New England Patriots
Vrabel also joked about when he might shave his “Movember” mustache.
Mike Vrabel in the press conference following the Patriots’ win over the Giants. AP Photo/Charles Krupa
December 2, 2025 | 10:53 AM
5 minutes to read
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel stopped by WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Tuesday morning following the team’s 33-15 victory over the Giants.
New England extended its winning streak to 10 in a row, avoiding the possible “trap game” against the last-place Giants.
“If you don’t show up ready to go, and you don’t do the things that are important to winning, you don’t play complementary [football] and you take a nap, then you lose,” Vrabel said simply of his team’s ongoing need to remain focused.
One thing he was not especially focused on was the disposal of his “Movember” mustache. Vrabel has used the annual charity tradition to bring support men’s health (also donning special “My Cause My Cleats” shoes on Monday that featured a reference to his mustache). But after it was mentioned by ESPN’s television broadcast that Vrabel would shave the mustache with the onset of December, he placed it lower on his priorities.
“That was not on the top of my list. It was just trying to get down here this morning,” Vrabel explained.
“Probably gone today,” he added of the mustache.
Here are a few other topics he talked about during the course of the interview:
The physicality of the Patriots defense
One of the observations from Monday night’s win was the sheer physicality of New England’s defense, with multiple (legal) hits on Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart.
“I just appreciate how they came out,” Vrabel said of his defense. “They were aggressive. It’d been a while since we’d played, and it just was a long week. We talked about attacking, and [being] aggressive, and saying, ‘Hey, if they’re going to run the quarterback, or they’re going to run a gadget play, it’s hard to scheme these gadget plays up. Sometimes the best answer is violence,’ and some of those guys chose that, and it was good to see.”
As for the notion that the hits on Dart were dirty plays, Vrabel disagreed.
“I thought it was good. I thought it was excellent,” he said of the hits.
“The first sack, when Harold [Landry] got him, I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to be careful,’” Vrabel added. “I don’t think [Landry] was going for his head. [Dart] just slid.
The first-year Patriots coach said that it’s a point of emphasis with how players are coached.
“We know on quarterback slides, they’re protected, and we have to go in making sure that he’s down and giving himself up and we’re not hitting him in the head or neck. We coach that all the time,” he said. “We know that that’s what happens. The quarterbacks are going to slide late, they’re protected. We can say anything we want about it. We just have to understand what they’re calling, and what we have to do. But if there’s a football player running down the sidelines, we’re going to have to hit him.
“We go through this every week on the Friday tape,” Vrabel continued. “We put it on there, and whatever quarterback of the week, it happens twice a week. They’re over there prancing around, and you’re going to get hit. We showed that to Drake, and our defenders are being coached the same way. When I say we better not get cute over there by the sideline because this is legal, I turn around and tell the defense, ‘If this is happening, we need to try to knock the s*** out of him as legally as possible.’”
The Drake Maye/Tom Brady comparisons
Though he’s established previously that he’s not a fan of comparing current players to those of earlier eras, Vrabel was nonetheless asked about how he ranks Drake Maye’s current season (his second in the NFL) with Tom Brady’s second year in 2001.
“I think it was just a different game back then,” Vrabel said of Brady’s time. “It was 2001, so I don’t things had quite opened up like they have now with different personnel groups, and multiple receiver sets.”
Is there more on Drake Maye’s plate in 2025 as a modern quarterback?
“That’s a long time ago,” Vrabel maintained. “I don’t really have the best memory of that. I just think that the circumstances around that season were very unique, and Tom being able to step in there and lead the football team. And [the 2001 Patriots] were 5-5 after 10 weeks. Whatever that season was, I think they’re all different. Certainly that one was unique.”
The Giants’ botched field goal
One of the more bizarre plays from Monday’s game was when Giants kicker Younghoe Koo went to attempt a field goal only to not strike the ball (instead stubbing his kicking foot into the ground amid an apparently botched hold).
The failed play was marked down as a rushing loss, and a turnover on downs.
“I didn’t know if it was a fake. I’m watching on the sidelines going, ‘What the?’ I don’t know,” Vrabel said of the strange play.
Still, he took a sympathetic line on the criticism of the New York kicker and special teams performance.
“I don’t envy that position at all,” Vrabel said of being a kicker. “Just being able to go out there and operate and nobody cares about the long snapper, the holder, and kicker until the operation isn’t good.”
The thing about Stefon Diggs that’s impressed him the most
With the ongoing leadership of veteran wide receiver Stefon Diggs, Vrabel was questioned about the positive presence that the free agent signing has brought to New England since arriving in the offseason.
“Well I just think it goes back to the recovery and rehab, how hard he worked,” Vrabel said, referencing Diggs’ comeback from a torn ACL in 2024. “We didn’t want to put a timeline on anything, but he was ready to go. He’s practiced, I’d imagine, every single day or every day that we wanted him to practice by plan. He’s remained durable, and has an energy and a spirit to him that I think the guys gravitate toward.
The New England coach expanded on his answer, crediting Diggs’ self-deprecating style.
“I would say the biggest thing, the thing that I’m probably most impressed by is that he has the ability to laugh at himself,” Vrabel noted. “Nowadays it’s hard, you know he’s in the public eye and you don’t have the ability to laugh at yourself and you take yourself way too seriously. I appreciate that with everybody, and especially Stef.
“Whether guys are getting on Drake or they’re getting on Stef, and I think that’s the thing I’m most proud of. And if they make fun of me and I’ve got to laugh at it, I think that’s all part of it. It’s part of being a team.”
Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.
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