Mike Vrabel talked Patriots rookies and Bill Belichick’s comments

A day after the Patriots misplaced 20-13 within the 2025 season-opener, first-year head coach Mike Vrabel stopped by WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” for his weekly interview.

Vrabel lamented the dearth of “complementary soccer” within the defeat in opposition to the Raiders, citing his group’s disjointed nature and lack of ability to stay composed and constant in an in depth, winnable sport.

“Clearly we’re going to need to get some issues mounted, and we’ll have to start out to have a look at simply with the ability to make the most of the alternatives once they’re there,” he stated of New England’s house defeat.

On Drake Maye, Vrabel confessed that the ultimate stat line — the second-year quarterback threw a career-high 46 passes — was not what he wished.

“No,” Vrabel rapidly replied when requested if Maye’s pass-happy stats have been splendid. “I feel the way in which the sport went and the place we needed to be down two possessions [caused it]. We’ve got to be balanced. We’ve got to run the soccer higher, extra constantly, in order that a few of these play-pass alternatives present up.”

“With the ability to run extra constantly will assist with a few of these performs,” Vrabel added of New England’s play-action utilization.

Later within the interview, when requested if “profitable is a very powerful factor” for Maye, Vrabel was direct.

“God, I hope so,” he responded. “I hope profitable is as essential for everyone, and I need the very best from all people. I desire a aggressive spirit, and if I don’t see that, then we’ll need to make choices and modifications at each stage.

“I feel that he needs to be, at instances, excellent,” Vrabel stated of Maye. “I would like [him] to get previous that. All of us need to get previous that. It’s good to be exact and never excellent, and in the event you make a mistake, it’s the response that it’s a must to the error that everyone sees. Then they’re like, ‘Oh wow, that was a mistake.’ We’ve got to scrub our reactions up. Our responses need to be a lot better, after which stepping into the move. You see some actually good timing and precision and accuracy, after which we see another misses.”

On the subject of rookie left sort out Will Campbell, the Patriots’ 2025 first-round choose, Vrabel took a high-level view.

“I believed it was regular. I believed there have been some good performs,” Vrabel stated of Campbell. He mentioned the rookie in context of enjoying subsequent to fellow rookie Jared Wilson (who was at guard) on the left facet of the road.

“You already know the couple motion instances in a run sport, him and Jared might need gotten disjointed, however I believed they performed OK on the left facet,” stated Vrabel. “I feel it was a very good place to start out for 2 rookies enjoying their first sport on the left facet of the road.”

The Patriots’ head coach acknowledged that Campbell’s fourth down penalty in the fourth quarter was expensive, however graded the rookie sort out over “the course of the sport.”

“I’m simply wanting on the total physique of labor. [Campbell and Wilson] didn’t appear to be they have been overwhelmed with a 21 and a 22-year-old on the left facet of the road.”

Finally, the recent story about North Carolina soccer coach Invoice Belichick banning Patriots scouts from campus was introduced up. WEEI’s Chris Curtis queried Vrabel in regards to the former New England coach.

“Is Invoice Belichick welcome right here,” Curtis started, “and have been you shocked that he didn’t enable [Patriots] scouts onto [UNC] campus to scout his gamers?”

“Nothing surprises me,” Vrabel replied. “I might think about that Invoice — I imply he got here again for, to the very best of my data, Tom [Brady’s] ceremony, so I suppose he’s welcome again primarily based on the truth that he was there, so I’ll simply go by that. Since his departure right here as the pinnacle coach, he’s been again, and I’ll depart it at that.”

After WEEI co-host Greg Hill joked about Belichick’s Gillette Stadium key card not working anymore, Vrabel referenced his personal earlier NFL departure (having been fired by the Titans in 2024).

“No, whenever you get fired, the key-card doesn’t work. I attempted that after I went again to Tennessee. It doesn’t work,” he joked.

Close to the top of the interview, Vrabel additionally referenced Patriots followers. Discussing his motivation for making an attempt to get New England again to being a winner — and, in distinction, his demeanor within the wake of a loss — Vrabel cited his hopes for the long run.

“We wish to win for the gamers, and we wish to win for our followers who’ve supported us, and that’s our job and what we’re going to proceed to attempt to do.

“I need to have the ability to thank them once they’re loud on third down and we get a cease and we win the soccer sport and make it arduous on the opposite group,” Vrabel added. “We weren’t in a position to win. However sure, it was nice to see even within the rain, all people on the market. Very appreciative of that.”