Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel: The Good, the Bad and the Great Expectations?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Mike Vrabel is the head coach of the New England Patriots. The good, the bad, and of course, the expectations. Stick around. You're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage

Starting point is 00:00:34 and hopefully your first listen each and every day. I am your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for the Patriots country. Reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind on X at MDAB ATE NFL. You can catch me where the skies are blue over on Blue Sky at MDAB ATE NFL

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Starting point is 00:01:11 right now new customers can bet five dollars and get 300 bucks in bonus bets if you win your first bet visit fanduel.com to get started and p fans, it's been a couple of days now since Mike Vrabel has officially taken the reins of your New England Patriots, the 16th head coach in Patriots history. A lot of fans are excited, some are concerned, and that's exactly what we're going to discuss here on today's pod. Mike Vrabel coming in has an awful lot of people optimistic about the future, but there's also several of you that have your doubts and have your concerns of exactly what type of coach Mike will make here in New England. And last but certainly not least, speculation is all abound

Starting point is 00:01:55 as to what the expectations are going to be for the Patriots this year. Does Mike Vrabel's return ensure a return trip to the playoffs? Now that might be a lofty goal, but some people are talking about it. We're going to discuss all of that today and more. And here today on the pod, I am absolutely thrilled to welcome back two gentlemen who I've had the privilege on more than one occasion of joining on their very own Patriots podcast. It's called the Foxborough Fellas, folks. It can be found on Boston Sports Zone.

Starting point is 00:02:23 In turn, they have joined me here on Locked On Patriots in the past. They put out a fantastic product. As I said before, it's my honor to welcome back to Locked On Patriots, Pete Collins, Divij Sachdeva, the Foxborough Fellas themselves. Gentlemen, it's great to have you back here on Locked On Patriots. No, our pleasure. Great to be here, Mike. Thank you. Always love coming on. Absolutely. And as luck would have it, gentlemen, we have an awful lot to talk about tonight.

Starting point is 00:02:50 There's never a dull moment in Foxborough. Always something happening with the New England Patriots. Last time we spoke, we talked about the possibility of Gerard Mayo being ousted as head coach of the New England Patriots. That has officially come down. Now the Patriots have themselves a new head coach in Mike Vrabel, and a lot of people are wondering what type of coach Mike is going to make. I always like to end on a high note, but as I've said

Starting point is 00:03:15 before here the last couple of weeks, Patriots fans I think have suffered long enough. So let's start off with the positive, and Pete, I'm going to begin with you. When you look at the Patriots hiring of Mike Vrabel, what makes you the most optimistic about this choice heading into 2025? Yeah, I mean, Mike Vrabel has a lot going for him. It's hard to choose one standout quality, but Mike has forced me to. So I'm going to answer that by saying he brings exactly what we've been missing here in New England. That's how I'll answer that question. Vrabel provides what I believe is a strong sense of stability, accountability, something that we did not have with Gerard Mayo. Of course, both Mayo and Vrabel share that experience being a player, which is valuable, undeniable insight into what it takes to

Starting point is 00:04:01 thrive in the NFL. But Vrabel gets set apart when it comes to his coaching background, which again is something I'm very excited about. He's not just been the head coach of the Titans. He's also coached positions. He's coached at different levels, both at the college level and at the NFL level. That matters. We found that out the hard way last year with Gerard Mayo had basically no coaching experience for what it's worth. And it showed on the field, in my opinion. Vrabel should have the Patriots ready to play every single week. That's something that you can expect with Vrabel.

Starting point is 00:04:36 You know, who agrees with that is Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick was on Pat McAfee and he said he prepares his teams well. They're very good situational football. They're tough. They're competitive. They're smart, just like he was as a player. And that's what I think as fans, we're exactly going to expect week in and week out. Various coaching roles, his team and his units have always been disciplined. They've always been focused. He isn't just a yell at you type of coach to get you to do what he wants. He garners the respect of his players. I don't know if either of you got a coach to get you to do what he wants. He garners the respect of his players.

Starting point is 00:05:05 I don't know if either of you got a chance to check out Taylor Lujan's quick two minute video where he basically attests to this. It's an excellent video. Definitely PG 13, but go check it out. And he basically attests to this. He says super strong relationships with his players. He'll get in your face. He'll ride you, but it's all for the better. And for us as fans, I think he brings a refreshed sense of hope,

Starting point is 00:05:28 especially how he's handled the media. Again, a great contrast to what we're used to with Gerard May. Yeah, Pete, I think you're absolutely right on the money. Look, all day Monday, there was really an aura of accountability. There was really an aura of maybe a little bit of swagger coming back to foxborough but most importantly there was a little bit of an aura of nostalgia and before patriots fans start rolling their eyes and saying i'll out with the old and with the new don't waste your time on the old stuff that happened uh mike did address that i thought very well said you know the banners that are hanging up behind me are interesting. They're definitely there as a reminder of what this team could become and what this franchise is used to, but not going to help us win now.

