PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
September 10, 2026
Q: Mike, there was a report today that A.J. Brown suffered a high ankle sprain. Is that accurate? Do you have any more details you can share updating his status?
MV: A.J. [Brown] will be running more tests, but we will update you here next week. He was not able to finish the game, and we will continue to evaluate, continue to get tests run. But I don't know if he will be available going forward here for the next week, but we'll see. I know he will do everything that he can to get back as quickly as possible, and once we get the reports, then we'll figure out what the treatment plan is.
Q: Beyond that, Mike, was there anything that popped up after the fact in terms of injuries? You don't need to give us an injury report.
MV: No, I do not think that. Morgan Moses was able to return. Hunter Henry was able to return. Carlton Davis III was able to return. So, just probably some bumps and bruises, but I do not think anything that would keep anybody out. A.J. Brown is one we will have to monitor.
Q: Mike, do you still feel that the reps in some of those joint practices were sufficient as opposed to playing guys in the preseason?
MV: I do. Playing the backups for the Eagles or the Colts for eight plays, I don't think was going to prepare us for what we saw last night. I thought we handled the environment. I know that the execution was not good enough, but the line of scrimmage penalties, the operation, those things gave us a chance, and some other things didn't give us a chance.
Q: Mike, on that last throw, was there a reason that was not thrown more quickly by Drake [Maye]?
MV: Everything in the passing game is built on timing and built on protection. So, again, if it is not where you want it and the timing of that particular play and protection, you just have to throw it away and say, "We can't win it on this throw." Drake [Maye] will learn from it, we will all learn from it, and hopefully we will be better for it in the end.
Q: Just in terms of the communication mechanics there, would Josh McDaniels be in his ear in that situation? Maybe not right before that play, but before other situations?
MV: Yeah, I mean I hear all of it: I hear the conversation, I tell him what we are doing, I tell him, "Hey, we are going to go for it," or, "Hey, this is four down." We picked up two fourth downs on that drive. If it's there, obviously we want to try to be aggressive. And then if not, we're not losing any yards, and we certainly do not want to give them a chance to make a play. So that was the conversation that went in.
Q: Sorry, but is he reminding that guys are in field goal territory, you know?
MV: Yeah, and again, we had talked about this going into the offseason, when you get into those spots and a field goal ties it, we saw some teams around the league try to score and try to win the game in that regard. And so, that is what we were trying to do, and we didn't execute it
Q: After watching the film, how would you assess Gabe Jacas' play?
MV: Well, I thought it continues to improve. I thought that he was active. I thought he set some good edges in the run game, and it was good to see him make a nice play and a tackle for loss. I thought his, probably his most instinctive play since he has been here was the unbalanced play in the red zone. They went with a speed break and a tackle over a little bunch into the boundary, and they tried to block down on him, and he just reacted across the guy's face and was able to make a tackle for just a few yard gain. So, I think that was probably the play that I was most pleased with and saying, "Hey, this is kind of, you are just out there playing. You are getting lined up. You are reacting. The guy blocks down on you and you cross his face and go make the tackle." So, some good things, some things that we will have to coach and correct and fix on special teams. But I thought that it was an improvement.
Q: Mike, where Drake Maye said it was a lack of patience on that last throw, and I saw Romeo [Doubs] said he was not locked in enough on the football, how do you go about improving intangible things like that - decision-making with guys?
MV: Well, I do not think Romeo's [Doubs] was a decision. I think his decision and his route and everything was over there, he just dropped the ball. That's what happens in this league. Sometimes guys drop the ball, sometimes guys miss tackles, and we try to improve our focus. Decision making, and again, when you are the quarterback or you have the ball in your hand, I think those things just get magnified and those decisions and the timings and all those other things. We've seen Drake Maye perform at an extremely high level, and I anticipate him continuing to do that and doing that as we move forward.
Q: Mike, there were a lot of early down running plays that did not go anywhere. I'm curious about the conversation on the sideline. I know you're not going to abandon the run. We went back to this in the opener last year against the Raiders, kind of throwing away the run in the second half, and you did not want to do that again. Were the conversations on the sidelines about, "Hey, maybe we should open it up a little bit more? Maybe we should think about more quick passes here instead of running into a brick wall over and over?"
MV: I think that there are always those conversations, and I think that when there is not success, it's always like is it one guy? Did we like the play? Was there a better cut? There are all these different conversations that happen, and I think you saw us hit some runs, and I thought we ran the ball better in the second half. So again, it wasn't good enough, but I think the ability to be able to do that and then have some of those runs gives us an opportunity to protect the guys up front so it doesn't become a drop-back passing game, which I felt like we did protect better. And I thought there were a lot of strides in that regard. Not perfect, but I thought that we were able to at least create some pockets and that to give us a chance to throw from, and then there are times where we have to be better and we have to pick up pressure or pick up a game and not get picked.
