PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
September 10, 2025
MV: Just want to update you here. I didn't want to put out a statement, I would rather just speak on it myself. So, due to some unforeseen ongoings here with Terrell [Williams], Terrell Williams will be away for the next few days, okay? So, it's nothing related to the incident from March, but it was something that just came up. We'll have to run some more tests, and we think it's best and I think it's best that he focuses on that, and we prepare for Miami with what we've been doing. We'll talk to you a little bit later in the week on Friday about how the calling of the game will go defensively. Zak [Kuhr] and I have been working with the staff to make sure that we're where we need to be. That'll be all we'll talk about with Terrell, but I just want to let you guys know what would be going on there, here for the next few days, and then we'll keep you posted as anything comes up.
Q: Might we see Christian Gonzalez today?
MV: Well, I don't think we'll see him today. He's continuing to improve, which is positive, and working hard, but I don't think we'll see him today on the practice field. So again, just working hard and keep improving, staying engaged, still preparing as a starter, asking questions in the meetings and all those things. So, that's where we're at today.
Q: I was just wondering, with Terrell, is this something that just came up today? Was it after the game? Can you shed any light on the timing?
MV: The timing was sometime between the game and, let's say, today. But it wasn't today, it was earlier in the week. So, this is where we're at, and want the best for him, want the best for him and our players, our players' families and everybody else. So again, we can't speculate right now. I just want to make sure that he's focused on getting results and figuring out what the next step is here or medically.
Q: Has Zak's experience over the course of the spring and the summer maybe helped set him up for this role?
MV: Sure, yeah. I mean, I think Zak does a fantastic job, always has, since he's been with us before. Work through the game plan, we'll work through practice, we'll work through the normal operation at third down, short yardage and red zone. We'll have to be great. We'll have to have great preparation for an offense that motions a lot and relies on their speed and their timing, their precision. So, it's always a big challenge to play this team.
Q: What's your recollection, Mike, of the times that you had to deal with Miami and South Florida in the early portion of the season? It can be a grind.
MV: Well, I mean, it's going to be warm, it's going to be wet, it'll be humid. I'm sure it'll rain, probably lightning, who knows, but it'll rain and then it'll stop. I mean, I think as a rookie, I think we might have played down there, or as a young player, back when the dirt was still there and it would rain, and then it would fill up and it wouldn't drain very well. Then it would just be grass and then water. Then after it stopped, it would eventually drain out, but I think that's about what the forecast is every single time you go down there.
Q: Mike, obviously you haven't been here the last few years, but the Patriots organization has had a tough time with the Dolphins. Do you feel the weight of that at all this week?
MV: No, no, I don't. Every week is different. Every week is a huge challenge. I feel the opportunity to go on the road and win a division game. That's what I feel and that's where our thought process is, is that we want to try to get off to a good start, and if we don't, we can't worry about it. These are all things that we have to be able to overcome, whether you get off to a good start, you're still going to have to finish strong, and if you don't get off to a great start, you've got to go on to the next play. Just the understanding that that's how this game goes, and we have to be able to work past it, and we have to continue to practice that way. That if it's not perfect, that we get what we can get, we're decisive, we're aggressive, we get back in the huddle, and then we get another call, we get lined up and we continue to build it together. We try to bring three phases together and put the return opportunities that we have to help our offense, to then our offense is able to score or flip the field, provide our defense with opportunities. We can get some turnovers, take care of the ball. That's the formula to winning.
Q: You want to limit big plays every game, obviously. This week, how big of an emphasis is that with Tyreek [Hill]?
MV: Well, we're certainly going to have to make them earn it, and we're going to have to find ways to get the drive stopped. You either have to do what the Colts did, which was turn it over, or you're going to have to make a play along the way and make them earn it. Pick and choose your spots to try to be aggressive. It's not just Tyreek, I mean, they've got a fantastic orchestrator. I mean, Tua [Tagovailoa] does a fantastic job of knowing where he wants to go with the ball. Quick delivery, he's extremely accurate. Then the speed with [Jaylen] Waddle, Tyreek and the whole team. Then again, they have a fullback that has versatility and can play on the inner line of scrimmage, motions. Usually every big play, he's kind of in the run game, he's somewhere near it.