Starting point is 00:06:10 So Mike's not going to be falling back on the banners. You notice he didn't have any of the Super Bowl rings on when he was speaking to the media on Monday. He's ready for a new beginning. But one thing that that nostalgia will bring is, I think, a little bit of that Patriot way back into the locker room. Maybe we were a little bit too eager to rid ourselves of that Patriot way last year, folks. And I think the team on the field suffered a little bit as a result of it.

Starting point is 00:06:35 I don't want to get too far ahead of what my positives of bringing Mike Vrabel back into the fold are. But, Division, I want to flip this to you, my friend. What excites you the most about Mike Vrabel as head coach of the New England Patriots? I think the one word that describes Mike Rabel's hiring perfectly is a fit. And the thing that a lot of people fail to realize about the New England Patriots is whether you believe they do things the right way or the wrong way, they're not a normally run organization. There's a lot of nuances that go on in this front office,

Starting point is 00:07:07 like we knew until just before this past draft that our draft war rooms used to be six to seven people, whereas the average NFL draft war room used to be over 20. And there's things like that that are spread out across this front office and among the coaching verticals that clearly shows that this team is run in a very unique way. And to ensure that that system is executed well, you really need an alpha in the room. And that is definitely like the generic or the cliche to say, but you really need a leader

Starting point is 00:07:44 of men. And that is something that Mike Rabel brings to the table here you for someone to run an organization like the patriots you just don't have to be like you have to be a hands-on delegator if that makes sense that you need to be able to get your hands dirty while being able to put faith in other people that they will get their job done. And I think that is something that Mike Rabel, anyone you have heard or talked to, whether that's from Houston, whether it's from Tennessee or even Ohio State, everyone's said this one thing that Mike will get in the face of every player, every coach, even the front office if he has to. But yet, if he gets in your face, that means he trusts you to do your job the best that you can. And I think that is something that clearly is the mark of a good coach and the mark of a good leader. So even just looking at him in a vacuum as an overarching coach, it's a huge, huge positive.

Starting point is 00:08:46 Now, comparing to where we were with Gerard Mayo last year, obviously, it's not just this team is clearly devoid of talent. But a lot of what led to Gerard Mayo's falling out was the regression at things that this team was good at and on top of that in-game decision making usage of timeouts usage of the challenge flag things like that exploiting rules in your favor and i think that is something that mike rabel will just never let go he is as much of a meathead as much of a true former player he looks like and all the drills that he does with his linemen, he's truly a football nerd at heart. He wants to know every rule. He wants to, like, we brought this up on the Foxborough Fellows podcast,

Starting point is 00:09:37 but that Monday night football game in his last season at Tennessee where they played the Dolphins, they were down by 14. They scored a touchdown they go for the two-point conversion and then they successfully converted guess what Will Levis leads a game-winning touchdown drive where they only had to kick an extra point to take the lead all these analytics plays for a team that had a one-man analytics staff till just this past season is a huge huge plus with a coach like mike rabel and the quote that stood out to me from that monday night football game is not anything he

Starting point is 00:10:12 said in the game but his post-game press conference he was like not a lot of coaches are sold on this going for two down 14 thing what made you believe in your analytic staff decision to go here? And he said, a lot of people are paid a lot of different amounts to come work for the Tennessee Titans. But everyone who steps into this building is coming in to help this team win. And establishing that common goal is the last thing that I want to bring up that Mike Rabel will do such a good job at. That from top to bottom, from your fringe practice squad guy to the GM that's making picks to the team captain, everyone's going to be on the same page. And I think that will be huge and very different from what we had under Gerard Mayo. Yeah, very, very well said, Divish. In terms of the culture that Mike

Starting point is 00:11:05 is trying to instill, he mentioned several times that, you know, he wants to instill a culture of hard work, taking away the entitlement from the locker room. These are definite catchphrases that kind of stood out, but the one thing that always stood out to me was he always returned on the premise that he wants to eliminate mistakes when it comes to fundamental football. He definitely, I think, wants to make sure that this team is well-disciplined, well-prepared, and that they're not doing things to beat themselves. That means get in position to be able to capitalize on turnovers. That's primarily what he meant when he said we want to be able to take advantage of bad football. But I also think there's a part of him that looks at the New

