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Patriots Head Coach Taking Joint Practices vs Vikings VERY Seriously
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- Patriots Head Coach Taking Joint Practices vs Vikings VERY Seriously
Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Minnesota Vikings will hold their first joint practice of training camp today , at TCO Performance Center against the New England Patriots . It's the first of two practice sessions the two teams will participate in together.
The interconference foes will practice against each other again Thursday, before they meet one final time Saturday, at U.S. Bank Stadium, for their officially unofficial week two preseason matchup .
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Joint practices crucial for Minnesota Vikings ' preseason plan
Of all the training camp days on Minnesota's preseason calendar, though, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell has made it clear that the 2-4 joint practices they participate in each year are by far the most important, at least for the 53-man roster locks who are just trying to prepare for the upcoming regular season.
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In the MN Vikings first preseason game, a 20-10 win over Houston , we did get to see the first team offense (minus Justin Jefferson , Aaron Jones and Christian Darrisaw ) for one drive. The defensive starters, however, sat out Saturday's exhibition contest, something most (if not all) will do again in games two and three.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
Thus, it's these joint practices where KOC plans to prepare his starters on both sides of the football, for week one of the regular season (MNF in Chicago on Sept. 8). For those with tickets to Wednesday and Thursday's joint practices, you will be privy to the most competitive starter reps of all 2025 training camp.
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Patriots HC Mike Vrabel taking joint practices vs Vikings VERY seriously…
But the Minnesota Vikings and their coaching staff aren't the only ones treating this week with high priority. According to Darren "Doogie" Wolfson on Tuesday's episode of Purple Daily (SKOR North) , new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has gone over the top preparing for these joint practice sessions.
The longtime local insider wouldn't get into exact details, regarding the length Vrabel and the Pats have gone to, in order to prepare for this week. In fact, Doogie can't help but chuckle as he struggles to verbalize exactly how high the Pat's level of commitment to these practice sessions really is.
What comes through loud and clear, though, is that Vrabel & Co have gone above and beyond in the preparation department, compared to previous Vikings' joint practice partners.
"I will tell you, it sounds like Mike Vrabel — [in his] first year, trying to establish a culture with the Patriots — that the emphasis he's putting on these joint practices, it's pretty high. I don't know how much scheming is being done but I'd be curious to hear the exact conversations KOC [is having] with Vrabel.
They've done joint practices before, when Mike was head coach of the Titans. I just think the Patriots are putting a VERY heavy emphasis on the next couple days and I don't know why the Vikings would back down."
No doubt, these next couple of days will get intense. The hope is that Minnesota's coaching staff will get a better feel of how their depth chart will stack up, come week one of the regular season, and how their talent stacks up against another organization, at each individual position.
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I found Wolfson's report on Vrabel's buy-in to these joint practices very interesting, especially when I combined it with a conversation I caught Monday, between Minnesota Vikings independent beat reporter, Matthew Coller (Purple Insider) , and former Vikings-turned-Patriots beat writer for The Athletic, Chad Graff .
Coller started this episode of the Purple Insider Podcast asking Graff if Vrabel takes these joint practices as seriously as Kevin O'Connell does. In essence, his answer was, 'probably not', noting that Vrabel is a classic 'football guy' who won't admit that any one practice or preseason snap is more important than another.
Patriots scout team wearing Minnesota Vikings practice jerseys/numbers
However, it became clear a few moments later, Vrabel is taking these next two days just as seriously as KOC, maybe even more. According to Graff , Patriots sophomore QB Drake Maye and the New England offense have been facing a lot of vanilla defensive sets so far during camp.
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So, in order to prepare for Minnesota's anti-vanilla defense, Mike Vrabel and his coaching staff have spent the last few days trying to make New England's scout team defense look like purple people eaters by equipping some of them with purple practice jerseys that include uniform numbers of Vikings defenders to watch out for this week.
Graff noted some numbers he recognized and some he didn't. He specifically mentioned seeing a Harrison Smith (lite) and Ivan Pace Jr (lite). I'd have to imagine there was an Andrew Van Ginkel (lite) and Jonathan Greenard (lite) too.
A couple things I learned from this @Purple_Insider podcast clip with @ChadGraff :
1: The Patriots are pulling out ALL the stops to prep their offense for PRACTICES vs the Vikings defense this week… 👀
2: Vrabel might see it but most of the football world is NOT ready for how… pic.twitter.com/Giucwm0KKs— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) August 13, 2025
"So today at [Patriots] practice there was, surprisingly, a decent amount of prep [for joint practices vs the Vikings]. And it was a little bit weird for me where they've got the [Patriots] offense on one side, and it's Drake May running these plays and they've got the scout team defense going against it.
[Vrabel had the scout team] put on jersey pennies of Vikings players. So there was 0 for [Ivan] Pace and there was 22 for Harrison Smith. And so it's a little bit jarring for me to see Harrison Smith supposedly running around out there."
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In the rest of the clip above, Graff goes on to ask Coller if Vrabel is just being paranoid, or if the MN Vikings defense is really going to be that good this year. Of course, those of us who have been paying closer attention than Graff — who is no longer compensated to follow the Vikings — know the answer to that question.
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Which begs to question… is the rest of the NFL world really sleeping on Minnesota's defense again? And it appears the answer to that question is 'yes'… unless your name is Mike Vrabel and you coach the New England Patriots.
Patriots prep for MN Vikings over-the-top… or smart coaching?
You could easily argue that this preparation is a bit over the top an upcoming joint practice session. But at the same time, if you're Mike Vrabel, trying to prepare your second-year quarterback for a brand new offense, under OC Josh McDaniels, the last thing you want to do is destroy his confidence.
And given what Brian Flores and the Minnesota defense have been cooking up at TCO Performance Center over the past month, suffocating all of of the young Vikings QBs at training camp, Drake Maye's self-esteem may very well need protecting.
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Related: MN Vikings QB Battle Heating Up – Max Brosmer Uncuttable, Sam Howell in Trouble…?
And there's no better way to instill confidence than with good preparation. Of course, with such little time to get ready for what the Vikings are about to throw at them, there is no chance Maye and the Patriots offense could simulate the next two days in Eagan.
But at least now they shouldn't be quite as shocked by the defensive ghosts they're sure to see at these joint practice sessions. Thus, I guess I cannot fault Vrabel for his over-the-top approach prior to this week.
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