Q: Mike, as a player and a coach now, what have you enjoyed about playing on the road?
MV: Well, you have to embrace that, you have to travel with the attitude that we need everybody, that we're going with our group, and the things that we talked about fundamentally earlier about playing great defense and being able to control the game and create some turnovers. You have to – there's certain things that you have to do on the road that, whether you do them or you eliminate some of the other bad football, that's what you have to do to win on the road in the division.
Q: The Raiders were able to have some success over the middle, it felt like. Specifically off play-action. How do you limit the disadvantage of linebackers having to cover over the middle against speed?
MV: I think that sometimes we can try to panic back there a little bit, and that's what happens sometimes when you're in zone coverage, and in man coverage you just can't let your guy catch the ball. So, those are the kinds of philosophies that we talk about, and it's a fine line, but continuing to rep that, turn, panic, look those guys up underneath and force them to try to go somewhere else or go to a check down.
Q: Mike, when Zak is taking the role that he is now, does he have the full lattitude to be the defensive play caller?
MV: Well, we'll cover that later on in the week. I think that we've worked through that, and I'll kind of continue to talk about that later in the week. I think I'm excited – I know everybody else is – about our preparation and what we've tried to put in, and see today what works and what looks good. Most importantly, what the players can understand and feel comfortable playing, fast and aggressive.
Q: Mike, what went into the decision to release D.J. James yesterday?
MV: Just probably opportunity and somebody else earned another opportunity.
Q: When was that realization? Because he was someone, obviously, a week ago, you wanted to work with.
MV: Yeah, I mean, I think that just giving somebody else another opportunity this week, and we'll kind of see where that goes. But I appreciated what D.J. was able to do and compete and work hard, extremely hard. There's just going to be – some of these things are going to be fluid. We have to try to continue to turn the roster and see who can help us.
Q: Mike, are you going to appoint a new game day captain different from Week 1, and what's your expectation for those game day captains to be different from those six regular captains?
MV: Yeah, the votes came out how they came out. We announced captains, but I've always kind of liked to have a game captain of somebody that's worked through something, was going back to his hometown or played well last year. There's different reasons for that, and I think I mentioned because KC [K'Lavon Chaisson] had received votes as a special teams captain and as a defensive captain, that I thought it would be a good idea to start off with him.
There's the role of the captain during the game that is they're going to say heads or tails and figure out if we defer. Just the leadership is what we need, and continuing to grow the leadership and the accountability. Again, at the end of the day, teams that hold each other accountable to all the little things, to the details, to doing the right things, to professionalism, are the teams that in the end, I think, can sustain this grind of the season. Because that's it, we're in it, so now it's one day at a time, and it's going to have to have great leadership, great focus and an energy to improve.
Q: Mike, you mentioned earlier in the week, you always try to get into the right play. Sometimes, you're going to get to the line of scrimmage, get a look and say, "No, we can't run the play." And you say, "Well, maybe we can." Is this kind of a data collection thing? Let's run the play. It might be –
MV: We've been through this where you're not going to block the safety. Sometimes the guy makes him miss, sometimes he runs him over. We watch all the games. That's kind of sometimes how it happens, and sometimes a guy makes a tackle. So, I've been through that. You just don't want to put people in harm's way if they're pressuring, and you hand the ball off into some pressure. So again, I think it's all relative in having some decisive answers to give yourself the best chance. You don't want to hand the ball off into somebody that's unblocked and blitzing. Well, if somebody's, for example, let's say, maybe at six or seven yards. Well, let's let it eat and let somebody make a miss.
Q: Do you get to a point where on a coaching staff, you say, "Let's try to run some of these that might not be the greatest look, try and see how it goes." And if it doesn't work, then the guy goes, "See, that's why we don't want to run that play."
MV: Yeah, no, I don't think we need to do that. I think we want to be all on the same page on what the expectations are and being sound. As long as the players understand it, then that's the most important thing. So, we don't want to do any I told you so's. That's not how we're looking to do business. We're just trying to be great here for the players in preparation. Great energy, structure, practice, continue to improve, get started off and find a way to go down and win a football game.