Starting point is 00:11:43 England Patriots' penchant for turnovers, the penchant that they had this year for penalizing themselves in key situations in games where they were getting in the scoring position and you'd get a holding call or you'd get some sort of a penalty that would back the Patriots up or take them out of field goal range or scoring range these are things that he wants to clear up. And I think that that type of attitude is what is going to propel this team forward. And quite honestly, that's exactly what I'm looking forward to from Mike Vrabel as head coach. My accentuating the positive is attitude, very much like you said, Pete. I locked on every dayers here on the pod know that my biggest disappointment with the Patriots last season came from the defensive side of the ball. In 2023, this was a top 10 overall defense. This was a top five run defense. And I fully acknowledge that the personnel in 2024 wasn't great. You can't deny that the

Starting point is 00:12:38 talent level on the roster was lacking. The injuries to key players did play a major role in this, but the type of regression we saw from this defense was not all related to personnel. The players on the field lacked a sense of urgency. I didn't see that same fire, get after the quarterback, make a play, play through the plays. That's a swagger we're so used to seeing in a Patriots defense, and Mike Vrabel wore that swagger very well when he was here in New England. He played that way. There was an edge to Mike Vrabel when he put on Patriots shoulder pads and got in the game. So when you hear him talk about this, and we talked to him extensively offline as well

Starting point is 00:13:19 on Monday when he spoke to the media and was introduced as the 16th head coach in Patriots history, he wants to the media and was introduced as the 16th head coach in Patriots history. He wants to bring that back. I think he'd like to see opposing teams coming into New England and fearing this defense again. And that's something that definitely lights him up. I know a lot of energy and a lot of effort and a lot of attention is going to be placed on the offensive side of the ball. But I think you're going to see immediate impact on the defensive side of the ball because that's where Mike is a student at heart. That's where he loves to be. That's exactly where he's used to being. And removing that entitlement and getting to work on the field, Diviz, you mentioned this, him getting in there, him getting in a huddle and

Starting point is 00:13:58 starting to throw blocks and go through drills with his team pre-game, that's a guy you're going to want to play for. And I think as long as you have a coach at that level that's willing to put in that type of effort and that type of attitude, guys are going to be excited and guys are going to be highly motivated to play for you. So that's my positive coming away from Mike Vrabel. And we hope you all have some positives

Starting point is 00:14:19 to take away as well, folks. But there are some concerns out there when it comes to Patriots fans about the hiring of Mike Vrabel well the Foxborough fellas are no different folks these guys are analysts extraordinaire and they've got their finger on the pulse of Patriots nation in just a moment Pete Collins and Daveed Shaftesha are going to talk about some of the major concerns Patriots fans have in Mike Vrabel being head coach. And they might even help to put your mind at ease about it, folks. Maybe.

Starting point is 00:14:47 Who knows? We're going to talk about that in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Locked On listeners, from the first whistle to the final drive. FanDuel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win your first bet. That's $300 to keep the action going. The FanDuel app is easy to navigate and the variety of bets keeps every game exciting. Plus, when you win, you get paid instantly.

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Starting point is 00:16:00 Joining me, Pete Collins, Daviz Satsteva, the Foxborough fellas themselves, hosts of one of the great Patriots podcasts out there. Folks, if it's not in your daily rotation, please do yourself a favor. Make it a part of your daily weekly Patriots coverage. You will not be disappointed. These two guys are two of the finest in the business, and it's my

Starting point is 00:16:19 honor to welcome them here to Locked On Patriots. Gentlemen, in the previous segment, we talked a lot about the positives of hiring Mike Vrabel as head coach. And most Patriots fans, I think, are at least optimistic or they're open to the possibility that Mike Vrabel can come in here and help restore some of the swagger that I think the Patriots have been missing the last couple of years. But I think we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about some of the major concerns that a lot of Patriots fans have with Mike coming back in.

