Brains, brawn and blood: The secret sauce that powered NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel’s Patriots to Santa Clara
Mike Vrabel is a one-of-a-kind NFL head coach.
For one, he’s a former All-Pro linebacker, the kind of player that doesn’t often go into coaching and stick with it long enough to work his way up to a head job in the NFL.
He didn’t need to coach after 14 years in the league, where he was on the field for historic moments like the Patriots’ Tuck Rule AFC divisional game against the Oakland Raiders and three Super Bowl championships.
For the record, even one of Vrabel’s own players questioned whether the right call was made that snowy night against the Raiders. In an opinion that will undoubtedly resonate with Oakland fans, former Cal safety Craig Woodson watched the play in question and said to the Bay Area News Group, “How is that not a fumble?”
Twenty-four years later, Vrabel is connected to the Bay Area once again. Now New England’s first-year head coach, he has the Pats in Santa Clara to face the Seahawks for Super Bowl 60 after a resurgent season that has seen his team rapidly improve to a 17-3 record one year after going 4-13.
Patriots players sing a universal chorus in praise of Vrabel’s authenticity and his ability to relate to players. This goes far beyond the efforts most coaches will undertake.
Vrabel will jump in on blocking drills, break up fights and pull players off dogpiles. He’ll even bleed after (unintentionally) headbutting a helmeted defensive lineman in celebration, as he did with Milton Williams after the Pats clinched their divisional-round win over the Chargers.
“We were like striking him down on the ground sometimes,” defensive lineman Christian Barmore said. “He’s a big guy, so he’ll allow it. He’s a strong guy. You hit him hard, he’s gonna push you back. You don’t want that, because he’s gonna talk smack.
“In camp against the Vikings, he jumped in the middle of the pile. And we were like, ‘What are you doing in the middle of the pile? Everybody got helmets on and pads on.’ He was breaking it up. That was funny right there. That’s him. That’s what we love about him.”
Vrabel isn’t just a meathead, though. He is a master of the rulebook.
He once forced the NFL to change a clock rule after his Titans team burned off multiple minutes by committing intentional penalties to burn time in a playoff win over the Patriots and end Tom Brady’s tenure with the franchise in Foxborough.
As a player, he took advantage of a rule prohibiting back-to-back timeouts to bait an offensive player into committing a false start. He also once had the Titans commit an intentional 12-men-on-the-field penalty to secure a sneaky clock stoppage.
Months after taking the Patriots’ head job, he allowed running back Rhamondre Stevenson to take time away from the team during organized team activities and visit his family after Stevenson’s father passed away unexpectedly at age 54.
Running backs coach Tony Dews, who, along with Vrabel, had only known Stevenson briefly, eventually joined Stevenson and his family in Las Vegas. Vrabel’s players notice his ability to blend passion for the game with emotional intelligence.
“There’s things that come up that you’re not really prepared for,” Vrabel said. “And to have Rhamondre have something that traumatic happen to him and his family and him not know us as people was hard, and to try to support somebody that he doesn’t know where we’re coming from. I’m proud of him. I can’t imagine how that felt and what that still feels like.”
For linebacker Harold Landry III, who made a Pro Bowl under Vrabel with Tennessee in 2018, the Pats’ coach leads by example, even for those whose positions he hasn’t played.
“I’ve always loved playing for Vrabes, because he had the highest success you can have as a player, and then is also now having it as a coach,” Landry said. “And when you have a coach that’s played and has played your position, when he speaks, you listen and you have a lot of respect for him. I think that’s how a lot of guys feel.”
Vrabel isn’t just a former player reliving the glory days or a football genius. He’s both, and that’s what makes him so effective.
“He has that perfect balance between workmanship and we can mess around a little bit, but more so once you get the work done, once you’ve done everything you’re supposed to,” receiver Stefon Diggs said. “He’s a regular guy. I don’t want to call him one of the boys, but I’m saying he has that perfect dynamic, that balance between coach and used-to-be player.”