PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
August 18, 2025
MV: How we doing? Usually, you have to stay for the game to ask the first question. Go ahead, Karen [Guregian].
Q: Since we won't see you before Thursday, this is our last opportunity to chat with you, and I know you like to go day-to-day, but do you have a plan for who might play and who might not play Thursday? Will you have regulars playing or try to hold them out?
MV: Yeah, I think with a quick turnaround, I think we'll have to just manage some of those reps. But yes, obviously try to have a plan. Quick turnaround. These are going to be two important days here. We've got to get back out here. We'll be in the red zone today. And then there will be a group of guys that get a lot of reps tomorrow that are going to be good, important reps. So, based on how that goes, that'll tell me a lot for Thursday night.
Q: How much evaluation is that versus mostly hay in the barn?
MV: I don't think that that's ever…I mean, we're always trying to evaluate and improve. I can't see a scenario where we'd ever not want to do that and continue to try to improve the roster or continue to evaluate who we think is going to give us the best chance to win, and also who has shown enough to want to work with on the practice squad. Again, we've talked about the different types of players that maybe will end up on the practice squad throughout the league, whether that's a young developmental player or maybe somebody that can be called up for the game quickly on short notice.
Q: After being able to watch the film, how do you feel like Will [Campbell] performed?
MV: I think he did fine.
Q: Mike, how do you reconcile practice performance versus preseason performance? And speaking specifically to [Javon] Baker and [Anfernee] Jennings, it seems like Baker shows up quite a bit in the 11-on-11s here, but then in the games, you had a hard time getting him involved. Obviously, Jennings was (inaudible) in Minnesota with some of the reserves.
MV: Well, we don't ever underestimate the performance in a game, in live action. And, yeah, I think Javon would have liked to have been able to connect on some of those passes and those targets. He stuck with it. I liked where his attitude was and his ability to play on special teams. And then even late in the game to try to block, we threw a screen out there to [John] Jiles, and he's attached and he's trying to finish and then found a reception there late. So, I think that shows some growth. I think that could be, for a young player, when it doesn't go your way early, I think maybe it could have been an opportunity to kind of just pack it up. I didn't see that from him. And, again, my indication to that is the fact that late in the game we threw a screen to Jiles, as I mentioned, and he's blocking, he's finishing, he's trying to make sure that he's protecting the guy with the ball. So, sometimes it doesn't always go the way that you anticipate or maybe the stats don't indicate that. And then for Anfernee, just taking advantage of the opportunity that he got and helped us win.
Q: Mike, after the game you said you wanted to talk to the medical staff on Kyle [Williams], Isaiah [Iton], and maybe even Efton [Chism III]. What is their status, the three of those?
MV: I would not anticipate any of those out here today, and we'll see what their availability — Iton will not play in the game. So, that one I know for sure. And then the other guys, we'll continue to evaluate.
Q: Mike, when you have offensive linemen playing new positions like Vederian [Lowe], Ben [Brown], and Cole [Strange], how much stock do you put into the limited sample you have with them at the new positions? Is there any other part of that evaluation besides them just being on the field there?
MV: I mean, I think if you're — at some point in time you're going to have to play more than one position — a swing tackle or tackles that aren't starting a game are probably going to have to play left and right. So, we're going to continue to work with Vederian and get him some more snaps over there at the right. I hope that will be better, and I understand that when you're on one side, and you hear calls, and a play means something and then you're on the right, what your job is on the other side may sound simple, but when it's quick, I can at least appreciate where some of the maybe miscommunication or the assignment could get mixed up from play to play. So, just getting them comfortable over there to be able to evaluate him at both sides.
Q: Did Minnesota's late movement with their D-line affect some of that too? I mean, it was pretty quick.
MV: Well, that's what movement is going to be. It's going to be on a snap, and sometimes in a run game we're going to have to be able to do that. They're not just going to stand still on us. Sometimes we caught them and sometimes we didn't. So, there were examples where the movement, we were able to block it and gain yards in the run game and other times where we weren't.
Q: You talked a lot about not wanting to see the guys repeat mistakes, of course, throughout their development. Do you feel like Drake [Maye], in terms of his judgment and just ball security, has shown a lot of that and how far do you feel like his progress is at this point?
