{"id":9794,"date":"2025-01-09T11:59:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T11:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=9794"},"modified":"2025-01-09T11:59:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T11:59:34","slug":"breaking-patriots-super-bowl-winner-who-played-for-mike-vrabel-sees-a-perfect-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=9794","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Patriots Super Bowl winner who played for Mike Vrabel sees a \u2018perfect fit\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Logan<\/p>\n

Mike Vrabel is expected to interview with the Patriots today. And according to one former player who started his career with New England, and later played for Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans, the choice for Robert Kraft is an easy one.<\/p>\n

Just open up the checkbook, cede the necessary control, and do whatever it takes to sign Vrabel.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Logan Ryan\u2019s take.<\/p>\n

He enjoyed playing for both Bill Belichick and Vrabel during his football career. And given Vrabel\u2019s likeness to Belichick as a coach, Ryan believes the Patriots Hall of Famer is without a doubt, the best man for the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s the best coach for New England. It\u2019s a perfect fit,\u201d Ryan told MassLive Wednesday. \u201cI thought they should have hired him last year. But I respected Kraft for keeping his word to (Jerod) Mayo. I don\u2019t love the decision to let go Mayo, what more could he have done? But Kraft realized he had to get out of it, and this is his opportunity to get Vrabel.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Vrabel) knows what he\u2019s doing. He knows how to win games and he\u2019ll do what it takes to win games,\u201d Ryan went on. \u201cIf New England wants a winner, they\u2019ll go get Vrabel.\u201d<\/p>\n

From holding the best players accountable, to showing \u201clow-light\u201d tapes, to outsmarting opposing coaches, Vrabel not only impressed Ryan, but a host of Titans players.<\/p>\n

The similarities to Belichick are striking. Starting with the infamous low-lights, it all sounds incredibly familiar.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go to some teams, after a game, get the highlights, all the touchdowns, all the great plays,\u201d Ryan explained. \u201cBill brings out the low-lights. All the mistakes. All the things we could have done better, all the missed opportunities, all the good plays that should have been great plays, all the turnovers that we had.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Ryan signed with the Titans in 2017, after spending his first four seasons in New England, it was like deja vu the minute the defensive back walked out to his first training camp practice. Vrabel, like Belichick, harped on all the negative plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was used to it. But it shocked our Tennessee Titans locker room,\u201d said Ryan, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Patriots. \u201cAll of our best players, our highest paid players were being challenged. And they weren\u2019t used to that, seeing all of their lowest plays. And that\u2019s kind of embarrassing. So you don\u2019t want to be on that tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan believes Vrabel challenging the star players – Belichick was especially hard on Tom Brady – sparked some great seasons from the most important players.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to win games if your best players don\u2019t play their best consistently,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe definitely challenged the best players to the same accountability as the bottom players on the roster. It\u2019s not like that everywhere, and it doesn\u2019t work everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Mayo\u2019s stint as head coach, he steered away from the tough-love approach largely because some believe today\u2019s players are different. They don\u2019t respond to that kind of coaching. Ryan, who retired after last season after playing for five different teams (Patriots, Titans, Giants, Buccaneers, 49ers), disagreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Dan Campbell challenges his players. I know Kyle Shanahan does. So it depends if there\u2019s a balance. But I played for Vrabel in 2020, and it wasn\u2019t that long ago, and I saw Derrick Henry rush for 2,000 yards,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIf you go to other organizations, there are superstars in those organizations that never get challenged, not one day. And I felt like (Vrabel) came in and started challenging guys the same way he\u2019d challenge the bottom of the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you win, guys appreciate it. For me, I never played for a good coach that didn\u2019t challenge players. I can\u2019t think of one in my career, and I\u2019ve been to a lot of different playoffs and a lot of different teams. The reality is, if you\u2019re not willing to play good football, are you being held accountable? The lack of accountability ruins teams, it ruins locker rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayo announcing he was benching running back Rhamondre Stevenson because of his fumbling issues, then changing his mind and starting him anyway during the Los Angeles Chargers game Week 17, is one example of where the recently fired Patriots coach went wrong.<\/p>\n