Starting point is 00:16:50 Mike is someone who did have his share of success in Tennessee, but the last couple of years, things started to go off the rails a little bit, failed to make the postseason, found himself on the outside looking in, and last year, he spent the year as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns. If that isn't enough on Tuesday a little bit of a social media stir started to happen when it seemed that Mike had some difficulty expressing his thoughts on the running game the difference between correlation and causation you guys all know what I'm talking about the difference between running the football when you're up by a lot and running the football when you're not up by a lot and it's correlation to the passing game it's causing some Patriots fans to be concerned about the hiring of Mike Vrabel what

Starting point is 00:17:31 type of coach he's going to be any drawbacks to hiring Mike Vrabel so Pete we started with you the last time division I'm going to give you the mic this time first what is your biggest concern about Mike Vrabel as head coach in New England? I think with Mike Vrabel's concerns, as much as all the positives that he brings to the table, the overarching debate with Mike Vrabel's concerns around Mike Vrabel is definitely the Jimmies and Joes versus the X's and O's debate. And what we have seen is a lot of these CEO-style head coaches come with a ceiling, and that ceiling is dictated by the coordinators that are around them. We saw this with the Philadelphia Eagles, that Nick Sirianni, who is good in the CEO role that he is, went to the Super Bowl when he had Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon calling plays on either side of the ball,

Starting point is 00:18:25 and then went on a five-game losing streak and lost to a four-seed in the first round of the playoffs when Brian Johnson and Sean Desai were calling plays. And now again, he's the two-seed looking to make an NFC championship again because he has Wick Fangio and Kellen Moore calling plays again. And that is something that can happen with someone like Mike Rabel, who, as much as he is a football nerd, does not bring a lot of scheming expertise on either side of the football. And that will be something that he would have to nail. Because if we do exceedingly well, then guess what? Most of these coordinators in our team are going to get plucked off

Starting point is 00:19:11 for other coaching jobs. This is something that we are about to see with Detroit as well, that what does this team look like without Ben Johnson and Eric Glenn calling plays on either side of the football. And that will be something that is imperative that we see that Mike Rabel's offensive philosophy and defensive philosophy are translatable outside of coordinators. That he has the grasp, he has grasp over what they're scheming so that that philosophy stays translatable no matter who is calling plays or who is coming in the building and is in charge on one side of the football. And that is one of the reasons why he worked with Kevin Stefanski's staff

Starting point is 00:19:56 this past year in Cleveland, because even though he's a defensive coach and he's been a defensive coach most of his career, he worked exclusively with offensive linemen and tight ends in Cleveland to get a view of how offensive line and tight ends operate in a West Coast offense. That's the fence he tries to run. And that is something that I will want him to continue doing even as a head coach. And I don't think he has the ego to shy away from learning or being a sponge when somebody else is bringing more to the table in a conversation. That is something that's a quality of his, and I trust him to be able to do that. But that is something he would have to do that. Otherwise, because right now it's a concern we don't want these concerns turning

Starting point is 00:20:45 into flat out negatives going forward and the other concern that i wanted to bring up like you hinted on mike is his offensive philosophy in terms of play calling how are you trying to design an offense to win football games because this patriots team has a lot of weaknesses on the offense we do not have a aerial attack where we can just line up and play ball and expect at least one of our three main reads for that specific play to win in man coverage consistently that is not something that we are built to do. And to execute concepts like that, you have to run a lot of 54 protection.

Starting point is 00:21:30 What 54 protection is, is you're just making your offensive linemen just go, you're standing up and you're blocking whoever's coming in front of you. And that generally leads to one of your tackles being on islands, depending on the drop back concept, whether that's the left tackle or the right tackle. And that is something that this team is clearly not built to do right now. And as much as people are falling in love with draft prospects like Calvin Banks, it's not something you fix in one offseason.

Starting point is 00:22:00 So that is something that I want Mike rabel to challenge himself with not just with the offensive coordinator that he has but how he approaches spring this offseason and spring practice overall to not just be like we are just going to play man football and dominate the other team in the trenches how can we overcome our trenches because that is something that he struggled to do in tennessee on the offensive side of the football how can we overcome our trenches? Because that is something that he struggled to do in Tennessee on the offensive side of the football. How can he change that? What has he learned from working with a very talented Kevin Stefanski staff? What has he learned over the last year? And how can he implement that as the Patriots head coach? Obviously, these are concerns right now.

Starting point is 00:22:43 But like I said, we do not want any concerns to turn into flat-out negatives. Absolutely. Great job, Daveesh. I think you definitely hit a lot of the nails on the head. Pete, I'm going to flip this to you now. When you look at Mike Rabel and you look at the type of coach that he's been in Tennessee, in Ohio State, even with the Texans as the D coordinator, now coming in, grabbing the reins here in new England, he looks motivated and sounds like he's saying all the right things for the most part, folks. Do you still have any concerns about the job that he can do here in new

Starting point is 00:23:14 England? I have two concerns about Mike Rabel as head coach of the new England Patriots. The first and lesser of my two concerns are the X's and O's. As division mentioned, there are some scheme concerns here or you know maybe better said he still has something to prove when it comes to the X's and O's in football hiring a good offensive coordinator as a defensive mind will be important for Vrabel so that is something that we still have to see who does he bring in here because building around and scheming for Drake May can't be missed.

