PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

PRESS CONFERENCE
October 13, 2025

Q: Still having trouble running the football. I was wondering if, in terms of Rhamondre [Stevenson], maybe he's focusing a little too much on protecting the football.

MV: Well, I think probably everybody is. I wouldn't say that it's just Rhamondre. I think that that's something that probably both backs that played yesterday, that carried the ball yesterday, probably are focused on. I think there's a balance there. We've talked about that. I know when we don't turn it over, we've won those three games, so there's certainly a balance there, and we have to give them a good plan, we have to block and execute that, block support, and then we have to run, make people miss and break tackles. We'll work hard at that, but in the same sense, I'm proud of the improvements that we've made protecting our quarterback, protecting Drake [Maye], and we'll just have to continue to strike a good balance there with running the football.

Q: Mike, I saw some video of you in the locker room after the game. Why is it so important for you to harp on your players to enjoy it?

MV: Well, they put a lot into it. We try to coach them throughout the week. We coach them. We believe in some things, we want to coach and practice our identity through the week, in meetings, lock in, get the details and things that we feel like are going to help us win the football game. And then they're the ones that go out, perform and execute, and I want them to embrace that. It's a tough league to win in, a tough league to win consistently in on the road, and the numbers for the history will tell you that. This league is designed to be, and used to be, an 8-8 league, and now it's a 9-8 or 8-9 league. That's how the system's set up, and so we have to do things through the course of the game and the season that skew that, that move those numbers in our favor. I think that there's a good balance that can be had from these guys still knowing that they can play better and they can do some things. But we hammered two footballs out yesterday defensively, not that we weren't hammering before, but a couple of them rolled out of bounds, a couple of them didn't come out. Yesterday they came out. We were able to recover the one – actually both of them – I feel bad for Charles [Woods]. I know he wanted a caused fumble there, and didn't end up challenging it just because of the risk-reward I felt that was involved. So, there's good stuff, and then I just want them to be able to embrace that, then enjoy that and then understand that there's another challenge on the road here this week again.

Q: I believe the offense scored its first touchdown during a two-minute situation last night. I'm wondering, how have you seen the group grow in those situations, and what allowed them to finally reach that point?

MV: I mean, we had the one at the end of the Pittsburgh game. They might have gone on to score against Vegas, but opted for the field goal to try to flip it. So, situationally, maybe that caused for us not scoring touchdowns. We didn't convert the end of the game against Pittsburgh, but to be able to possess it there all the way through and really give our guys the last touch, that's been something that's important. When you've got a good offense on the other side, which there is every week, making sure that they don't get the ball back and just being able to understand when they may pressure, when we need to get out of bounds, controlling the clock, really getting into that drive, that two-minute drive, and sacks kill two-minute. So, we were able to get the first first down, and I felt like that gave us a flow and a rhythm to that particular drive there at the end of the half.

Q: Mike, what advantages are you getting when you have the [Robert] Spillane, [Jahlani] Tavai, Jack [Gibbens] trio on the field?

MV: I think it just gives us a little bit more flexibility to be in different fronts, to do some different things, be able to use everybody and take some snaps off of some other guys.

Q: Coach, which one of the passing clearance calls on [Stefon] Diggs drove you more crazy?

MV: Oh, no, those don't drive me crazy. We just have to be able to deal with whatever situation is presented to us, whether we agree with it or disagree with it, learn that it's not going to change. So, frustrated and disappointed for the players there that had some really explosive gains taken away by judgment – probably poor judgment, but it's all part of it. So, I like the resolve for us, the ability for us to play through some of those, however difficult that it may be.

Q: Mike, yesterday you took a long time before you had to punt. When you get Bryce [Baringer] deep in your own end, and when you have [Rashid] Shaheed back there, he gets off a good punt, kind of flips the field –

MV: Yeah, flipped the field there.

Q: His performance and his leadership in that room with two rookie specialists?

MV: Yeah, I think you look at the operation on the field goal, being able to calm everything down, be able to handle the snap and just the good placement, ball placement for Andy [Borregales]. Bryce really kind of helps out in all regards in special teams, and he's done a nice job, whether that's helping on kickoff return or kickoff or just helping at practice. Some of the things that you guys may or may not see, but it was good for him. He's done a nice job for us, and hopefully we don't have to use him as much, but certainly came off with a big kick there to be able to flip the field. The one we probably don't want down the middle of the field, and he knows that. But to be able to flip the field in those situations are huge, and Bryce has done a nice job.

Q: Mike, on the nine-yard flip from Drake to TreVeyon [Henderson], is that a no-no-yes play? Is that a balance being a playmaker and being safe? How, as a coach, do you view the decision there to pitch the ball? Obviously, he was successful in that.

MV: We have a lot of trust and faith in, certainly, Drake and anybody else that would have the football. We have to be able to give them the liberty to go play the game, understand and not put it in danger, but also try to make some positive plays. Some of those things that go off script, you see Drake able to run down to the 1-yard line or scrambling out there to the left, throwing the ball, using the rules to our advantage and taking an incompletion as opposed to a hit or a sack.

Q: Mike, with the running game, to kind of get back to Karen [Guregian]'s question from earlier, do you think you guys could benefit from more variety in the run? I'm just thinking of those last few handoffs towards the end of the game. It just seemed sort of like a direct run, straight downhill.

MV: I think that when you talk about five-minute, you want to be protective of pressures and things like that. I think there's a lot of variety in our run game throughout the season. To look at one specific play in one specific situation probably isn't fair, but you're free to do whatever you want. You want to make sure that in those situations that you're trying to get the ball downhill, you're not trying to run sideways and create a holding penalty. That would stop the clock, lose yardage, all those things in five-minute that we're trying to be good with, but also gain a first down to win the game. We'll keep working. We've had some good runs, we've had some pitiful ones, too. We just have to make sure that there's a consistency, that we're coaching the details, that we're coaching the demeanor, understand that it's going to be some dirty runs in there and that we're going to have to make a guy miss or break a tackle, things that we've done throughout the season, and be able to do all those while taking care of the football and trying to move the line of scrimmage. Probably wished we had some more production in the run game there at the end. We got the one first down, and then we were able to throw for the second one.

Q: Coach, it's Titans week. What are your thoughts on going back there?

MV: There is going to be, probably, a lot to be said about this. I think it would file under the category of, is it interesting or important? I would probably say this would be very interesting. But in the end, not very important to our preparation or what we need to continue to try to do to improve as a team. But having spent six years there or seven years there, I think it'll be nice to see some people that I haven't seen in a few years that helped us win, players and staff. But we've got a huge job here to do as we prepare for them.

Q: We're seeing Drake improve from week-to-week, what did you like about yesterday's game in terms of his improvement?

MV: We talked about being able to recognize when the pocket is still there and be able to climb and transfer into the pocket, as opposed to just extending and cutting half the field. Did that at times. Still some things to work on and improve there. But I think that there is a high level of confidence in the guys that he's throwing to. Ball placement, decision making, timing, all those things, accuracy, that are critical. And so those are things that we're continuing to see.

Q: Going back to post-game, notice that you break the team down now. I'm wondering if that's something you did in Tennessee as head coach as well, and then you were also here when there was the "aw yeah" thing. I noticed that started going away too. Was that discussed with captains? How did that come about?

MV: Sometimes I break them down, sometimes I don't. I don't know if there's a real rhythm to that or cadence. Don't really have a plan for it. And then I've never even given any thought to the "aw yeah" as much as we did it as a player. I think that's just a different team. We don't really practice the post-game celebrations. That's not something that we have on a practice script, but we'd like to continue to celebrate wins any way that the players want. I'm all for it.