PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
November 17, 2025
Q: With Milton Williams going on IR, I'm just curious how you feel about the depth behind him, and just which guys you're kind of expecting to step up?
MV: Well, the same guys that I think have been playing. Eric Gregory played in a game for the first time. I thought he battled and is continuing to improve in the show team stuff and practice. We'll hopefully get Josh [Joshua Farmer] back. I would say that [Jeremiah] Pharms [Jr.] is doing a great job as well on the show team and is ready to go in there at any point. So, I think we're okay there as far as the depth. We'll just have to keep working, keep moving along.
Q: How much has Milton meant to this defense in the first 11 weeks?
MV: We won't have Milt [Milton Williams], so for the foreseeable future, he'll work hard to get back. So, that's really where our focus is, it's not so much as a reflection as it is just focusing on how do we get the guys ready to perform and continue to improve. I think the thing we're trying to get everybody to understand is how much this is a progress league, and to be able to improve as the season goes on. And so, we'll have to do that without Milt, who's one of our contributors and is a big part of what we've done. But we'll have to do it without him here for a few weeks.
Q: I know with the inevitable domino effect that might occur, does this maybe change your thinking when it comes to using a guy like [Khyiris] Tonga on special teams as well as offense?
MV: Well, those are things we have to consider. But it's also – we have to do everything that we can do to try to put the pieces together to help us win. We just have to be able to play the game and put the guys where we expect them to – any sort of injury can occur on any play at any point in time in football. So, every play is critical. More blocked kicks this past week and on and on and on. So, we have to make sure that the 11 guys out there are the ones that give us the best chance in those critical situations, and kicking field goals and extra points, those are critical situations.
Q: What have you seen from Bradyn Swinson on the practice squad?
MV: He's worked hard. He's improved. I think he's worked hard in the weight room, changing his body, getting stronger, learning special teams and doing a good job there. Give us a great look, and those coaches have done a great job of improving a lot of those guys and hopefully getting them ready here for when they have to play.
Q: Mike, on him, is this the time of year where you got to protect your guys? You want to keep working with him, you've spent time with him developing, because other teams can come on your practice squad guys and try to take them away?
MV: There's some of that, there's some of that. And again, it's also about opportunity, when we feel like they're ready for it and when they've earned it. And, in that case, I think Bradyn has. So, we'll have to evaluate what he can do, how he can help us and get him ready to go.
Q: Mike, with Rhamondre [Stevenson] and Kayshon [Boutte], we saw them practice during the short week, but they ultimately didn't play on Thursday. Do you have any updates on them as a concern heading into this week?
MV: I would expect them to be out there Wednesday. And then again, we'll see, monitor how that goes. To me, when you come back, it's just about the volume and handling what their normal volume would be, can they, obviously, do their job up to what we expect and what they expect it to be, and being able to protect themselves out there.
Q: Mike, just as sort of a follow up from the game, knowing you guys have moved on from it, but you might see some mobile quarterbacks, you are going to see some mobile quarterbacks down the line here. How helpful, maybe, is it just to have that feel now, having played [Justin] Fields and some of the designed quarterback runs?
MV: Yeah, I think it's always just to understand how fast they are and recreate the speed of a player like that. That's hard, whether that's the design plays or the quarterback play extensions that turn into chunk yardage. So, there's a lot to that, to the run game and where those numbers get moved around the mobile quarterback. And so, we'll have to play the run much better, obviously, moving forward. [Chase] Brown's a great back. He makes a lot out of nothing sometimes and the cracks, his burst and his contact balance. So, he's been fun to watch. So, we'll have to do a great job this week. But certainly, being able to see some of those quarterback runs, I understand how quickly they can get on the edge. The ones that are critical are down in the goal line when it's a 3-yard gain, it's a touchdown, not a second-and-7.
Q: How have you seen Dell Pettus grow in this system since the spring, and also, how has he maximized the opportunity he's gotten in games?
MV: Dell continues to work hard, to work on communication and, of course, special teams player for us, learning multiple positions in the defense, back end, working down as the dime sometimes in sub and in two minute. And it's been good to see him take advantage of the opportunities, showed up, made some plays and working hard on all the little things that we give him each and every week.
Q: Coach, when you have a few days off like you guys did this weekend, would you rather both players and staff get away from the game completely or still kind of be engaged?
