Vrabel on future absences: ‘Anything could happen’
Mike Florio and Chris Simms react to Mike Vrabel's comments about the distractions surrounding him and the Patriots, discussing what could be next as things continue to develop in New England.
Video Transcript
Gary would like us to get to the Vrabel stuff, so we shall.
And I mention the Vrabel stuff because for the first time since that, that strange week, the week of the draft, we heard from Mike Vrabel for the first time following the controversy that became the story of the off-season.
We heard from him on a Tuesday, an unannounced media appearance, and then on a Thursday, after a very specific and revealing drop of photos by the New York Post compelled Mike Vrabel to address reporters again, and also to acknowledge the fact that he would be missing the third day of the draft, which is a very significant day of the off-season calendar for any team.
He was back with reporters for the first time yesterday.
And I mentioned this on Wednesday's show, I didn't expect much.
The, the Boston media And I, look, I've been conditioned to not expect much because the supposedly rough and tumble New York media isn't.
We've talked about that before with the Jets.
They get another chance with the Giants, given the stuff that's going on there with Jaxson Dart and Abdul Carter.
But the folks who were there yesterday, it came up several times with some very well-worded questions aimed at getting to the fundamental issues in the case.
Here is some of what Mike Vrabel said yesterday on this issue of handling distractions, the distractions that flow from the biggest distraction the NFL has seen this off-season.
You know, we all have to deal with things, you know, outside of here, and, and my focus and, and obviously the, the excitement that I have for coaching, is what is most important right now.
And this is a great opportunity, the spring.
We don't have to worry about, opponents.
Do you anticipate having to miss football activities again for the rest of the spring, like that?
I mean, I can only pre- tell you I'm gonna be there today, but I, I can't tell you anything other than, I'm gonna be out there today in full force, and, and I mean that because, you know, who, who knows what's gonna come up.
I'm not even You know, anything could happen.
When we spoke to you last, you were talking about the balance of family and football.
Mm-hmm.
Just how would you describe how that process has been going?
Oh, really good.
I think that that's, Again, I appreciate my family is great.
I love Jen, I love the boys, I love, you know, my personal friends, and then, you know, this spring is focused on really the coaching staff, the players more importantly than the coaching staff.
But I just, you know, seeing the, the coaches in the second year, how smooth the conversations are.
You know, "Hey, we love this play.
How do we make it better?"
That was edited both for content and for timeliness, and I'll tell you what happened, and I'm gonna focus on the first and the third part of that.
Okay.
The middle part I think was accidentally and inadvertently much more significant than Vrabel realized as he was saying it.
But the issue of distractions and then the thing about, you know, the balance between family and football, all of this flows from the Diana Russini situation, the reaction to it from his family, the reaction that caused Mike Vrabel to miss the third day of the draft for counseling, and this looming idea that there could be more absences because they left it very open-ended.
That was the middle part.
But on the first and third, he was asked a specific question about this off-field issue, and he began with a real answer, but then he launched into And look, I'm just doing my job here to assess what happens.
If anyone has a problem with it in New England, I, I'm sorry, but this is what I'm here to do.
He launched into this filibuster that focused on football that was just a bizarre turn.
Like, he provides a response and then twists it right into this monologue about football that he didn't know when to end it.
It went on for so long that even Mike McDaniel was thinking, "Dude, man, you gotta wrap it up at some point."
You're funny.
I'm, I'm kidding about that.
But, but, but the middle part is the one that was significant, because he didn't know how true he was when he said anything could happen.
Because we've seen anything happen.
Yeah, yeah.
And the one thing that has yet to happen is Diana Russini has yet to tell her story, and we have no idea, there's no indication, there's been nothing.
No leaks, no scoops.
The only thing that made me think that it's going to happen is your guy Stu Gotts made the comment that he's friends with her, and he's talked to her, and he's not gonna speak for her.
It's her story to tell in her own time.
That implies that she will.
That's the moment that I said, "Uh-oh, there's gonna be a chapter of this that is very public and very interesting, because she's gonna tell her story at some point."