MV: Well, I mean, I think that we have to be able to connect on passes like the one to Pop (DeMario Douglas), making sure that both the receiver and the quarterback are on the same page and that the ball placement is where it needs to be. I would say the tipped balls, especially ones that are over the middle of the field or towards the middle of the field, are going to end up intercepted. He's continuing to improve and continuing to help us. I like where he's at, it's just we've got to fix that. We talked to him about not taking a senseless hit outside the pocket on second-and-ten. If there's nobody there, throw it away, and we'll try to convert on third down. Just being smart and understanding those little details. And then, we talked about late in the game there with Ben [Wooldridge] and being able to coach that five-minute situation where we would want him to take a sack even though as a quarterback, you're like, why do I want to take a sack? It's third-down-and-seven and there's three minutes and 12 seconds left. We force them to call a timeout, or we take 40 seconds off. So, those are great opportunities to learn from. And, again, the quarterbacks that aren't in the game, they have to put themselves in that position. That's what we're trying to do there at the end of the game is to make sure that everybody was watching the situation, whether that's the last play situations on defense or the five-minute offense with the guys that weren't in there.
Q: With Kyle Dugger, as it concerns that last play with the interception, what did you see on that and how did you maybe coach him to either go down after or just immediately on that play? Just what did you see?
MV: Again, that's why we practice, why we are grateful that these games can create those situations of the last play. Again, you have two choices. One, bat it down when you know it's the last play, which I'm not expecting him to. And then, when you intercept the ball, we just have to go down. Whenever we have the football in our hands defensively, we have to be able to secure it, and we have to be able to block, and we have to be able to get the intended receiver and do all the things now that an offensive player would do. So, just simply go down there and not have to take the few extra steps to make it close.
Q: Drake talked about how he was maybe a little too amped up for the first part of the game, nut he says he doesn't really want to change that. He likes playing with energy. Do you appreciate a quarterback who approaches his job that way? Do you want to try to calm him down as the head coach? How do you view that?
MV: Again, the personality or whatever they're feeling, that's up to them. I think that the performance and the mentality and how we want to play the game has to be the same. So, whatever they want to feel, they're more than welcome to feel. We just need to make sure that we execute and that we're taking command of the huddle and that we're operating at a high level. Some guys are going to be more amped than others as their own personal approach to the game.
Q: What did you think of the left guard competition after getting a chance to watch the film? Were there any guys specifically that you thought made the most of their opportunities?
MV: We'll continue to evaluate that spot and that rotation and where we're at competing and trying to make sure that we're giving everybody the opportunity in there, from the center and the left guard, and just trying to figure out what the best combination is.
Q: What have you seen from Ben Brown this offseason? How did he do at left guard?
MV: Ben's continued to improve. There's opportunities — Ben got us going in the run game there early. I thought he did okay. It wasn't perfect, but Ben finishes, and he's firm. We're going to continue to coach all these guys, whether it's Jared [Wilson] or Ben or Caedan [Wallace], about staying inside out and being patient in their set and timing their punch.
Q: Do you have plan for running back carries and how to divvy that up? Is that something where you want set roles? You're a third-down guy. You're a first-and-ten guy. Do you ride the hot hand in the game? When you've got three capable guys, how do you figure out how to spread that out?
MV: I think that's going to kind of take care of itself as we get a little closer and there are some things that are game-planned, and the involvement that some of them have on special teams or plays that we like for one or the other. But, I think that they're all capable and we're excited to get them back and do some things with them. I think the carries and production will hopefully all take care of itself.
Q: Mike, do you expect Christian Gonzalez or Kendrick Bourne to practice or play this weekend?
MV: No.
Q: Mike, what have you seen from Milton Williams with three joint practices now?
MV: I thought he showed the ability to get into the pocket. I thought it factored. I saw there were a couple opportunities in practice for him to transition and get into the pocket, affect the quarterback. I saw that early in the game. I thought — a good example of the team defense that we're talking about — he pushed the middle of the pocket, the quarterback stepped up, ran into the push that Milton created. He tried to go out of the back of the pocket, KC (K'Lavon Chaisson) was there, and then the quarterback made the decision that he made, and we were able to take advantage of it, and Double-A (Alex Austin) was able to get the interception. So, just trying to show them those types of plays that Milt didn't get on the stat sheet, KC might have got a quarterback hit, but in the end, we ended up with the football on the plus side of the field and converted that into points. So, I think that's the whole idea that we're preaching.