Starting point is 00:23:47 Messing that up would be very brutal. So he needs to nail that. And that's a concern, right? Any coach that you brought in here, I would be like same concern. So it's just like a new head coach concern, not a Vrabel concern. When it comes to Mike Vrabel and who he is, the concern I have, you have to go back to Tennessee to latch on to this idea. And Vrabel reminds me of Bill Belichick, but in a bad way.

Starting point is 00:24:17 My greatest concern with Mike Vrabel is he'll want more roster control than he's being given already. ESPN Adam Schefter was on Pat McAfee yesterday, and he said Elliott Wolfe will answer to Mike Vrabel. Vrabel also brought in Ryan Cowden, who will be number two to Wolfe. But both of these guys answered to Vrabel. How much influence does this man already have on day like three of the job with nothing proven already? I brought up Taylor Lewin's video earlier. The bad part about that video was he described Vrabel style and all I could think of is this is Bill Belichick style. This isn't Vrabel style. He copying and pasting this from Bill Belichick. Show me another coach that has done what Bill Belichick has done successfully. I can't find one. He's basically what's described. He's hard-nosed, egotistical, vulgar, in your face, wants the offense to know

Starting point is 00:24:59 the defense, wants the defense to know the offense, vice versa. I can go on. It feels like I'm just describing Bill Belichick all over again. How many other coaches, like I said, have been able to do that? Additionally, if you think back to Rabel's time in Tennessee, he asked for roster control. And that's what's during when the Titans were looking for their GM, when they were in that GM search. He asked A.D. Adam Strong, can I have the full roster control?

Starting point is 00:25:24 And this eroded the relationship here on both sides of the coin. Being told no eroded it for him. And the fact that he asked eroded it for her. This along with many other things. I'm not going to say this was the only reason. There was a lot of other things too. But it was who the GM should be, right? Again, control. How is the front office using analytics? I want to be in the know. I want to be in control. And I agree with him here. But again, I want a sense of control. So my concern here, and this is what I'm going to be paying attention to this offseason is who's making the decisions? What is the power structure here? And should that be a concern

Starting point is 00:26:00 for us moving forward? Again, it's just a concern. I hope it doesn't turn into a problem for us, but that is exactly what Vrabel's problem was last time. That's what Robert Kraft's problem was with Belichick. And ultimately, are we going to see the same mistake being made twice? Because they're willing to make the same mistake twice because another problem I have, not with Vrabel, but was just with the hiring process itself. It was a sham. They knew exactly who they wanted. They skipped the Rooney rule. They just checked off some boxes. So it feels like things are a little bit different here in this organization. And I hope that they're just not making quick decisions that could ultimately lead them to mistakes in the long run. Again, I hope this doesn't come to fruition. I hope everything works out and I hope Vrabel's a genius. So he should have full control,

Starting point is 00:26:41 but those are my concerns. and i think valid concerns and look in order for mike vrabel to counteract those and to make sure that these don't become problems is to one follow through on what he said on monday a shared effort a collaborative effort these can't be catch words these can't be just catch phrases he has to go out and he has to collaborate with the guys that are in that room right now if he's not going to be able to work with these people in the front office, then it's going to be up to the Patriots and he to try to come to a happy medium and determine who needs to be in the know, who needs to be in that section, because it can't be all on one individual.

Starting point is 00:27:18 Bill Belichick is great as he was. And I do believe that you've never seen a finer coach on the sidelines. He was as great as you could be in this position. And having all of that authority, having final say on every situation, did end up, I think, being his undoing here in New England. Maybe the unwillingness to take a little bit of advice when it came to certain draft picks and things of that nature. So yeah, Mike definitely has to embrace a collaborative effort.

