PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

PRESS CONFERENCE
October 21, 2026

Q: Could you update us on the statuses of some of your injured players, please?

MV: Ben Brown will be out. Alijah Vera-Tucker will be out. Karon Prunty will be out. Channing Canada will be out. Carlton Davis III will be out.

Q: Mike, can you talk about what you see from Kalif Raymond as a receiver and a return guy for Chicago?

MV: I got a lot of affinity for Kalif Raymond. He helped us win a lot of games at Tennessee. He's a great teammate. Probably one of the toughest, smaller-bodied players in the league, and I mean that with a lot of sincerity. He's willing to block, he's got great courage, he runs through the smoke as a returner. He did a lot of different jobs for us, and he's continued to do a lot of those jobs with the Lions and now the Bears. He's just a valuable piece for them. You can put him in a lot of different places.

Q: Mike, what's the biggest challenge preparing for Ben Johnson as a play caller?

MV: There's a lot of volume. They do a lot of things well, and you'll have to be prepared for some unscouted looks. But he stays aggressive. He has a lot of faith in those guys on fourth down. He marries up formations and motions.

Q: Do you think even on a Thursday, unscouted looks would be something to be thinking about?

MV: They handed the ball to the left tackle, who was going to throw a pass on four days in Detroit, so probably.

Q: Mike, in what ways have you seen the defense set the tone for complementary football?

MV: Being able to get stops on fourth down and turn it over. If our kickoff team can continue to do what they've done and we're able to get a three-and-out, it gives you a chance to get Marcus Jones going in the return game. Those are all different phases that really can help create momentum and field position to help us offensively.

Q: Do you expect to activate Marcus Bryant?

MV: We have until 3:00 p.m. Central Time, so I'll probably let you know then.

Q: Mike, you talk a lot about how you can make the play without making the tackle. Is that a difficult sell or when you're showing guys, "Hey, look at last week, look what [Robert] Spillane did to free up [Elijah] Ponder," et cetera. How many were with it?

MV: I think it all comes around. I think it's just about trying to do what's best for the team and knowing that one time it might be you that we're asking to do it, and another time you may be the beneficiary of it. So, that's never really been a problem. We're just trying to win. I think when it all is said and done, it all kind of evens out about who is maybe doing some of the dirty work or who has to do something to help somebody else be successful.

Q: Do you think there's been a rise in defenders using the peanut punch? If so, have you asked ball carriers to protect the ball any differently?

MV: I think it's just teams are – it's a huge awareness defensively. I think yes, to answer your question. I do think that it has. I think that teams are willing to give up maybe a few yards on a tackle, going for what would be a hammer. What we tell the ball carriers to do is protect it with two in traffic, when they're going to the ground, or near the sidelines or the goal line. Then what we ask everybody else to do – I sound like a broken record – is to try to protect the guy with the ball.

Q: We've learned about Charles Woods over the last two years. How have you seen him just take advantage of recent opportunities?

MV: I think he's got a little toughness to him. He's played through some things and competed and challenged, and he always seems to be ready for his opportunity, whether that was times last year or even now times this year. So, I kind of like him. He's got a little street rat in him. The story was, I don't know what it was, he was like, "Coach, can I get a Jolly Rancher?" I was like, "Are you serious?" I'm like, "Yes." At halftime, it was like I was coaching one of the kids' teams in ninth grade, 9-year-old football. I was like, "Yeah, sure, have a Jolly Rancher." Then we won the game and then I joked about it when he got a game ball. We called him Jolly Rancher, JR now for short. Then last week I said, "I'm ready to go. I got your grape Jolly Ranchers." Put one in, and the next play, he got an interception. I was like, "This is crazy."

Q: Do you have to keep them on you at all times?

MV: I got them packed and ready to go.

Q: What flavor?

MV: Grape. That's what he told me he liked and I was like, "Okay, we'll get the grape Jolly Ranchers."

Q: Mike, you said something yesterday about Caleb Lomu and having him ready to pull the ball. Does that mean play center?

MV: What else were we going to do on Sunday?

Q: No, I just, I've never heard that before, pull the ball. That means snap it?

MV: Yeah. That's football lingo. I guess I'm sorry. Somebody's got to pull it. You're not pushing it.

Q: I've never heard that one.

MV: Yeah. So that's just what we were going to have to do on Sunday. But yeah, pulling the ball is, you pull it back, right? Snap, pull. I don't know. There's a lot of things. If you guys just wrote down everything I said, we'd get confused.

Q: Do you expect Walter [Rouse] and Matt [Pryor] to start at the guard spot? Is there any consideration for Caleb to start inside?

MV: We have a lot of consideration. We go through things, different scenarios. We're going to go with where we finished on Sunday and see what that looks like, and then have everybody else ready to go.

Q: When you tell your players to prepare like a starter, is that strictly mental or is there something more tangible that you do?

MV: Well, it's hard to get everybody reps, but I think that we're trying to focus, especially on a short week, so maybe let's not use this week for example. But on a regular week, we're trying to do a little bit more with the practice squad guys on a development plan and figuring out ways for our young coaches to take those guys and get them more individual, or for Behren [Morton] to throw to the practice squad guys that we have - the receivers, the tight end and the back. So again, I think we're trying to be intentional there. We have meetings with those guys on a regular Saturday morning where the young coaches can then go in, watch their film from the show teams, talk about their technique or things that they're doing. So, I think that might help physically, and then mentally it's going to have to be about learning the game plan each and every week.

Q: Mike, is there anything, motivationally, that you do differently going into a Thursday night game, whether it's showing a video in a team meeting or anything like that?

MV: Nothing different than a normal week.

Q: Extra Jolly Ranchers in meetings? Does that help?

MV: Whatever helps. I think these guys came in really prepared, focused, ready to go at 1:00 [p.m.], and then each day they built until we are here. But there'll still be some preparation that has to go on up until game time.

Q: With the Bears, their run defense specifically, what kind of opportunities does the run game have on first and second down, given that their third down defense is what it is?

MV: Yeah, it's excellent. It's very good. So, I think we have to stay balanced, but also find ways to run the football. They just haven't had a lot of plays against them. When you play with the lead, then you don't see a lot of runs. So that's the challenge, is being able to flip the script a little bit, not let them run 73 plays and only have to defend 50.