PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
December 2, 2025
Q: Did you have any superstitions about shaving the mustache? Did anyone in the locker room ask you to keep it?
MV: No. I mean, I didn't tell them. I didn't shave in the middle of the locker room, so I don't know. But we'll find out here in a little bit.
Q: It's been well-received, though?
MV: I just did it, so I don't know how many people saw it other than Stretch [John Streicher] and Stacey [James], so we'll see. They can be back quick, it doesn't matter.
Q: Following up on last night, what did you like from Christian Elliss? It seemed like he kind of led the team in a lot of the juice that they came out with in the physicality. We heard from Stefon Diggs as well saying that you guys had a talk about aggressiveness in your plays before the game.
MV: [Yeah], and I just felt like it had been a long week. And with these home night games, we have a, let's say, Sunday, and then we are done with them, they go to the hotel, then Monday morning meetings, then they leave, they go home and they get some rest or whatever it is that they're going to do to prepare themselves for the game. I just felt like I wanted to remind them that it was important to have an attacking mindset, an aggressive mindset, to continue to find the joy throughout our team with each other, playing, watching each other, feeding off of each other, all three units. I think they appreciate it. I think that they – I've said this after the game, the strength of our wide receiver unit is in the unit. I know that that's hard for a position, especially that position, but everybody's catching passes, everybody's catching touchdowns, they're trying to block when they don't have the ball. And I understand and I appreciate that. And so, I remind them of that. And it can't – it's not going to be just one guy getting 15 or 16 targets every week. I just don't think that that's what this is. I appreciate their unselfishness, and I think that that is just a small microcosm of what I want our football team to look like and feel, and be excited when Kyle [Williams] catches a touchdown, when Kayshon [Boutte] catches a touchdown or whoever it may be that gets a big third down conversion for us. So, that's all we're trying to do, and Christian Elliss, I think, embodies that. He's a great teammate. His teammates care deeply about him. He cares about this football team. He's got great relationships throughout the building with his coaches and obviously with his teammates. That's another special group, the linebacker group. Christian got us going. And, again, there's nothing illegal about anything that he did. There's nothing dirty. It's him playing football. Whether it's covering kicks, and he takes a lot of pride in that unit, and also on defense.
Q: After getting a chance to go back and watch the film, how do you think the left side of the offensive line did?
MV: Good. I thought that they were excited about playing, and I think that that is probably the thing that pleases me the most, is that they wanted it, that Vederian [Lowe] wanted to go out there, play, compete and block. And Ben [Brown] fought and battled, and I know he had a holding call, which I think was close. I mean, they called it. He's got to stay inside out, but I don't – I mean, I've seen worse. There was worse yesterday, but that's what they called. But they were excited about playing, they were prepared and they were ready to go. So, that's kind of what you have to do at this time of the year or any time in the National Football League, is be ready to go. No different than Thayer Munford [Jr.] coming in there from Cleveland, helping us and being ready, and going out there and helping us in his opportunities. We know what happens there, you probably get more opportunities.
Q: Mike, aside from his speed, what allows Marcus [Jones] to just see things the way he sees them?
MV: Well, I think that that's a great thing for him. I think that's a great question for him. What do you see? I think the easiest way for me, is whether he's fitting a run on defense as a nickel or he's blitzing, as I said, just, I guess, try to pretend like you have the football in your hand, you've got to weave through traffic and you've got to make these guys miss. I mean, he thinks he's 6'4", 250 pounds. And so, I always tell him on a run, "You don't have to hit these guards and you don't have to run into them on a run. You can slip, duck, dodge and do whatever." So, I think it's a mentality, it's a mindset to be able to do that, to run through the smoke, "Days of Thunder" style. I think he got great effort from the guys blocking for him. We took care of the gunners. Miles [Battle] got to the second level. Te [Marte Mapu] did a great job setting up in a location that they talk about, got it started and then he did the rest.
Q: Mike, did you know just from watching Marcus' tape that he might be a fit for what you wanted to build here? How soon did you know?
MV: We didn't take long in the offseason. Just from the personality, just from the person, the way that he practiced, he embodied, I would say, the identity, and then just knew he was an elite punt returner. And so, we have to continue to make that a weapon, force teams to punt and be in fourth-and-long to where we have those opportunities to double the gunners and things like that. It's fourth-and-3, it's hard to double the gunners and you want to be sound on everything.
Q: Mike, I know it's good to see Jahlani [Tavai] break down the huddle post game, but also, was he a game captain, too?
MV: He was, yep. Again, these guys have built a bond that I want to try to just help nurture and help grow throughout the team, and Jahlani is somebody like that. You see everybody reaching out and caring for each other, not just him. But it was great to see him out there, play defense, help us on special teams. [He] made some plays and contributed to us winning.
Q: Mike, you said that this team has really earned this bye week, as late as it is. What would you want your message, if you can share with us, to the team as they go into the bye week to be?
