PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
January 9, 2026
Q: Have any updates for us?
MV: [Khyiris] Tonga will be out. [Kayshon] Boutte, [Harold] Landry [III] and [Thayer] Munford [Jr.] will be questionable.
Q: TreVeyon [Henderson] was missing today.
MV: Personal reason.
Q: The practice squad elevations, they keep going into the postseason, right?
MV: Yep, they're allowed to bring up – it's by four o'clock tomorrow.
Q: Their offensive line has had a ton of injuries, cycled through a bunch of different groupings. I'm just curious as you game plan for them and watch them, what have you seen from their offensive line since you started watching them?
MV: Physical group. They run the football. They have had some moving parts, so I give a lot of credit to them. They're protecting for one of the top quarterbacks in this league, and when they give him time, he does a fantastic job. When he has to extend plays or scrambles, he's creating X plays and they're successful that way as well. So, it's a challenge, but they want to be physical, they want to wear on you, they don't mind a bunch of third-and-2s and 3s. They've got a lot of short yardages that they convert, so they're doing a lot of things well. Obviously, possessing the football, and then being able to extend drives by staying on schedule.
Q: How did the team respond this week in practice?
MV: Find out on Sunday night. That's about the best answer I can give you. The preparation was good, execution has to be better.
Q: Anything change for you, Mike, for the playoff game?
MV: No. Just need everybody at their best on Sunday at 8:15. That's what the challenge is, to prepare and then obviously enjoy, continue to enjoy what we do in preparation and the execution. But everybody just has to be a little bit better in the details and focused on things in their job.
Q: Mike, do you remember what your thinking process was before your first playoff game in 1997? And you certainly came up, played and disappointed people here.
MV: No. I mean, honestly, I was a rookie. We had a good team in Pittsburgh. I guess the only thing I would tell you from that is that we went to the AFC Championship game my rookie year, and then my next three years in Pittsburgh, we didn't make the playoffs. And so, I remind you not to take things for granted, and that it's not like that every year in the National Football League.
Q: Do you remember that play where you –
MV: I do remember the play, yep. Poor ball security from Drew [Bledsoe].
Q: Mike, at this point in the season, how much self-scout do you guys do week-to-week and how much are you just focused on your opponents?
MV: We continually try to do that and look at the data. I think that part of adding to the analytics here is some of that stuff they give us each and every week. I think all good teams have tendencies and things that they do well. Certainly want to rely on those and the things that you do well, especially in big moments and situations.
Q: Adding to that, where's the line between doing what you do, but not wanting to get too predictable?
MV: I mean, it's what the players can handle. And again, there's a lot of good ideas. It comes down to, are they comfortable with it? Are they confident in it? Can they play fast and be effective? So, those are things that we weigh in all three phases.
Q: Mike, we get to talk with Doug Marone every other week. What have Jason Houghtaling and Robert Kugler, though, brought to that room?
MV: You try to have a vision for what the staff looks like, or you try to put together a staff with different people, and I would say that that position is – they work really well together. Kugs [Robert Kugler] has a role, and Hoss [Jason Houghtaling] has a role, and Doug. So, I think with protection in the run game, player development, working with guys in all phases, they work extremely well together. That's a tight group, and I think that just permeates down from those three men to the rest of the players. And so, that's why that group is tight.
Q: Can you talk about the season Rhamondre [Stevenson]'s had, just overcoming some of that adversity off the field?
MV: Yeah. When you come into a new situation and there's things that are happening with players outside of here, it's hard to get to know them. And I think that was the first thing, is just trying to support him from afar without really knowing him. There were days where he wouldn't communicate, and there were days that he would. We would try to just keep reaching out to him and support him the best that we could. And then, when he was able to come in, I've enjoyed every minute that I've had to spend with him as a person and as a player. You've got to go through some adversity sometimes in life, in sports and in jobs, and that's all part of it. And so, he's helped us a lot here. We've talked about his role as a running back, protector and pass catcher. So, the versatility we certainly appreciate, and it's been fun to see.
Q: Sounds like [Jared] Wilson is good to go. Does he automatically go back into the stating lineup or is there a discussion with the way Ben [Brown]'s played?
