HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
December 12, 2025
MV: Terrell Jennings will be out, and [Robert] Spillane will be questionable.
Q: Coming off of the bye week, how did you feel practices went this week, and were you happy with the energy and everything?
MV: I was. I felt like Monday got us going. It was a good day for us to get back in, kind of compete, go against just ourselves and not have to specifically work through show teams or anything like that. So, I thought that was good and got us back going, and then tried to build throughout the week. Thought yesterday was good, and today tried to just finish up a little bit of the on-field preparation. We still have plenty of work to do with meetings and stuff tomorrow, but again, continuing to try to build throughout the week, and see if we can't build that momentum going into the game.
Q: Jared Wilson was carted off the field a few weeks ago in Cincinnati, and returns to practice this week. Just how fortunate is it for him and for the team that his injury wasn't as serious as maybe it looked in Cincy?
MV: Sometimes it appears to be one thing, you kind of see how it goes and it doesn't end up being as bad, or sometimes it's – every injury is different. But again, I'm glad that the way the players that have been out have worked to get back in there. Jared is in that group, obviously, and so it'll be good to have him back in there. He's continuing to improve. And again, I don't want any of them to get injured, and if they are, I hope it's not as serious as what it looks when it happens.
Q: We didn't see Christian Barmore out there for the start of practice. Any update or cause for concern there? I know he's been out for a non –
MV: Yeah, those are just – my decision to bring him out towards the end of practice. Nothing, no concern there. He'd have an injury designation or something for the game, but that's kind of how I chose to handle it today.
Q: That running back three spot – that's my words – with Terrell. Just how do you envision filling that role?
MV: Yeah, D'Ernest [Johnson] will probably get to the game and help us, and we'll have to figure some things out now, this afternoon or tomorrow from the roster.
Q: Mike, going back to the spring, I'm curious what you – when you're thinking about how to build a culture of toughness, aside from getting players who individually have good play demeanor and are tough –
MV: That's the best way.
Q: Is there anything more you can do as a collective?
MV: I don't know. I mean, sometimes they either are or they aren't. And again, you can find ways to – sometimes you can harness the power of the elite, like we say that some of the players can help each other work through things or overcome – help them fight through injuries or get back quicker. I think that's probably the biggest way to build your culture, is getting the right people and then maybe then they get – their behaviors lead to the culture that you want. And so, that's probably the easiest way when you're talking about toughness. That's probably the easiest way.
Q: Mike, with the overtime rule change, how does it impact your thinking to win the coin toss? Is it a pregame decision or more of an in-game one?
MV: Probably more of an in-game one, but those are things that we have to look at with the rules and the time in the regular season versus how overtime is played in the postseason. So, the only one we can worry about now is the regular season. Both teams get an opportunity to possess it. But that could be something in-game that you would want to try to change based on wind or anything else.
Q: I know you guys are focused on the Bills, but Philip Rivers coming back – you played against him almost 20 years ago. Do you have any thoughts on him?
MV: I don't. I always loved playing against him, a competitor, great for this league and see how it goes.
Q: You're not making a comeback?
MV: Hell no. Nobody wants to see that.
Q: Working on a feature story about which one of the guys in the locker room right now would make the best coach once they decided to hang them up. A lot of guys have talked about Jack Gibbens, including Jeremy Springer. I'm wondering if you had a thought, just if you see a guy in that locker room who might be a good coach after his time.
MV: Well, I mean, I think that there's a lot of guys that could or would and make different impacts. I mean, certainly Gibby [Jack Gibbens] has great knowledge and communicates. I think that Marcus Jones could be a guy that could coach and play. There's just a lot of guys. I mean, I think KC [K'Lavon Chaisson], I think Harold [Landry III], I think these guys that – it's not all about just knowing football in being a coach. It's about finding the right way to reach players, knowing sometimes how much to give them and how much not to give them just depending on what level you're talking about coaching. You can make an impact a lot of different ways coaching. And again, anybody that I've coached or played – again there are a lot of guys out there that have gone on to coaching at different levels. I try to stay in touch with them, and somebody helped me progress and become a coach, so try to do the same thing.