Starting point is 00:27:44 And I agree with you pete if it starts out as a small problem it's going to continue to fester these things have to be worked out right away and if they are i think that will lead to some reasonable expectations that this team will be better this year than the last but that's how we're going to finish up our conversation today folks what are some reasonable expectations from mike vrabel, the head coach of your New England Patriots in 2025? We're going to find out what the Foxborough fellas have to say as we wrap things up here on this discussion on the Lockdown Patriots podcast. Proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Lockdown listeners, growing your small business in 2025 comes down to how well you can

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Starting point is 00:29:21 That's linkedin.com. Don't delay. Do it today to post your job for free. LinkedIn.com. Terms and conditions apply. Pats fans, thank you so much for joining us here today on this midweek episode. Joined by Pete Collins and divish satchdeva the foxborough fellas themselves you can catch them on the boston sports zone folks one of the best

Starting point is 00:29:51 patriots podcasts out there i've had the privilege of being on their show not once but twice check it out you will not want to miss it and obviously today they have broken the wisdom and counsel meter when it comes to lending their wisdom their counsel counsel, their insight on Mike Vrabel as the 16th head coach in New England Patriots history. Gentlemen, the time for the talk is going to be just about over pretty soon. Mike Vrabel already kicking off an extensive search, we're told, as he tries to round out his staff here in New England. Will there be some holdovers? We anticipate that some of these coaches will be staying onovers? We anticipate that some of these coaches will be staying on. We also anticipate that some of these coaches will be moving on. And the higher up you

Starting point is 00:30:30 go on the coaching food chain, it's more likely than not that we're going to see some turnover. But regardless of who Mike brings in as offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, who he retains as positional coaches and potential coordinators as well the expectations on mike are going to be to exceed what the patriots did this season i can guarantee you but crafts patriots nation does not want to see the patriots finish 4 and 13 once again so in that vein i think the expectations are that Mike Vrabel at least wins five games, but maybe that's selling him a little bit too short. Maybe we should be a little bit more optimistic.

Starting point is 00:31:12 Pete, I'm going to give you the ball first on this one. When you look at Mike Vrabel and you look at the work that he has to do this year, simply speaking from a 2025 perspective, should we have great expectations for Mike Vble as head coach this year or would you curb your enthusiasm just a little bit um i think we can have great expectations uh not to dick i love it uh i think win loss maybe is a little bit too hard to predict at this point considering we have a whole off season ahead of us but i will say the home schedule next year looks tasty. I'm already circling about five games that we should win. And this is not knowing what happens in the off season. We should

Starting point is 00:31:51 just win five games at home next year, regardless of what happens in the off season. So that's where I'm setting the minimum, right? Like it's five wins. So realistic expectation shouldn't be in win losses though. It should be to establish an identity. It should be to develop young players. It should be to beat bad teams and it should be to stay competitive with good teams. That should be a realistic expectation for Mike Rabel this year. When it comes to the identity, his primary goal needs to be establishing some sort of philosophy or culture here. It's exactly what was missing last year. I had no idea what this team's identity was. He'll need to, you know, he's brand new. He doesn't know a lot of these players. I need to develop relationships with these players to be able

Starting point is 00:32:33 to hold them accountable. And he talked about that at his press conference. He's like, you can't hold these guys accountable if you don't know who they are and, you know, know things about them. So he needs to connect with his players. I'm sure he'll do that. He needs to develop the young players. He needs to make them take steps instead of just like plateau. And that's kind of what I felt like. I didn't see any of the young guys progress last year. It just felt like they were as good as they were at the beginning of the year. I want to see Polk move forward, you know, progress. I want to see Baker take snaps. I want to see Robinson improve his pass pro. I want to see Bell improve his blocking and actually be on the field a little bit more. Have these guys take some steps forward. There's other

Starting point is 00:33:09 young players. I just mentioned the guys we drafted. We're about to draft a whole slew of other guys. Develop these guys. Beat the bad teams. Rather than focusing on wins and losses, he even talked about it. He's like, I don't know if we're even good enough right now to beat the bad teams. He even said that. It's like, well, get yourself there, beat these bad teams. And those five wins at home are just all bad teams. That's why I'm circling them just because they're junk, right? Like the Panthers, the Raiders. I mean, come on, we should be able to beat these guys, the giants.

Starting point is 00:33:36 Come on. So beat those guys. And then when you play like the bills of the world, stay competitive. Don't get your doors blown off. I understand you might not beat them, but let the fans be hopeful. Another thing he talked about at his press conference, he's like, I understand I need the fans to be patient, but I want them to be prideful at the same point. So allow us to be prideful, Rabel. That's exactly what I want for. So improve the team culture, develop the players, stay competitive and throw on a couple more wins and get me to six wins seven

Starting point is 00:34:05 wins i think we're we're happy but uh the but the ceiling is much higher than that i like it i like it an awful lot pete is being optimistic folks maybe overly optimistic but i like that i like that attitude in the foxborough fellas and i love the nod to dickens you're definitely you're making late great charles dickens very happy right now. Diviz, I'm going to flip this one over to you. You and I share a love of Aristotle philosophy, where we believe that virtue lies in the middle. See, folks, this is why I love the fellas coming on here. We're talking Charles Dickens with Pete Collins.

