Patriots HC Mike Vrabel Postgame Transcript 10/11
PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE
October 11, 2026
Q: Mike, what did you like about the way your team responded to what you were able to do last Sunday to take into this week into this game?
MV: Last week doesn’t matter. Today’s not going to matter here in about 10 minutes. We’re going to have to focus on the Jets in the division here at home. We still have a lot to improve and to clean up.
Q: Mike, you said earlier this week that Maxx Crosby can pretty much do whatever he wants. He didn’t do much of anything in this one. How did you guys slow him down?
MV: Just proud of our offensive line, and I want to recognize them. I thought that they understood what the protection was and how to keep the middle of the pocket clean. There was a lot of time for us to progress down the field, and then they run blitz zero, and we blocked it up and were able to hit some plays down the field. And so, that’s a testament to them for understanding what they have to be able to do, and guys stepped up. Caleb [Lomu] had to go in there, and we had all hands on deck.
Q: You guys entered the game with four active wide receivers, three active corners. You just talked about Caleb going into the game. Why do you think this team has been able to embrace the next man up?
MV: Because that’s what it has to be. We try not to panic. We just try to get the next guy ready. We ask everybody to prepare as a starter, so credit to the football players, particularly the guys on this team, the guys that we’ve tried to bring in here. They realize that when you get an opportunity and you do something with it, then you get more opportunities.
Q: Players obviously did a great job today, but what do you make of the coaching staff? The offense gains 500 yards missing all those pieces. The defense shut down the Raiders, missing four corners. What do you think of how the coaching staff responded this week?
MV: Again, I think all the credit goes to the players. Josh [McDaniels], Zak [Kuhr] and Jeremy [Springer], they do a fantastic job. I think our coaches are great, and they understand the game plan, and they try to get their players ready. But ultimately, that’s what they expect. That’s what they expect of themselves. But the credit goes to the players to be able to go out and put a bunch of yards up, get short yardage stops or get third down stops and understand how to – sudden change, getting their guys ready, a lot of moving parts, hurry-up throughout most of the fourth quarter, getting other guys in different spots. So, they expect that. They have high expectations of themselves as coaches, and I’m lucky to be able to have them.
Q: Coach, how good does it feel to have some consistency here the last two weeks and start getting your footing here in terms of the way you’re playing?
MV: There’s a lot to improve on. There’s a lot to work on. The penalties are ridiculous, so we’ll have to focus on that and figure out things that we can improve on, which there’ll be a lot of.
Q: Mike, Drake’s [Maye] decision-making today, be it the throwaways and not having a turnover, what did you see there that you liked?
MV: I mean, all the things that you talked about. I felt like he was in control and gave him some time, and we always talk about when we have clean pockets and his ability to transfer up into really good pockets that we’re going to gain yards. And being able to recognize man or zone or where he wants to go with the football and the timing of it. It was unfortunate he got the grounding or whatever you want to call that because he’s trying to get rid of the football to an eligible receiver, and seven officials couldn’t see Hunter [Henry] standing there.
Q: What’d you think of the run game overall today?
MV: I think inconsistent. There were some good ones in there, and then we got too many for no yardage. We just want to be able to stay consistent with that, but there were some good ones there at the end; I thought it was just enough, and Drake made some good decisions with his legs.
Q: Mike, why do you think the offense was so efficient with four of those scoring drives under three minutes today?
MV: Well, we hit some X plays. I think just the guys hit X plays, and Kyle Williams. Again, I think this is something that we focused on is he probably started blocking his guy a little too soon on a screen, and they called him for offensive pass interference, and he doesn’t let that affect him. He comes back and runs an amazing route, and Drake gives him a great ball. And so, the players were able to stay focused on the next play and understand that the history of the last play or the history of last week, it doesn’t have any bearing on what their performance has to be on the next play.
Q: I’m curious with Kindle Vildor, obviously with all the injuries at cornerback, just how do you feel he stepped up today and performed?
MV: Yep, just exactly what we would expect. That’s why we had him in that position and had ability for him to be elevated or get signed and step in there and compete. And nothing was perfect. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but for him to understand what he has to do – great opportunistic hammer and turnover and punch out there. It’s the competitive spirit of some of these guys is really, truly special.
Q: You talked about the wide receiver depth a lot this summer. What’d you see from Pop [DeMario Douglas], Kyle, and Efton [Chism III] in this game?
MV: All of them. They’re all ready to go. They all play different positions. That’s not easy, to learn three different positions and being able to step in there and block and make plays. The ball found each and every one of them. And I think Todd [Downing] does a great job, and I think they all care about each other. Those receivers, they don’t care who catches the ball. They don’t care who catches a touchdown. They’re just as excited for the next guy if it was them, and I think that that’s truly what we want to build around here. And I’ve got to get it to be the entire team. I’ve got to get the entire team to look at it like that.
Q: Doesn’t sound like you were very happy, but given all the injuries that you came in with and suffered during the game, the effort all across the board, was that –
MV: I’m happy. There’s just a lot of things that we have to do to improve, and we have to come back. Again, the players, the effort in which they play with and being able to get stops in the red zone, finish off drives and not let penalties affect us, those are all positives. Those are things that crumbled us early in the year, especially offensively, and so we were able to overcome that. But eventually, you’re not going to be able to overcome some of the mistakes that we made and some of the penalties. And so again, we’re never going to be satisfied. We’re going to enjoy this, we’re going to get back to work, figure out who’s available, try to put a plan together to beat the Jets here at home in another division game. So, I’m extremely happy.
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