Q: Mike, in the locker room we've seen Milton Williams and Will Campbell both walking around. They seem very involved with the team still, despite being on IR. What does that say to just have them as involved as they are for when they are potentially ready to come back?
MV: Yeah, we'll get them back. We have a plan for each guy. And again, I appreciate them being good with the plan that we have, talking about being in the meetings, then getting out of meetings early, going to rehab so that there's some timing and we're not overloading the training room. And then usually a week before they can start practicing, we'll get them into meetings full-time, kind of go from there and see. And whether that's at three weeks or that's at five or six weeks, it's all different, but that's kind of how we plan it out with players that are on Injured Reserve.
Q: Mike, across the league it feels more common to see defensive players contribute more on the offensive side than the other way around. You did it yourself as a tight end, [Khyiris] Tonga and Marcus Jones have played on the offensive side. What do you think makes it an easier or more natural transition for the defensive player?
MV: Yeah – I wouldn't see too many offensive linemen going over there and playing defensive line. I mean, receivers are certainly not going to go over there and tackle anybody or want to hit anybody. Maybe a few, but they talk a good game. Yeah, I just think it probably – I don't know, I hadn't really thought of it much. It just was a specific role. You try not to give them too much. Maybe defensive guys are just better than offensive guys, I don't know.
Q: On all those years you've done the production meetings with the networks before games, is this one sort of fun when J.J. [Watt] is part of that, given your past history?
MV: Yeah, I've got a lot of respect for J.J. the player and the person, and the job that he does. I think just hearing from former players about what we're doing and what they see, I think that's always a good perspective. To think that, hey, we're heading in the right direction and they kind of see what we're trying to do. So, that was good, the conversation that we had.
Q: Drake [Maye]'s gone from having one of the lower passer ratings against the blitz as a rookie to now having one of the best this season. How have you seen that area of his game grow and what's allowed him to be so much more –
MV: Probably just patience. Patience and knowing where he wants to go with the ball. I think the receivers have all helped him out and done a good job. I think the protection – it starts with the protection and making sure that he's putting guys where he wants them so he knows – the quarterback knows – if he's hot or if he's not hot. But the running backs have got to be able to protect and pick up blitzers, and then there's not panicking, taking off and running, and staying in, transitioning and transferring up into the pocket.
Q: Mike, one of the biggest critiques of this team over the last two years has been a lack of discipline, at least by the penalties against metric. If you look at that this year, it's much improved in a positive direction. What would you attribute that to?
MV: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, penalties – I don't really have time on a Friday afternoon to get in and talk about discipline as it relates to penalties. But again, I think that there's penalties that we have to be very conscious of and make great decisions, and discipline of jumping offsides and the line of scrimmage. But I also see guys that line up offsides and it's not called, and then some other team lines up maybe offsides and it gets called, and the inconsistencies – so, it's like, well, the discipline or what they let a player get away with or – again, we try to show them the rules, we try to tell them to play aggressive within the rules. And so, not going to compare this to that or the discipline, because we had penalties early in the season, that's kind of settled down. Maybe we're figuring it out a little bit. But I just – again, you just try to teach the rules and teach them kind of what the officials are looking at to try to get the mechanics of what they're going through. There's DPI, if I'm not playing the ball, if you're face guarding, there's contact, and we teach receivers to go back if the guy's not playing the ball. So, I don't know. There's a fine line between the discipline of it and being aggressive. But certainly, the pre-snap penalties can hurt and are sometimes hard to overcome against a good team. So, I don't know whatever happened before I got here.
Q: Mike, I know you've played most of your defense in three-corner nickel and a lot of base. Against a team that loves to throw to the tight ends and obviously runs the ball, I'm curious just your thoughts on playing three-safety as maybe a way to split the difference given how Dell [Pettus]'s played in coverage this year.
MV: Yeah, I'm sure – we have a lot of different ways. [Dalton] Kincaid and [Dawson] Knox will all be tough, and then we know how [Jackson] Hawes blocks and what he can do. So, we'll have to certainly defend the tight ends that have played really well for these guys.