MV: That we're not done. We're not satisfied. I think champions are never satisfied. I think you can appreciate where you are, but at the same time, never be satisfied or complacent. The fine line between rest and recovery, and just being sedentary. So, there's a fine line of what we have to do to be able to come back in here, understand that just because you have a bye, that doesn't mean you're guaranteed some victory the next week in this league. Teams are 16-12 coming off a bye this year, so obviously the bye doesn't guarantee anything other than we should get some guys back that we didn't have last night, and we'll see where that goes throughout the week. Give them some time to reconnect with people that they care about, and then also be ready to focus on football and us finishing this thing.
Q: Mike, [Robert] Spillane didn't get the heaviest of loads last night. Was that just a conscious decision near the end of the game to give them a little bit more of a break?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I think that just playing everybody and where we are in the season – Harold [Landry III] was in that category as well. So, we've got a lot of trust in everybody that's here, and be ready to go and just try to get everybody ready for this next week.
Q: Garrett [Bradbury] said something last night about momentum. He said momentum resets every game in the National Football League. Given that and the fact that you guys have won 10 straight, what's the challenge in keeping the momentum moving forward, even though you guys are going into the bye?
MV: Well, I think you focus. Staying consistent has been something that we've tried to do with the message, try to enhance the things that we do well, improve the things that we're maybe just okay at, and then still finding ways to eliminate the things that get you beat, and then we'll get back on Monday and start that momentum for the week. I think confidence is something that potentially can carry. I think you build momentum through the week in the way that you practice, the way that you correct things and see things come together. We'll do it all again on Monday.
Q: Mike, you've mentioned a couple times this year about continuing to find joy, protecting your joy during the course of the season. Obviously, that's important, but I'm curious if there's anything top of mind you're trying to guard against when you share that message with the team.
MV: I don't know. Just appreciate what we do, where we do it, and who we do it with, I think, is important. Winning helps, but let's be honest, this is the National Football League. You're going to have to go through some tough times and you're going to lose games, whenever that is. That's not our goal, but the goal is to just embrace and enjoy coming to work, provide an environment for these guys to have confidence in what they do, learn, figure out the game plan and how they can help us win, put them in spots to do it, and then try to glorify those efforts in front of the team, in front of our fans and everything else.
Q: I know you couldn't resist the Monday Night Football, carrying it into December, but Movember, what did that mean to you, and My Cause My Cleats, to be able to do that?
MV: Well, first of all, I appreciate what our players do outside this football team and in the community. It's important that they take their platform and their gifts that they've been blessed with and share that with other people. I do know that that's something that's important to a lot of guys on this team. So, for them to be able to do that, I think, is a great thing on Monday night to bring awareness to the things that are important to them. I was able to share in that and bring awareness to men's health. [I'm] not a spring chicken anymore, so we all have to focus on being around for our families, providing for them and making great decisions to take care of our bodies, take care of our health. I appreciate Gillette and everybody allowing me to bring awareness to that.
Q: Mike, how important has it been to the success of your offense that Drake [Maye] is really seemingly willing to throw to anybody? I was just thinking about the touchdown to Kyle last night. That's a connection that hasn't worked necessarily 100% of the time this season.
MV: Well, they're never going to be 100%. No connection's going to be 100%. Nobody's going to be 100%. I've said this to you, to Drake and everybody else. The quarterback's job is to throw to the person that's open in the progression when they're open. Because if you don't do that, then you wait things out and you complain about strip sacks or you complain about getting hurt. That may be a 5-yard completion, a drop step and a knife for eight or nine yards, and if we're lucky, it's a first down. But I think he's done that, and I think that what I talked about with the receivers of just saying, "Hey, go run my route to win, and I may be on the front side of the route or I may be on the back side," and I think Todd Downing's tried to do a good job of explaining to them, "Hey, you've got some time. You're not the fourth read." He doesn't say they're the fourth read. He says, "You've got some time because you're going to be backside on this, the quarterback's going to progress through, and if nobody's open through the progression, well, then this is where we want you and this is where the quarterback's trying to find you." And if somebody's open earlier in the progression, then we need to throw them the football so that bad things don't happen. Sometimes when you wait things out for one particular guy, bad things can happen. So, to answer your question, it's great to see the trust being built, and that happens through practice, and then when Kyle gets an opportunity, Pop [DeMario Douglas] gets an opportunity, Hoop [Austin Hooper] down the seam or whoever it may be, that the quarterback has trust in him to throw the football and put it where it's supposed to go.
Q: Mike, coaching wide receivers is not – you've sort of referenced it – a lot of guys want the ball –
MV: Well, we want them to want the ball.
Q: What made Todd a good fit for that role?
MV: I think Todd is very knowledgeable. I think he builds great connections with his players. He makes it – there's a lot of trust there. He gives them exactly what they need, what each individual needs. Mack Hollins is different than Stef [Stefon Diggs], Pop's different than Boutte, and it's just the personalities of every player on this team and the vision that I had for it is what it is. And again, we've got a long way to go, but I do – having coached quarterbacks, I think that that was an interesting transition, is to be able to explain it in the eyes of a quarterback so that the receivers know, "Hey, this is what the quarterback's being told on this particular play, and if I don't have spacing, I don't have separation, I don't have a stem or I don't – whatever the quarterback's looking for, an indicator or whatever it may be, then I'm probably not going to get the ball." So, I do feel like that's been a positive way to approach that, coaching that position.