Ryan made of point of saying he doesn\u2019t think the Patriots top job is for everyone. He believes it takes a special type of coach to succeed in New England.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that job can only go to a certain amount of people. Vrabel just checks all of those boxes for that job in terms of just leadership,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe\u2019s been there, he understands what it means to the fans, he understands how to handle the expectations and he\u2019s a leader of men.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s exactly how he was as a player, as a coach. A great leader of men in the locker room. Very demanding, but it\u2019s nothing he doesn\u2019t demand of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan said players know when coaches are fake, or not being themselves. They know when coaches are acting out-of-character, trying to be something they\u2019re not. That\u2019s not the case with Vrabel. While he might be like Belichick, it\u2019s not forced.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers can feel if you\u2019re not being yourself. I felt like players felt when Matt Patricia wasn\u2019t being himself. Or Josh McDaniels wasn\u2019t being himself. They didn\u2019t like playing for those guys,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cSo in my opinion, Vrabel has some similarities to Bill, but that\u2019s who Vrabel was.<\/p>\n

\u201cVrabel\u2019s also a trash-talker. Bill\u2019s not a trash-talker. Vrabel\u2019s a trash-talker in practice. I\u2019m sure if you covered him as a player, he was a trash-talker as a player … guys understood he was an alpha, that\u2019s his personality. You\u2019re not an alpha coach if you\u2019re a nerd, rocket scientist coach who is trying to act like an alpha. Guys see right through it. You\u2019re not tough. So I think Vrabel is himself. I\u2019d talk trash right back at him. But it was good playful banter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan is in the camp that believes a head coach in football is more important than other sports in terms of impacting wins and losses. He saw that initially with Belichick, and then Vrabel.<\/p>\n

He was immediately taken by how good Vrabel was in games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was blown away by how smart he was as a coach, as a strategist, an in-game strategist,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe really gave us an advantage not only schematically defensively, but just using strategy at the end and knowing exactly what to do situationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan, of course, recalled how Vrabel one-upped Belichick when the Titans played the Patriots in the playoffs during the 2019 Wild Card round.<\/p>\n

The Titans were clinging to a 14-13 lead. They were forced to punt with the clock ticking with just under six minutes left in the game. Instead of punting, the Titans took a delay of game penalty. That drained 25 seconds. Then, there was a false start – intentional of course – that kept the clock bleeding. Because they weren\u2019t inside five minutes, there was no automatic stoppage for the whistle. Later, Brady wound throwing a pick six – with Ryan doing the honors – as Vrabel helped beat Belichick with one of his tricks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he beat Bill at his own game with the punt rule. He used it against Bill to ice a game,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cAnd he beat a lot of coaches at the game like that. Stuff you guys didn\u2019t see while I was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gives you a true advantage on the sideline. I think he\u2019s the best coaching candidate this year, from the ones I know. I had heard that he was a really, really smart player. But then I saw it from him as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan also talked about differences from Belichick, and highlighted one in particular. He recalled how Derrick Henry would have a different practice schedule than everyone because of Henry\u2019s workload during games. Vrabel understood the need to protect his star back.<\/p>\n

\u201cDerrick got 40 carries in a game, so his practice looked a little different. That was smart. In New England with Bill, everyone had the same exact practice,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t care how many carries you had, or how many snaps you played.<\/p>\n

\u201cTravis Hunter doesn\u2019t have the same practice in college as the other players, because he plays 150 snaps. That makes sense. If Travis Hunter played for the Patriots with Bill, he\u2019d have to play every snap in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The power structure will be important if Vrabel is ultimately named the next Patriots coach. As Ryan stated, Vrabel has an alpha personality, and sometimes that rubs people the wrong way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to bash heads sometimes with his coaches. He\u2019s going bash heads with other people who have opinions,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cThat\u2019s just his personality. Take it or leave it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan believes if the Patriots are smart, they\u2019ll take it and land the prize. They\u2019ll bring home the best available coach on the market. It should be noted that while Vrabel had a winning record in Tennessee, he went 6-18 his final 24 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Tennessee, it didn\u2019t work out not because he wasn\u2019t a good coach,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe understands how to win games. Like Bill, if we needed to run it 40 times, we were going to run it 40 times. It would change from week to week.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, this guy can coach, he can really coach,\u201d the former Patriot went on. \u201cIn my mind, he\u2019s one of the best coaches in the NFL for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

One that needs to wind up back in Foxborough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ex-Patriot and former Titans CB provides the lowdown on Mike Vrabel as a head coach and why he’s the ‘perfect fit’ for the Patriots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Patriots Super Bowl winner who played for Mike Vrabel sees a \u2018perfect fit\u2019 - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=9794\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Patriots Super Bowl winner who played for Mike Vrabel sees a \u2018perfect fit\u2019 - 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