PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
August 14, 2025
Q: Just your general impressions of yesterday, how that went and what you're hoping to see today?
MV: These practices are like a game – we've said that. There's ups and downs. We hit some plays. They hit some plays. There's an intermission, and again, there's a break with special teams and then you – usually a two-minute situation at the end. So, we were able to make a play at the two-minute situation and kind of the same thing defensively. They hit some plays. We were able to have some good plays, and again, just looking for some consistency. And I think what they do defensively is a great challenge for us. To come up here without any real practice or any look and be able to have some good plays, and again, some plays that we have to improve on, but I think it's a good start.
Q: Mike, how good of an education on the fly is that for the offensive line?
MV: Yeah, I mean, it's for everybody, right? It's for the quarterback to be able to communicate and get us in the right protection, communicate and go from there, but execute, right? And I think the big thing is, once you communicate, we have to execute with the fundamentals and make corrections quickly and go from there.
Q: How did you think Drake [Maye] did yesterday?
MV: I thought he did well. It's easy to go into blender when you're seeing a bunch of this stuff and kind of scrambling and turning one less than favorable play into a real shit storm. So, I didn't see that. I thought he was able to process. And we didn't execute all the time, but I didn't see any panic from him. I thought he was able to communicate and get the things that he wanted and then hit some plays because of it. When we blocked him, we were able to make some plays and then we'll just have to try to see what happens today and continue to go from there.
Q: Jonathan Greenard's a talented player, how did Will Campbell do yesterday in that matchup?
MV: Had some good plays and had some plays where he got beat inside. These are going to happen to young offensive linemen, so we're not going to sit and evaluate every practice. I'll let you guys do that, and we'll go from there and just keep trying to improve.
Q: Mike, we saw Terrell Williams upstairs during the preseason opener. What led to that decision and do you see him being upstairs or downstairs?
MV: Well, there's a lot of positives to being upstairs, to being able to see things and being able to call the game from there. Just trying to get a gauge on what's best, and some coaches, play callers like to do it from the field, some really like it from upstairs. And so, Terrell is going to probably stay upstairs this week and see how that goes and continue to work. And again, that was a good operation that we were able to go against with Washington and the no-huddle stuff. That was a good first test in preseason.
Q: Mike, you talked about protecting from inside out in the past. With Will in particular, is that like a repeat thing you've seen from him?
MV: Well, it's come up with all of them. I don't think that that's just to signal him out. We have to be firm in the middle and we have to stay inside-out and the quarterback has to transfer up into the pocket. So, those are all things that have to go hand-in-hand. We've talked about, it's hard to block edge rushers if you give them a three-way go, which is inside over the top of you or around the edge, and then we have to force them around the edge and the quarterback has to transfer up into the pocket, and in order to do that, you have to be firm in the middle of the pocket. So, all those things have to come together. And when they do, it looks pretty good. And then when there's breakdowns in those, or we're not helping the guy next to us in pass rush games, or we don't get open fast enough, there's one thing after another.
Q: Mike, yesterday you talked about Kyle Dugger and Jaylinn Hawkins. Craig Woodson, what has he shown you at the safety position?
MV: He keeps, I think, getting better. I think he keeps learning, each day, some of the different techniques that maybe he didn't use as much at Cal. I've seen him tackle. I think the special teams stuff was good. I think throwing himself in there into the fire on some of the special teams stuff was good to see. So, continue to see where he's at just from his physicality and kind of go from there.
Q: Mike, what have you liked about your red zone offense to date this summer? And besides touchdowns, what are you hoping to see from that today?
MV: Just knowing – No, let's say, unforced errors going backwards in the red zone. If you have a play where there's a penalty or you lose yardage, the percentage that ends in a touchdown really decreases drastically. So, we have to – every yard matters down there. A three-yard gain is still a positive play, and we have to be able to do that and get the ball out quickly. There has to be some precision to what you're doing in the red zone. The timing is quicker and the windows are much tighter.
Q: Mike, Stefon [Diggs] made some comments yesterday about how he's not sure about his readiness for week 1.
MV: Did you really believe that, Phil [Perry]? I mean, you're a smart guy. I don't know where you went to school – it wasn't Ohio State. But like, do you really believe that? Do you really believe that, Phil, or are you just trying to bait me into something?
Q: I'm not baiting you into anything. He did say he wasn't sure he'd be ready for Week 1. Is there any doubt in your mind?
MV: I don't know the context in which he said it, but you'd have to help me. I mean, he's been out here almost every day. I'm excited of where he's at and we'll see when Week 1 comes, but he's going to practice today. Hopefully he helps us in the red zone, but we can't predict the future about Week 1. I just know he's going to be out there today, and he works hard and he cares, which are two important things.
Q: Mike, speaking of context and Stef Diggs, Todd Downing had a quote about Stef the other day. I'm wondering if you could add some context?
MV: I'll do my best. I'll try to let Todd speak for himself, but I'll try to help you the best I can. What have you got?
Q: The big thing with him is understanding that you can't confuse results with the process, so if there's a day he doesn't have a whole bunch of production, that doesn't mean he didn't do his job and get open. It sounds like that has been an issue with him.
MV: I don't think that it has. I thought that, again, there's days where the ball doesn't find you. There's one football. There's five eligible receivers. The quarterback decides where he wants to go with the ball. No different than Kyle Williams. Kyle Williams is working extremely hard. Ball hasn't really found him. He's been open. There's been separation. I'm not sure which day Todd said that, but the other day in the red zone, I thought that Stefon factored and looked good and keeps getting better, so I don't think that that's going to be always the case, right? As far as there's a – Terrell mentioned this. Terrell Williams said this one time, 'you can make the play without making a tackle, right?' And that was something that you have to teach defensive linemen, is when they start trying to make a bunch of tackles, maybe they start hurting some of the people behind them and the fits and everything else because they're trying to make a tackle, where there's ways to do their job and really contribute to the defense without ever getting a stat. And those plays will come, just make the ones that you're supposed to make. And I really equate that to, really, every position. But you asked about receiver, and then again, everybody wants to catch the ball, and everybody wants to score touchdowns, and those will come, and that'll happen, and maybe on that particular day in which Todd said that, there wasn't a ton of production from that practice day. I'm not really sure when he said that, but there's other ways to be successful and do your job and help us win. That's the most important thing.
Q: Mike, with the quarterbacks other than Drake, do you view them as competing for the number two job, or do you kind of view their spots, because one's a veteran and one's a rookie, that they're kind of solidified?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I think Josh [Joshua Dobbs] is the backup right now. Not that that couldn't change. You know, Ben [Wooldridge]'s working hard, and we'll see. We're always trying to strengthen the roster each and every day, but Josh is in there. Josh just has to be more consistent. Had an unfortunate interception in two-minute drill and throwing it into robber, and ball placement has to be better, and just the timing and all these things that we work on. So, he's getting the same looks that Drake's getting, and it's not easy, but that's not an excuse. I'm not using that as an excuse. Just saying we have to take care of football.
Q: Would there be any consideration of moving Kyle Dugger, potentially, to linebacker, kind of like Marte Mapu, just to get him more opportunities to get on the field?
MV: Yeah, I mean, we would consider anything to try to help the football team and help the player. That's everything we want to try to do, is help every player earn a role and build a football team.
