like in the playoffs, he realized, all right, yep, no, you know

09:54what?

09:55I don't have to beat Johnny Unitas here.

09:57I'm just going to get it.

09:58Yeah.

09:59Texans might make him pay for that though.

10:01You run through that kill zone.

10:03It applies to everybody.

10:04So we'll, we'll see.

10:05Well, no, look at Josh Allen, you know, it's, um, if they go into it and they handle business

10:10the way they did with Josh Allen and really just inspire them, don't give them really any

10:14opportunities.

10:15Stay in your lanes.

10:16Yeah.

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