Starting point is 00:34:37 We're talking Aristotle with Diviz Shachdeva. You can't do this with anyone else. I love having these guys here. All kidding aside, Divij, you've been very cerebral, I'm sure, in the wisdom and counsel you're about to provide us. When you talk about Mike Grable being the head coach, what are your expectations for him this season? I think my expectations for the most part are positives, and those are focused on the positives that he has shown in the past. So some of the positives that, and one especially

Starting point is 00:35:06 that I want to bring is the hand he had in the development of Kevin Bayard in Tennessee to make him a two-time All-Pro. And Kevin Bayard's play style reminds me a lot of Jabril Peppers. And I think that is something that those are things that I expect we're able to unlock. Some of the things are run blocking from offensive linemen. That is one thing that his Patriots team took a lot of pride in. And that is something a lot of Urban Meyer teams took a lot of pride in. And the fact that he has coached great, great run defenders on the defensive line, like Jadeveon Clowney, JJ Vaughn. Coaching from those guys,

Starting point is 00:35:49 the people that understand the run game, more than only the people that understand the run game as much as an offensive coordinator or a run game coordinator does, are defensive and offensive linemen. And that is something that he will be able to coach really, really well. And I expect us to be a very efficient running team.

Starting point is 00:36:17 I think that is something that we have really, really struggled to establish. I think for, I would say, about three off-seasons now, the Patriots have kind of full-scented to just be a zone-heavy, modern run scheme. That's why you draft Cole Schrage at 29 and stuff, things like that. I think that is something we see, that Mike Rabel philosophy with better scouting. We see that in the draft. Now, while draft talk is heating up, I will say one thing. This might be a positive for some people. This might be a negative for some people.

Starting point is 00:36:43 We have four picks in the top 100 i wouldn't be surprised if two of those top 100 picks are spent on a corner and spent on a defensive lineman that is simply who mike rabel is he wants to stifle the other team's aerial attack and he wants to run the ball down the other team's throat. Gray's able at 38. You talk about like the run block, the type of run blockers he wants to, he wants to develop and he wants to draft. These are the type of guys in this draft class that he will probably have a big hand in drafting.

Starting point is 00:37:20 But I think what everyone wants to know with Mike Rabel's expectations are like, we have been so bad. We have been one of the worst teams in the league for the last two years. Where do we go from worst to first? And I did write some things down where these are three things where the Patriots were bottom eight, where I expect us to be top 10 to 12 next year. Patriots defense last year was 29th in missed tackles so like the fourth worst team in missed tackles a Mike Rabel team will not be bottom four in missed tackles at all I clearly expect us to be in the top 10 to 12 there yards after contact allowed from the Patriots defense last year it really felt like if we called a zone,

Starting point is 00:38:06 any type of zone blitz and the running back read the right gap, that run was not going to be stopped at four or five yards. That run was going for 10 to 12 yards and the running back himself is picking up a first time. Those things are not going to happen under Mike Frabel because teams that allow a lot of yards after the contact do it because of two reasons. Either they're not gap sound, they don't understand their assignments and they whiff on the gap that they were supposed to cover. That is not going to happen.

Starting point is 00:38:33 And then the other thing, at some point you just have to outwork the other team. And that is something I wanted to quote J.J. Watt and how Mike Rabel led practices in Houston. He said, it's hard not to put effort in practice when your coach could literally kick your ass. And I think that is something that will, that is something that will translate well with this Patriots team who a lot of the blue chip talent on this team is still fairly young. And then the last thing I had, which is a lot of credit that Mike Rabel gets for it, is his statistical awareness. So this is a statistic that FDN tracks, which is called decision differential. It is not just talking about whether you should have, how many times you went for it when you

Starting point is 00:39:16 should have, or versus shouldn't have. It actually tracks by what probability difference did you actually go for it, or by what probability difference did you actually go for it or by what probability difference did you actually whiff on that decision the Patriots were the 30th ranked team in this uh in this statistic I don't expect the Mike Rabel team to be bottom three in a statistic like this he will establish a true analytics division we have heard talks about john striker who was his right-hand man in tennessee in terms of in-game decision making coming over to new england these are things that this team is 100 going to improve on and these are the things where i truly expect that like these are things that you won't you won't really like it won't make a huge difference if

Starting point is 00:40:04 one of our linebackers let's say christian ellis puts that extra effort in on one tackle in that one game but that spirit like extrapolated over 17 games will be huge for this team and all the three to four extra wins that we are talking about it's these things that can potentially lead us there. Excellent insight, Dvish. And I think what it does is it brings it back to the point that Mike was trying to make on Monday. I think his most overarching point when he says, I want to galvanize this building. I want to provide a program that provides the players, ownership, everyone accountability to each other. It starts on the field where you really set the boundaries, where you really establish yourself as a head coach is on the field.

