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New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel
The New England Patriots have completed one of the more improbable turnarounds in the NFL in recent memory. After going 4-13 in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, a miraculous run has led them to their NFL record 12th Super Bowl as a franchise.
Though he didn’t come into New England as one, Mike Vrabel has become something of a players’ coach in throughout the season. After every win, Vrabel stresses the importance of celebrating every victory, no matter how big or small it is.
He took that message one step further following the Patriots’ 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship.
Star defensive end Milton Williams relayed what Vrabel said postgame:
“No curfew tonight,” Vrabel said, according to Williams. “But the bus leaving at 8 in the morning— so if you ain’t on it, you ain’t playing in the Bowl.”
With the game ending at about four o’clock in Denver local time, that gives Patriots players and staff 16 hours of freedom to celebrate their remarkable accomplishment.
Vrabel Continues to Strike Perfect Balance as Head Coach
Patriots’ center Garrett Bradbury summed up Vrabel’s leadership perfectly in this quote via Dan Graziano of ESPN:
“He’s just got a great sense of what’s needed,” Bradbury said. “He played, obviously, and at a high level, so he knows the players’ perspective. But he’s not just strictly, like, ‘player’s coach’ because there’s never any doubt who’s in charge. I think the way he’s been all year has just prepared us all to meet this moment, because you can see the vision and the belief, and you know he has your back.”
We’ve seen examples of that time and time again. Whether he was taking reps without pads during training camp, head butting Milton Williams after a big play without a helmet, or sprinting up the sideline with Antonio Gibson as he returned a kickoff for a touchdown, he’s consistently proving why the players love him.
“He’s built up a résumé of scars from things he’s been burned on and other things that maybe have worked out,” Pats’ linebacker Robert Spillane said of Vrabel. “But he’s very consistent in his messaging. Details, technique and fundamentals are required on a weekly basis.”
Patriots Set for Super Bowl Rematch
At the time of writing, the Seattle Seahawks are hosting the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship. No matter who wins, it will be a Super Bowl rematch with either team.
New England defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in the 2014 Super Bowl, which was one of the greatest of the 21st century; Malcom Butler’s game sealing interception in the end zone is one of the most iconic plays in Super Bowl history.
The Patriots have played the Rams twice in the Super Bowl, beating them both times — once when they were the St. Louis Rams in the 2001 Super Bowl, and once when they were the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 Super Bowl.
Those wins over the Rams bookend both sides of the Patriots dynasty behind Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
Matt Skillings Matt Skillings is a Boston based sports journalist and a graduate of UMass Amherst, where he majored in journalism and communication. Matt covered the UMass men’s ice hockey team for three years for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. He was also a media intern for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League for two summers. Matt has additional bylines with the New England Hockey Journal, the Boston Globe and MassLive. More about Matt Skillings
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