That's the next thing.
That's the only thing left.
So yeah, that could come up, and that could create a situation where Mike Vrabel could, could end up, yet again, having to take a break from the team to try to restore the balance between his work life and his personal life.
Yeah.
Well, I, I, I mean, I, I th- I think that's probably why he kind of answered it like that, right?
I mean, 'cause I think he was kind of like, "Yeah, I mean, hey, you never know what's gonna happen.
I, I certainly didn't think this was gonna happen."
So I, I think there is that, and I think we're gonna continue to hear those kind of answers of, you know, def- n- you know, I don't wanna say deflection, but he's not gonna get into the heart of the matter of what we want with the little scandal of the off-season.
And I think there's some truth, too, probably to a coach and a guy like him, who we know is, you know, a psycho in a good way and loves football, where he is probably, I'm just sure, happy to be with the team, the coaches, and all that.
So he's not, you know, lying about that aspect.
But yeah, he's gonna avoid that subject and try not to let that overtake the press conference, and then I think he is gonna do, to your point, some Mike McDaniel filibustering at times to hopefully, you know, limit one or two more questions about the subject there.
And so I think we're gonna get a lot of this, of just word salads and whatever else, and, you know, "Hey, my focus is coaching the football team and, and doing all those things."
And we know that's, you know, the approach of a coach normally, and then it's, you know, times five with, with this typ- type of subject here.There were no questions asked about the specific situation itself, just the aftermath of it.
And those are all fair questions because it became a football issue the day that Mike Vrabel said he's gonna miss the third day of the draft.
And this was their first chance to talk to him since the very brief first day of the draft press conference where he, he addressed the situation again.
And, and look, there, there is a line there.
There is a balance there.
But public figures involved in activities that came to public light, and then it spills over and becomes a football issue, this is something that, that they needed to ask about.
And I was surprised- Yeah how many questions he got about it, but he had to expect it.
Once you cross that bridge into missing the third day of the draft, you make it something that requires follow-up, especially because there was that sense created that he could miss more activities going forward.
And that's why, that's why I think on the prediction markets out there- Yeah it got to the point where it was, like, 70/30 as to whether or not he was even gonna be the coach week one.
Because as we said, given the amount of focus, the time, how your job takes over your life if you're an NFL head coach, hell, if you're an assistant coach, your job consumes everything.
If you can't give yourself entirely to your job because you're putting out a fire at home, there's just a point where you just say, "I can't do it.
I can't do it."
You know, usually it's an illness.
The Patriots' defensive coordinator last year was on leave of absence most of the year because of an illness.
Illness will cause you 'Cause you can't, you can't I gotta work all the time.
To do this job right, I gotta work all the time.
I can't be doing other things.
I gotta be able to work all the time.
And that's why that door was still open, and it still is slightly open.
Yeah.
And the one thing that could knock it down is Diana Russini telling her story in a way that creates fresh problems for Vrabel.
And there's a lot of different ways it could create fresh problems for Vrabel.
We just don't know what problems it'll cause until she tells her story, if she even does.
Yeah, they gotta be scared of that, the Patriots, Mike Vrabel, everybody involved there, that, yes, something more is, is gonna come, come from that.
So yeah, there, there, there's, there's some worrying when, when it comes to, to that aspect.
I was gonna say something else, and I lost my thought there.
But, but yeah, regardless, you know, yeah, he's gonna have to sit there and worry about that.
Oh, but I know what I was gonna say.
But the other thing is, is we do know coaches are wired different.
I mean, we've seen coaches lose family members dying, and other people and family get arrested, and they just trek right through.
It, it's a different kind of human being that way, and that's why they're coaches.
So, but, but yeah, I, I would be nervous if I'm him.
And that's where probably, hey, he's gotta make sure he's extremely obvious I mean, honest with his family and everybody, so in case Diana Russini does come out and say something and bring attention back to it, you know, there's no curve balls.
There's nothing like that.