MV: No, I think I would anticipate Jared starting at left guard.
Q: When you have a player like Thayer Munford that comes in from another team's practice squad, and then they contribute a lot to the team, it says a lot about player evaluation and player development, right? So, how do your coaching staff, scouting staff and other staff work closely or work together to find those players and then quickly transition them into your system?
MV: That's an ongoing process, and that's a great question. It's the same thing that happens in free agency. There's an evaluation, and then there's a discussion and a conversation about fit that goes on to the draft that carries through to training camp when there's guys that are injured and there's workouts. So, I'm excited about that process and where it's been, the communication, familiarity with certain players and certain scheme, and then just trying to get the right guys in. Those guys have helped us. A lot of other guys from other places have helped us as well. We're open to everybody's idea. Any scout, coach or anybody that has an idea about a player that they believe strongly in, we're open to all those ideas. And then we try to come up with the best plan for the team and the right fit.
Q: I know these are week-to-week decisions in part, but when you guys come out of your bye and your jumbo usage on offense jumps the way that it has, what did you want using that personnel and what have you gotten from it since?
MV: Just adding some variety. You see things around the league that's helping some teams, and wanted to see if it could help us. I think it has. I think that we've been able to stay balanced out of those sets, and also be able to run the football and help slow down things at the line of scrimmage.
Q: Can you elaborate a little on how the running game has still gotten better, come together, the roles of the two guys, the improvement, the ball security – how that has come together and how important that is, not only in the last several weeks, but going forward?
MV: Well, it'll be critical here in the playoffs and playing in January, and we know how critical that phase is to offense and defense. We'll have to stop it. Both players are – TreVeyon and Rhamondre – I know D'Ernest [Johnson] is obviously ready to go – but they're unselfish. Whether Rhamondre hits a big play down there, maybe is winded and TreVeyon goes in, or we throw a pass to Rhamondre, I know that they're happy for each other, that they care deeply about the team. So, I'm excited to see them have success, and we're going to need a lot of it on Sunday night.
Q: What have you seen from Josh Dobbs this season as it pertains to being a support system and veteran presence for Drake [Maye]?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably a more unique question for Drake, but I know that he does. It's just that I can't tell you the impact that it makes on Drake personally. I know that Josh is a great teammate. I see him communicating with everybody at practice, how he operates and helps us with the show teams, and he's always ready to go. But his personal relationship with Drake is probably better suited for him.
Q: What has stood out to you about Will Campbell's growth over the course of his rookie season?
MV: When you're a young player, thrown in there to play as many snaps as he had, that's a tough position. I think he just continues to learn, see things, and learning tricks of the trade and maybe some things that he was able to get by with in college that he had to learn. And I think he does learn. Just continues to become more comfortable in his play and how he carries himself.
Q: How happy have you been to find the contributions from guys on the practice squad? I know Mike [Reiss] asked about the elevations earlier. It seems like you guys are elevating guys almost every week.
MV: Yeah, those guys work extremely hard. They come in, and we try to create these practices and situations on Thursday where they can go and practice, they can play and they can be evaluated, and then once we feel like they can help us, then we make sure that they know the information. We've seen Leonard Taylor [III] go out there, make contributions and play. And so, I'm always in favor of that when guys earn it, that they get what they earn, and then when they get opportunities that they take advantage of them, and then they earn more opportunity.
Q: Mike, regarding player development, along those lines, to have the number of rookies and draft picks on the roster at the end of the season, the number of undrafted free agents, how much of that goes back to the way the staff was constructed and pays attention to those situations so that they get reps?
MV: Yeah, I mean, we two-spotted a lot of those drills in training camp and the offseason so that everybody was working and nobody was standing around. We always try to be intentional with that. Coaches, again, still meet with those guys, and they'll watch tape from this past week tomorrow morning, so they know that those show teams are being looked at. They go out early. And again, I've talked about that being an opportunity for younger coaches to create their environment to teach. Bring the players in early, watch the show team reps, teach them up and make a cut up for them, and that's their time to improve as a coach as well. And I think that that's all been positive.
