Patriots HC Mike Vrabel Postgame Transcript 9/27

HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

What’s your concern level with Drake [Maye]?

My concern level is very high for this football team. I just want to coach and improve. So, I think that’s the biggest thing is when you come off a game like that, that you just want to get back and work. There’s nothing you can do about it, but we have to take care of the football. And I mean, we can’t force things. We can’t do things in all three phases that end up getting you beat. So certainly, we have to fix a lot of things.

Whose decision making was a strength last year, and through the first three games it feels like it’s not been?
MIKE VRABEL: No. And it doesn’t feel like it hasn’t been. We haven’t made good decisions with the football. So, we have to get it fixed. We have to practice. We have to work to get it corrected, and everybody else has to do much better, and it starts with me. That’s how it goes. It starts with me, and I gotta get guys in there to do the things the way that we need them done and the identity, and there’s going to be mistakes, but there’s too many things that get us beat. Turnovers, not taking advantage of their turnover opportunities. Penalties, sudden change, things that we’re usually good at. And so we’ll have to figure out why and do it in a hurry. We’re going on the road to Buffalo.

Do you feel like your quarterback [QB Drake Maye] is almost like kind of like baseball in a slump right now, maybe mentally?
MIKE VRABEL: Again, I don’t think — again, I think he knows what to do. I think we have to do it better. And, again, we all want to make plays. We just have to make them good ones. I mean, if it’s not there, we gotta make a great decision, and I think sometimes you can want it too badly and we can’t force anything.

You said you think he knows what to do, but it seems like he’s hesitating a lot. That’s a recurring thing for the first three weeks. Can you share that sort of process?
MIKE VRABEL: Yeah. Again, when I say knows what to do, I think formationally, in the plays and everything else and then just being able to react to the defenses and the looks. That just comes with being confident with what you do and knowing if you’re going to go on the first hitch or if you’re going to be able to check it down and where the spots are. And, again, we gotta make sure that everybody around him is doing their job and doing their part. Can’t have his arm get hit or something else and get pressured. Just not doing a good enough job of coaching or playing consistently.

Are you seeing this type of performance from Drake [Maye] in practice?
MIKE VRABEL: Again, I think our practice consistency on all levels, in all three phases has to improve. I mean, I think that that’s just — we feel like the practice execution leads to game reality. We have to build confidence throughout the week, and we have to continue to do that and translate that on to the football field on Sundays.

To be more specific, the turnovers, have you seen plays like you have today, the turnovers in practice?
MIKE VRABEL: No. I wouldn’t say that the ball has been turned over like it was here today in practice.

Do you think Drake’s confidence is shaken?
MIKE VRABEL: I mean, I think you need to ask Drake that. I don’t have control of the players’ psyche. You know what I mean? We’re professional football players. We’re professional coaches. We have to prepare. We have to be willing to, you know, like we said, prepare to start fast. Again, you have to be also prepared to compete and take advantage of the opportunities, not miss kicks, score touchdowns in the red zone, get red zone stops; it just was everything. So, (it) starts with me. I’ll have them better prepared. I’m going to commit to improving this football team and the guys that we have here.

Is there anything that you’d do differently this week, Mike, as a coach?
MIKE VRABEL: The game ended five minutes ago. So, I’m going to think about everything, you know, from now until the time that we practice. We’re going to meet. We’re going to watch it. We’ll show the good, the bad and the stuff that gets us beat tomorrow, and I’ll think of everything I possibly can for us to perform better.

What do you think you can do to help Drake?
MIKE VRABEL: I mean, again, try to show him the looks, try to give him – me, personally, again, I try to talk to him about, you know, just taking the ball and putting it where it’s supposed to go. And he’s 24 years old. Like we’re not dealing with a 35-year-old quarterback here. He’s a young quarterback. I want him to go and be energetic and talk to him about just, can’t be a robot here. We gotta go. And you saw sometimes where he extended plays and kept his eyes down field and made plays, and then also we just can’t turn it over the rate that we’re turning it over, especially down in the red zone.

Mike, Morgan [Moses] was to sit before the rest of the offensive starters. What was the reason for him being sidelined?
MIKE VRABEL: I just made a decision. You know what I mean? It’s a long season. Morgan is 36 years old. I don’t know what to tell you. Didn’t think we were going to come back and win the game. As much as I wished that we were, I didn’t think that we were. So I made a decision.

Is his starting job in jeopardy?
MIKE VRABEL: Not that I’m aware of. I mean, again, I didn’t have a chance to watch the tape, but it was like let’s get Caleb [Lomu] some reps. We were down however much we were down, a shit load. So, no. But, again, that was just me making a decision.

There was a handful of pre-snap penalties. What does that say to you?
MIKE VRABEL: That means they hard counted us, and we have to be better and not jump. And, again, I know what they’re thinking. They’re thinking that they want to get off and they want to try to make a play. And then, again, it’s taking advantage of our aggressiveness. They want to get off the ball. I know what they’re thinking. And we have to be able to lock in and understand that this is what they’re going to do. You know, that’s certainly not anything that we want to see, and that was poor.

Mike, I know right after the game, big picture, though, one and two and you have an opportunity to go to Buffalo. Do you kind of like hey, let’s take one play at a time?
MIKE VRABEL: Well, mean, I think it’s one day at a time. It’s what we can do to get healthy, what we can do to improve individually, and as a football team. And that’s all we can do. It’s going to start with me and my ability to teach, my ability to get the guys in the right spots, and then also have a practice plan that I feel like gives us the best chance to be ready on Sunday.

How do you explain the defense’s job?
MIKE VRABEL: I mean, we played a good football team. Just like Seattle ran the ball. And if you don’t get off the field on third down, it just creates more chances, and I’m sure we got tired and missed a ton of tackles, and they pushed piles, and that’s what happens. They block ya.