Starting point is 00:40:47 When it comes to your players, your players believe in you and they believe in your spirit and they believe in your ability to coach them. They consider you a competent leader. They will follow. And that's exactly what you have to do to put that type of aura on the field. And we keep saying, you know, these little things are going to help. They're going to bring you to that next level. They're not so little when they're all added up, though. You know, when they come as part of a package deal, it does lead to extra wins.

Starting point is 00:41:12 So, gentlemen, amazing insight, incredible enthusiasm. And what more can you ask for, folks? You're entertained. You're informed. That's the kind of experience you'll have when you check out the Foxborough fellows in tandem with Lockdown Patriots. Gentlemen, thanks so much for coming on today. Really appreciate having you both here. Pete, I'll start with you and then we'll flip over to Divij. Before I let you go, please let everyone know where they can interact with you on social media and any parting words of wisdom to Patriots Nation here today? Yeah, no, thank you for having us on the pod and thank you for joining us on our pod.

Starting point is 00:41:48 It's always a great opportunity to get to chat and talk some Patriots here. But yeah, you can follow me on Twitter at P underscore Collins underscore. You can follow the podcast at Fox fellas pod, which is on Boston sports zone. You can follow them at spot sports zone, underscore BOS for Boston. And I don't have any genius parting words. So I'm just going to quote the great Mike Brable and say, it's time to get to work.

Starting point is 00:42:16 Absolutely. I love it. Absolutely. Love it. Division. First off. Thank you so much for having us on Mike. It's always a blast talking ball with you.

Starting point is 00:42:26 Everyone, I'm most active on Twitter or X. You can find me at Sachdeva Devij. My ad's on the screen here as well. Obviously, follow at FoxFellasPod on X as well. And then all our content on YouTube is on Boston SportsZone. And Boston SportsZone's Twitter can be found at sportszone underscore BOS. So check us out there. My final thought is just for the Patriots fans that Mike Rabel talked about this.

Starting point is 00:42:59 We want to take entitlement out of the building. Let's take a little bit of entitlement out of this fan base as well. And I just want to say this as fun as it is to win superbowls it's even worse to watch bad football week in and week out and i think that is something that should be everyone's expectations don't be entitled for a playoff bird. Don't be entitled for an AFC East title. But know that more weeks than not, the other team is going to make more mistakes on the field than you do. More weeks than not, our players are going to put in more effort than the other team's players.

Starting point is 00:43:39 And hey, obviously talent is rotational. Sometimes chips will fall our way. Sometimes they won't. And we will fall our way. Sometimes they won't. And we will build on that over the coming off season. But that is the biggest expectation that I have this season. I'm very excited about it. Very well said. Very, very well said.

Starting point is 00:43:55 And you know what, folks? Sometimes the success that you covet most, that you really need the most, is not all about the numbers that you put up on the scoreboard and in the win-loss column. It's about the improvements that are made each and every week. And I think that's what Mike Vrabel is all about the numbers that you put up on the scoreboard and in the win-loss column. It's about the improvements that are made each and every week. And I think that's what Mike Vrabel is all about. I think that's what your New England Patriots are going to be all about in 2025. And the insight from the Foxborough Fellows, I'm sure, is going to be one we're going to be playing back.

Starting point is 00:44:17 And I think we're going to look back on it very positively as 2025 gets going in earnest. And folks, believe it or not, it'll be here before you know it. And stay locked into Locked On Patriots every step of the way. But in the meantime, on behalf of Pete Collins and Diviz Sachdeva of the Foxborough Fellas, I'm Mike DeBate reminding all of you to stay safe, to stay well, to be the change you wish to see in the world. A special tip of the cap and our thoughts and our hearts continue to be with our brethren in Southern California, wishing you

Starting point is 00:44:45 the absolute best in what continues to be a horrific situation. We continue to send our spirit with you. Stay as strong as you possibly can. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel: The Good, the Bad and the Great Expectations?

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