PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
December 19, 2025
MV: Harold [Landry III] will be questionable, [Christian] Barmore will be questionable, Carlton Davis [III] will be questionable, Marcus Jones will be questionable and Robert Spillane will be out.
Q: Some of your players – we saw Terrell [Williams] in the locker room – the past couple days the players talked about being uplifted by his presence and seeing him. Does that kind of extend to you and the coaching staff?
MV: Sure, absolutely. We want to have people around here that make an impact and do a great job, and that's why we wanted Terrell here. It's unfortunate what he's had to deal with, but he's battling and taking everything that they've asked him to do, and when he's been able to come in it's been great to have him here, help us and help the coaches. He's made a lot of good relationships already and I know that he'll make many more.
Q: It feels like from the outside, last week, I know it's different games, different opponents, different lineups and all that, but it looked like Gibby [Jack Gibbens] took most of the reps in Robert's place last weekend. Is that something we can look forward to this weekend?
MV: Yeah, I would imagine that's something that you could look forward to. Just got to focus on – there'll be a lot of people – most everybody will play. I mean everybody that goes to the game is going to play and have a role, and we ask everybody to prepare as starters. That's something that's important. And so, Gibby will start in there, and then different guys will play, packages and everything else.
Q: How did Jack do green dot-wise? I mean, he's so smart. I would imagine that was –
MV: Communication wasn't an issue. I don't ever question that. We just have to play better defense, and that's team defense. That's getting stops on third down. That's finding ways to create turnovers. It's hard to play defense in this league, we know that, without turnovers. And then when they do get to the red zone, we've got to force them to kick field goals.
Q: Zak Kuhr said yesterday that on defense, it felt like some of the guys were pressing to make plays as opposed to just focusing their roles. Is that something you reiterate, and how tough is that as a competitor, when your team's down you obviously want to do something to help, but –
MV: Well, just do your job to help. We want to chase wins, we don't want to chase plays. That's the message. I think if we focus on winning and what's required of winning, then every play will come to us and we'll make the ones that we're supposed to make. That's the most important thing, is just – that goes back as far as I can remember, just saying, "Make the plays that you're supposed to make, and that will be plenty." And when we win, I think you've seen that that's pretty accurate. And so, that's what I try to say, and that's what the message was.
Q: Earlier this week you were asked about a late season loss and if that could be a good thing. You said "TBD." Obviously, you won't know until the game, but I'm just curious how you felt the team responded in practice this week.
MV: Well, I mean, I think we practiced well. And then, again, ultimately, I always say the only day that truly matters is game day. Having been through this, I've had practice weeks that probably weren't too good, and then you play well and it doesn't really matter. I've had weeks where you're like, "Oh man, practice was great," and you don't execute. And so, ultimately, what matters is how we play. And certainly, practice is important, I'm not trying to say that it's not, but try to come back in, focus on the things that we need to do to win, the game plan, the keys, their personnel and learning as a team. And so, I think we've done that and we still have time to do that.
Q: Mike, we haven't seen Marcus Bryant for a couple weeks now. Is that just Thayer [Munford Jr.]'s experience or is that something else that's going on?
MV: No, just decided to go with Thayer. He's helped us out a lot and it's a good jumbo package. Marcus is working hard. We take eight to the game, we try to figure out what combination is best for each game. That could change next week, but Marcus has worked hard, and again, I think trying to improve.
Q: Vederian Lowe is a guy who'd started a lot of games here last year and kind of took on a different role this year. What has it been like working with him and seeing what he's done in recent weeks?
MV: He worked really, really hard in the offseason to get back from the shoulder surgery that he had, and I would say has been ready and prepared to take advantage of his opportunity, which I'm always excited about. When guys get a chance, they put a lot into it, they can go out there, they can play and help themselves, help the team, all those things. So, I think that he's done everything that we've asked him to do in that regard to be ready to, one, get healthy as quickly as possible, improve, work to improve, compete, earn a role, and then prepare as a starter, and then he's found his way in there because of an injury and for whatever reason he's in there. And so, I think that I'm excited for him that he's excited about the opportunity to play.
Q: This time of year, do you believe in a rookie wall? Is that a real thing? If so, do you have to address it with the guys?
MV: I mean, we're always talking about the length of the season, what we need to do to continue, how the practices are and recovery. And mentally, the finish line is not going to move towards us. It's not going to move closer to us. We have to keep attacking. Whether that's in games, situations, practice or whatever that may be, they don't move the finish line closer to us. That was the message coming out of the game, and that'll be the message going forward.
Q: This is jogging your memory a little bit, maybe, but Carlton Davis was talking about a day in the spring where you organized a bunch of activities, had players blindfolded, go through obstacles, partnered with someone sort of outside their position group. How did you come up with that idea and why did you think it was something important to the team at that time?
MV: I put a lot of thought into this, whether you guys believe it or not. I try to. I try to be intentional. I don't want to waste their time. With so many new faces, coaches, players, support staff, whatever that may be, I just felt like some of that stuff was critically important in the spring before we started dumping a bunch of plays on the guys. I think that's just an important part of team building, is getting to know guys, and building trust and accountability. Those are all things that are part of the program that we wanted to build. I would say it's always an ongoing battle that continues and strengthens. But I think that it's important.
Q: We've seen TreVeyon [Henderson] make a lot more big plays over the second half of the season. Is that comfort or what do you think is allowing him to make those big plays?
MV: I mean, there's a lot of things that go into X plays. Probably having done some research, I would say about 30% of them are scheme where you're like, "Oh, that's a good scheme." And then the other 70 are guys making plays, guys blocking, guys breaking tackles, somebody getting a huge block. Any time that there's those X play runs, guys are going to block at the second and third level to spring them. So, I would say it's a combination of all those. Certainly a credit to TreVeyon and everybody else that's blocked for him. Whether that's just him last week taking advantage of an open edge and bouncing it back, we didn't really do much on the front side, so he went out the back door and Drake [Maye] was the guy that ultimately helped him to score. So, there's a lot of factors in that, but mostly it just comes down to the players making a play.
Q: I know you're confident in all your guys across the board or they wouldn't be here, but it feels like, having been around this team a little bit, that losing Robert is a little bit different with a guy like Robert.
MV: Well, I mean, you have a guy that's in the middle of the defense that isn't able to be out there right now, there's going to be some adjustments, but we can't focus on that. We focus on what the next opportunity is and what we need to do. But I don't think that would have been the answer to whatever was going on last week, if that's what you're wondering. I don't think that it would have been.
Q: When you see something kooky happen across the league like the two-point conversion last night, do you use that as a teaching point with your team? Like the importance of if Zach Charbonnet doesn't pick up that ball?
MV: Yeah, we always talk about all those things that come up, the things that come up in our games, the situations – there was a lot of them last week, and there'll be more going forward. We try to use those as teaching tools. Play to the recovery of the football and let replay sort it out. I don't know if he was playing to the recovery of the ball or if he just happened to see something there, was being a nice guy and was picking it up for the ref. Either way, he made a very good decision.