Q: When you guys struggle with turnovers, how do you guys make sure it does not become a pattern and spill into the next week?
MV: Ball security is critical - we have periods designed for it each and every day in practice. Is it ball security? Is it a receiver or a running back? We talk about protecting the ball and the guy that has it and so try to make sure that everybody understands their role in ball security. Because an O-lineman is like, "Well, I do not carry the football," but their role is to be able to chase the ball or to protect the quarterback and so that makes their job easier. And then if you are talking about the quarterback, it is putting the ball in the right spots and being decisive with the football and maybe not staring something down or whatever those things are and not putting it in harm's way. So, you practice – that's the only way that we know how to fix things. Like I said last night, we want to stay aggressive. You have to make plays in this league in order to win, but it can't be a negative one in the hopes of making a positive play.
Q: Do you ever feel like there has to be a level of acceptance on your end with some of the "reckless" plays from Drake Maye just because he has that play making mindset and if you try to limit those you might not get the high-end plays that he gives you on the opposite end of the spectrum?
MV: I think that there's a fine line. It's like a pass rusher: you come under and you get a sack, or if you come under and the quarterback rolls out to the right and throws a 40-yard pass. So, there is one guy with the ball, and he gets to make the decisions and we trust Drake [Maye] to do that. So, I wouldn't say that we should allow reckless play, because then it's just scattered and guys are in different gaps or guys do whatever they want. There is a scheme to the play and then the players have to, we talk about 'bringing the picture to life', and we've done that a lot, and we will continue to do it. But I think he knows the difference, and I think most of our players know the difference between when they can be aggressive and when they have to be smart.
Q: Corey Kiner had to get involved with the offense without TreVeyon [Henderson] having just been here for a few weeks. What did you make of his performance and just how he has gotten into the offense mentally in a short time here?
MV: Yeah, he has done a good job. He's worked hard to try to acclimate himself to the protections and the terminology, and we have to be able to give him some opportunities to run, and he had a couple decent runs in there and a couple ones that we have to block better. But again, he has worked hard, he's a great kid, and he wants to do a good job. He wants to know more of the offense and learn more of the offense.
Q: Mike, with the Jaxon Smith-Njigba touchdown, how much do you attribute that to his abilities versus missed tackles or shortcomings on your defense's side?
MV: Well, we're loaded up there to stop the run on fourth and one, and then if they again throw it, we are okay with a six-yard gain and a first down, we can play defense again. And so, we have to be able to get him on the ground. X plays are because of missed tackles or poor communication, sometimes both. So, we didn't make him earn it. The first down is fine; it's the X play that hurts you.
Q: Mike, at the end of the third quarter, the punt return from Marcus Jones that the kick was short. Would he, could he, should he have caught that ball?
MV: Again, we trust Marcus [Jones] like we trust all the other players to make a decision. I think we've all seen what Marcus [Jones] can do. They hit the banana, he had been hooking him and hitting him over there. Michael Dickson is a fantastic punter, I mean, he is a weapon for them, and we want to get Marcus Jones going and figure out ways to do that. I mean, it has been a strength of ours and it has to continue to be a strength. But Marcus Jones knows that he is going to get to every football that he can and the ones that he doesn't, I figure that I am going to trust him that he is making a good decision.
Q: Mike, just curious, end of the first half, why run into the locker room? I think it was fourth and two, with like, maybe 10 seconds left. You guys could have called timeout, maybe forced, given Marcus Jones a chance to make a play on a return. Why opt to go into the locker room?
MV: Yeah, just wanted to get into the locker room and go from there and regroup.
Q: I remember you saying last year, I think it was you guys were in Buffalo, and you said something to the effect of, "we wanted to go," and that it was important to the players, you thought, to go into the locker room with a lead. Similar thought process here?
MV: No, I mean, again, no, it was just that, we want to make sure that everybody is on the same page, that our guys are locked in and focused. And the second half was probably the biggest disappointment. I thought we did enough early in the game to give ourselves a chance. It wasn't good enough, but there were no negative plays, no penalties, and no turnovers. You have to be able to learn from these experiences that they are going to be doing things in the second half, or they are going to play better or they are going to recognize, and we weren't able to match some of their performances in the second half. And so, we will focus on that, but there are a lot of good things. It is the good, the bad, and the stuff that gets us beat, and this game had all of those. And we'll regroup and we'll try to eliminate the things that get us beat.
