PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
January 2, 2026
Q: Can you fill us in on who's out?
MV: [Robert] Spillane will be out, [Harold] Landry [III] will be out, [Khyiris] Tonga will be out, [Jared] Wilson will be out, [Jack] Westover will be questionable.
Q: Is there a plan to activate Milton [Williams] or Will [Campbell] for the game on Sunday?
MV: Yeah, we'll see how they respond from today's work. Tried to get them a full week of work in, but I think it looks good. Both of them were able to work the whole week and we'll see where we're at tomorrow.
Q: Seeing Robert just even getting out at practice, I know he's not going to play in this game, what is your reaction to the work he's put in and just having his presence?
MV: Yeah, I think, again, when you go through an injury and you're away from the team, guys that care a lot about the team want to be out there. So, just trying to get the return to play, and felt good enough to get out there and do a little bit of work in a limited fashion. So, I think that was positive and excited that he's feeling better.
Q: This offseason, what were some specific ways you encouraged Drake Maye to be?
MV: Everybody in their own way, especially quarterbacks and head coaches, have to find a way to reach the team or represent the organization. There's a lot of different ways that Drake can do it. We focused on making connections and getting to know people. You have to say things that get people's attention, get players' attention, where there's a different version in your office or locker room, in the meeting rooms or on the field. It's just about getting a feel for each person that you're trying to get a message across to or try to be able to connect with to help them do their job better.
Q: Mike, yesterday during the media portion, we noticed you with some one-on-one time with Christian [Barmore]. We noticed Stefon [Diggs] sort of leading the huddle – one, two, three, break. How would you summarize, given some of the background stuff that's going on outside of the walls here, how they're doing in terms of being on the team and going through this?
MV: You'll have an opportunity to talk with them here in the locker room. I'll let them speak for themselves on how they're doing. I'm going to continue to coach every player to the best of my ability, the ones that come in each and every day, and that are willing to be coached. They are, just like everybody else. That's what I do each and every day.
Q: Coach, what are you doing specifically to keep people dialed in? It's been a wild week with – you clinched the East, then you had the players get into trouble off the field, and then now this weekend coming up. How do you keep people dialed in?
MV: Part of my job is to have a message and to clearly define what the objective is for the day. Today, obviously, we had some red zone, move the field, our normal Friday, and I show them the clips and teach them. Try to stay as consistent as possible.
Q: Mike, what's your message for the team going into this final regular season game as the playoffs do start next week? Is there a specific message to the team with this one, this final regular season game?
MV: I think it would be the same one I told you that it was on Wednesday. We're going to practice to improve and we're going to try to finish what we started. I didn't change from Wednesday to Friday.
Q: We talked to Zak [Kuhr] a little bit yesterday about Quinn Ewers. What stands out for you?
MV: I saw an energy at that Tampa Bay game. I saw youthful energy. A guy that's trying to take advantage of his opportunity, and again, sometimes when you put younger players in there, especially quarterbacks, you see them getting up and celebrating. He had a big scramble at the end of the game, and in five-minute there was a first down. It was a big play for him. A lot of energy. He seems to have good command of the operation. There's a lot of moving parts with that offense, the shifts, the motions, the jet motions, the ball handling. It's not just standard. He's under center, he's in the gun, he's in the pistol, and then being able to execute the play action and the boot game. I think he's gotten off to a good start.
Q: What are the considerations you have to make as a defense when deciding how to handle motion?
MV: Well, it's based on coverage, and based on location of players and where they get to. I think a lot of that depends on the coverage that you're in. You start with man and the adjustments that you want to make, and then it's split safety and it's post-safety zone, and how you're going to bump things or run the nickel. A lot of teams – I'd say sometimes it's the same each week and sometimes it's different. Whether you keep the nickel to the field, and some guys lock them in and some teams travel them into the nickel or into the boundary. That's what you work through in the offseason, and then based on game plan, you may make some modifications.
Q: Along those lines, what are some of the other challenges associated with the whole strategy of we're going to keep our number one corner and have him travel with the number one receiver? It seems like it happens less.
MV: It's just the offenses have changed so much. They just don't stand out there, put them over there into the boundary and let you cover them. Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't. I would say more times than not, it doesn't. They will move players around, move them off the ball, motion. Offenses have gotten really good of how they motion, where the snap point is. The quarterbacks manufacture the snap point on this side of the center, on the other side, stacked or all the way out. Those are all different things that you go through. Pretty much to Taylor [Kyles]'s question about the motion and adjusting, but then the matchup. And when you can, you obviously would like to, and then other times where you can't.
Q: With all 11 rookies from this draft class being active on the 53-man roster, from your perspective, how important is it to build the team, reshaping the team through the draft versus signing free agents? How do those two methods complement each other?
MV: I think we all understand how important the draft is to be able to, at every level, add to the roster. Starters, role players, depth, special teams players, developmental players at some capacity, but then just to try to improve them and develop them. And then there's answers in free agency too. I think this is a fine line, but we obviously want to be able to continue to build through the draft, make smart decisions, bring the right people in, draft the right people at the right time, have a vision for them and be able to help them reach their full potential.
Q: Mike, how has Alex Austin looked throughout practice this week? Are there any plans to activate him?
MV: Again, we'll see how he feels tomorrow. I think it was good to see him have a week of work. I would say it's probably, in his role where he was coming from as a backup corner, but then the special teams, just trying to evaluate that and where that may be with his return to play. Sometimes, again, we can't have pads at this time of the year, so you have to try to just work on it. He's a gunner and he's jamming a guy that doesn't have pads on, so we just try to get creative with that and some of the stuff that we want to see, see how he feels tomorrow and then go from there. It was good to have him back.
Q: Mike, who are some of the staff departments that are working on looking ahead to get you a head start on next week, regardless of who the opponent is? What have they been doing this week?
MV: We don't have any idea. You can look at percentages. I'm confident that we'll be ready for whoever we play, and we'll have all the games and the breakdown, but I don't want to start guessing.
Q: Any plans on playing Foxborough High School to open next season? That's been a topic of conversation on a lighter note.
MV: That one's been around since I played here. Anything that we can do to support Foxborough High School football team, I am willing to do. Maybe next year we can tie in a scrimmage before our stadium scrimmage or we'll come up with something creative, I'm sure. Give me and Stretch [John Streicher] a year and we'll come up with something.
Q: Any New year's resolutions?
MV: Just win as many games as we possibly can.
