Patriots HC Mike Vrabel Postgame Transcript 8/22
PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
August 22, 2026
Q: Mike, in the lead-up to the game tonight, as well as the joint practices, you spoke about this being a measuring stick for your team, the battles against the Eagles. So I was just wondering, in totality, the game included, how you thought your team did?
MV: Well, first of all, I would just like to send our thoughts and prayers out for Ja’Quinden Jackson. You never like to see that. Obviously, I hope everything’s okay there. That’s not how you want to start any game or see anybody out there on the field like that. It’s inconsistent. I think that there are some really good performances and then obviously some things that we do that hurt us, and we have to be able to eliminate those few things, those lulls or those naps that we talked about. But I felt like we really competed. The guys that were there tonight in the game competed in the second half, and I think that’s probably the thing that I will take away for the last three or four days, was just the way that they competed and fed off each other, and made some plays and gave up a few, and then were able to come back there at the end and score, and then obviously end the game on defense.
Q: Along those lines, just with everything you guys were able to do, how important is that just for everyone to feel good about it, what you put in, the work you put in, from the ones all the way down to what you saw at the end of the game?
MV: Yeah, I think obviously we always want to win. We want to win, we want to compete, but it was the competing and the fighting through some adversity and things that I needed to see from some young guys that really needed to show it pretty quickly.
Q: Just on Behren Morton, when did you guys know he could punt? What went into that decision, and what did you think of his performance?
MV: Well, I just assume all the quarterbacks, they do their little punt thing and see how close they can get it to the goal line, so I figured he could punt. Bryce [Baringer] wasn’t feeling great after the first two punts, so I figured instead of risking anything there with Bryce or with Andy [Borregales], that Behren was able to get us out of there.
Q: We did not see TreVeyon [Henderson], [Kevin] Byard and [Eli] Raridon during pregame warm-ups. Are those injury situations?
MV: I would say that those are individual situations that kept them out of the pre-game warm-up.
Q: With Marcus Bryant, we saw him leave the game early, and you guys immediately ruled him out. Do you have any update on him?
MV: So, don’t waste your question on an injury question. Yeah, I do think he just got rolled up on. I think it will be a lower leg injury, but I do not know to what extent. That is kind of what happens sometimes in those inside plays. So, we will have to just take a look and see where he is at, but I will not know anything right now.
Q: We saw a lot of Jam Miller and Lan Larison tonight. Has anyone a little further down the depth chart past TreVeyon and Rhamondre [Stevenson] really distinguished themselves when you look for a No. 3 running back to this point in the summer?
MV: I felt like Lan certainly had a good performance, a gritty, tough performance tonight, and did some really good things. It is fourth-and-1, and he gets hit behind the line of scrimmage and finds a way to get the first down. And then we have another long pass, and then he is able to break a couple tackles there on third down when we needed it at the end of the game, so he did some good things.
Q: Mike, I know you do not have the benefit of looking at the tape, but just your thoughts on maybe where Gabe Jacas is at this point. And I don’t know if you saw anything tonight.
MV: I mean, I think just still inconsistent. I think that the effort is certainly there. The willingness. He is a very coachable player. We are just putting a lot on him right now as far as special teams, covering kicks and playing on kick return. We have to be able to see what he can do and maybe what we feel like we can count on when the regular season comes. And I think he will just continue to improve because he has that type of attitude, and he is willing, and I know he will get back to work real quick.
Q: Mike, towards the end of the first quarter, you called a timeout, and you had the conversation with your defensive unit on the side. So, what did you see at that moment that made you feel like a conversation was needed?
MV: I saw dog [expletive] defense, and I wanted to talk to them, and I figured that if I did not call a timeout, that I would not be able to get what I wanted to say off my chest.
Q: Mike, in the big picture, how important is it to you for Drake [Maye] and some of the starters to play in the final preseason game, to feel the game, or do the joint practices that you have experienced lessen the need for that?
MV: I do not think we have a very deep team, so I think we have to make sure that we are preparing our football team and that we are doing everything that we can to keep our best players available. And if that means playing Thursday as part of preparation, then that is what we will do. I have not made that decision yet, but I would say that that is something that I am confident in with where we are set up currently.
Q: How are you weighing the joint practice reps specifically for the wide receivers versus what some guys like Kyle Williams are doing in the preseason games?
MV: Well, I think that that is a great question. The guys that — I just want to give Kyle as many opportunities to continue to improve and do the things that we have asked him to improve on and he knows he needs to improve on. And I love his ability outside the numbers to be able to stretch the field. We wanted to give him some more opportunities to be able to do that as well as work on some of the stuff that Todd [Downing] and Josh [McDaniels] have him trying to improve on. And so the guys that played or did not play, I felt like they got a lot of work, and Kyle probably needed a little bit more work. And it was good to see Chiz (Efton Chism III) come out tonight and do some things and just try to be able to evaluate everybody as we look to build this roster.
Q: What do you think you need to learn over the next five days? And within that, what can you learn about your team?
MV: I mean, I think we just have to continue to not make the same mistakes twice. As far as some of the younger guys, we need to make new mistakes because you need to be able to count on some of these guys when we put the roster together to be able to contribute and as we define their roles. So, I think that is probably the first thing, and then we will have practice, and then we will have another game on Thursday. We have two really good days lined up, I think, on Monday and Tuesday. And then we will travel, and we will play in Cleveland. So, those are opportunities, and then the schedule gets a little funky, and we will have to be ready to go.
Q: You mentioned you wanted to see some of the younger players, rookies fight through adversity. What specifically are you looking for, and how important is that in building their character and who they will be as individuals moving forward?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I think that this is. There are a lot of ebbs and flows of a professional football game, and how can you handle making a mistake? How can you handle getting blocked? How can you handle having a good play and then coming back and being able to do it again? And how they bounce back, how they handle different situations. What they do in live action, I think, is really critical.