MV: Whatever gets us back to neutral and be able to move forward, prepare and stay on our conditioning. But, it's a long stretch of games that we just had, and I think that the energy is great right now where we're at, coming back in here on a Monday, meeting, getting all those things reviewed and working out. And so, those would be good.
Q: We've seen Vederian [Lowe] previously being the extra tight end in some packages. Ben Brown got the opportunity [last week]. What led to him getting those and what did you make of his performance?
MV: What led? Same thing that leads to every coach's decision. It's about the trust that you have in the player. He knows what to do. Vederian's right there, ready to go, went with Ben. Ben's done a little bit earlier in the season. Carolina, I think, maybe, or he played guard. And they've both been repping it, and just decided to go with Ben. I know Vederian's, ready to go as well.
Q: Mike, earlier in the season, I had asked you about how you split your time between macro system stuff and micro technique stuff with guys. You told me you were still figuring it out with this team. Any update on how you're kind of choosing to split your time with these guys and what's working?
MV: It's kind of all over the place, really. I mean, it's I think I just try to spend as much time with each phase as I can and also figure out where I can help technique-wise. There's things that I can talk about. I certainly can't talk about a quarterback or a running back as far as vision or something like that. But there's places where I feel like I can help from a technique perspective, and when I do, I try to help and try to figure out a way to reach the player, help them or whatever it may be. Something that maybe they haven't looked at in a particular light and help where I can. But there's certainly places where I can't and shouldn't.
Q: Mike, aside from the obvious where you're picking up yardage, or in Thursday night's case you scored a touchdown, why do you like the pile push plays as much as you do?
MV: I think it just lends itself to what we want to be as a team, as an organization, is rallying around somebody that's – they're in there trying to rip the ball away, they're in there trying to hit them. Whatever we can do to protect the guy with the ball is critical. And so, to me, it's about protecting your teammates and protecting the guy with the ball.
Q: Can you practice those? It looks like a physical play. Is it something you can practice during the week?
MV: We push things, yeah. We can push things.
Q: Mike, with Darius Harris being out of elevations, is he something you guys would consider signing to the 53-man roster?
MV: Yeah, we would. I just don't think physically right now Darius is going to be able to. So, we'll have to see where that goes.
Q: You said in your video after the game that you were excited to not have to see the guys for a few days –
MV: I meant they were probably excited not to have to see me. It's a two-way street.
Q: You said it on the radio last weekend, how was your weekend?
MV: It was good. Thanks for asking.
Q: Greg Olsen has talked about how offenses are using personnel basically to manipulate how defenses respond to them, saying he'd really rather, if he were a defensive coordinator, match by the situation over personnel. I'm curious what you think about that, and have you seen that from defenses?
MV: Well, it comes down to down and distance. It comes down to, "Are you okay if they want to run the ball versus smaller personnel groups defensively?" If you're okay with that. I think it's just about also repping it. You're familiar with going big people versus their smaller groupings, getting lined up, adjusted and what coverage you want to play in based on how outside linebackers may have to walk out or do different things at the line of scrimmage. So, I think, to me, a lot of it's based on down and distance and what those tendencies may be. But I think that there can be positives for both groups. Kind of see each week what their temperature is for it, and if teams want to try to one-up you and go bigger, we'll have to have answers. And then if we do it, what are some of the answers that the offensive coaches go to?
Q: I know we've talked about this a couple of times this year, but in the wake of the Jets game, any new thoughts about defensive slow starts? I know Robert [Spillane] kind of joked about it in his postgame press conference. I know you guys are going to be looking for answers, but I was wondering if you had any sort of update.
MV: No, I don't have any updates. I think we just have to be okay to give up a first down and get the drive stopped. We have three three-and-outs in a row after that. Done a pretty good job playing defense. So, again, it's an easy place to look, we just have to get them in however many third downs and quarterback scramble – I mean, it's just one play here, one guy there. I don't want to just hit the panic button. If they were scoring on every drive, then we'd have a lot of issues. Certainly, we don't want to let them score. If they do get down there, we have to find ways to force them to attempt field goals. To me, that's the biggest thing, is that we don't give up touchdowns, that we communicate better, that we are able to defend whatever it is that they choose to do, whether that's some sort of motion or picks or quarterback run game. So, that's the biggest thing, is that we force them to kick field goals and understand that it's okay if you give up a first down, but we just have to be able to get the drive stopped. To me, it seems like it's either one or the other. It's either a three-and-out or a drive that leads to points.
