HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, December 28, 2025
On having eight road wins and what has led to that success…
You know, it was a tough one, the first one, just going all the way back to Miami, and I think that was just a really important game for us, being able to battle and give up a punt return, answer with a kickoff return, you know, I mean, going all the way back and just big kick from Andy (Borregales). And we’ve talked about all those things that have helped us along the way and talked about just unfinished business on the road and being able to, when we needed to, handle the environment and make critical plays and get off to a good start like we did today. So, really proud of this football team and what they’ve been able to do. Any time you travel, it’s difficult, so.
On what he attributes their precision to on both sides of the ball early on in the game…
I think, hopefully, we can continue to improve as the season goes on. We’re pretty far into it, but being able to still practice and focus on details and coach actions and not results and, you know, try to be able to translate the things that we do well in practice that when they show up in the games, or vice versa or, you know, maybe things that we weren’t really good at in practice that, you know, maybe we weren’t really good at in the game and we can continue to coach those things, but really focused on trying to improve late in the year. I’m just happy that everybody was able to play and we did get a lot of really good efforts early on in the precision and complementary football and all the great things that we need.
On being able to win with having as many injuries as they do…
I mean, I think from the get-go, we’ve tried to focus on having everybody that’s here prepare as a starter, coach them the same, make sure that everybody knows that when you come in there in the meeting room during the week that at any point in time up until Saturday, or before 4 o’clock, that you could be elevated or signed and we didn’t really have to do that much during the beginning part of the season and all of a sudden, you know, our depth got tested and so I think it was really important for this week for guys to step up and what Josh (McDaniels) and the offensive staff were able to do with managing guys and different personnel groups and using everybody, you know, was really, really good. What Zak (Kuhr) and the defense has been able to do with some guys out, and then obviously what Jeremy (Springer) and Tom (Quinn) are able to do with all the moving parts on special teams. So, I appreciate every single one of those coaches that help us help our players get ready for the games.
On what traits they look for in players, such as flexibility and toughness, especially in times like now where they have to make adjustments…
Well, I think you have to be all those. You have to be able to adapt and then be able to adjust and the players that can play more than one position, you know, we have to be able to ask them to do that. Preparation, just understanding that some of these guys are practicing the entire year and don’t get a chance to play and then you want to be able to reward them when the opportunity presents itself and there’ll be some guys that took advantage of their opportunities and hopefully that’ll lead to more opportunities for them.
On if he feels like Drake Maye is the MVP of League…
Oh, well, I certainly, they don’t give me a vote, but I would, there’s nobody else that we want as our quarterback or that I want as our quarterback. And so to be able to do that and as the plays go through to progression, somebody asked me this week about progression and different things, I said, “Just throw to the guy that’s open as soon as you work through your progression,” and I think he did that. Some really good designs, but also some great execution.
On Drake Maye playing with a depleted offensive line and wide receiver core…
Well, I mean, all those guys have played. I mean, the wide receiver core, I mean Chiz (Efton Chism III) has been catching touchdowns on us on Fridays the entire year, so it was good that he got one in the game, because he’s caught plenty of them on Fridays. And Ben (Brown) did a great job, Vedarian (Lowe) did a great job. Those guys have been in there and Vedarian’s been in there the last couple weeks and Ben’s ready to take advantage of his opportunity as always, so got a great effort from our veteran guys, from Digsy (Stefon Diggs) and certainly the offensive line.
On Hunter Henry and Stefon Diggs being consistent all year…
We say this all the time, that your best players have to play good in order for you to win and I would consider Hunter and Stefon some of our better players and so that’s kind of what you get. That’s the National Football League, and they know that we need their best efforts each and every week, and that’s what we got.
On if his thought process changed after the rushing the passer penalty during the two-minute drive…
Yeah, probably. I mean, just trying to get, you know, being smart with the football and, get the first first down and get into the drive and then, you know, that created good enough field position to keep going and I thought they did a really good job of going down there with the time and the timeouts and the moving parts and once you get into the two-minute and you only have a couple receivers, you kind of get creative and we had two backs in there at times, we had two tight ends in there at times, so I thought that was really good.
On what went into the decision to call a timeout at the end of the first half…
Well, I mean, just trying to think and work the game and, regardless of what the score was, but forcing them to run another play or do something and they don’t carry over to the second half. So, defensively, we hadn’t had a whole lot of opportunities to play. Those guys want to rush, they want to play defense and so I called it and, you know, really didn’t affect the game.
On his conversation with Christian Barmore going into halftime…
Oh, I just reminded everybody to keep their composure. We have an identity that we’ve shown and that we’ve put out there on the football field, and made great decisions for the football team and we don’t want to give people free yards and that was it, just a reminder and Christian (Barmore), they did a great job. I mean, the referee came over there and told me that both him and Corey Durden and everybody else were doing a good job of trying not to get in anything after the whistle and after the play and I appreciate that. It was just a reminder, Nicole.
On how important it was to get reps for the players that were able to play this game, especially during the second half…
Everybody’s going to have to play. We’re going to need everybody’s best effort and preparation and execution. I think the more that you can get them into the game and whether it’s two minutes, some on the ball, guys that really haven’t had that, but they practiced all year, they work extremely hard, so I’m excited to see them be able to go out there and make some plays that helped us win and be excited and that’s the most important thing, that we’re just excited, you know, to get a stop there at the end of the game, the guys that are in there, because they put a lot of time into and they deserve our best.
On how tough it was to see Mack Hollins go on IR and on the other hand, to see WR Efton Chism III perform well…
Mack (Hollins) means a lot to this football team. His personality, his spirit, I’ve talked about that a bunch and he wanted to travel with us and be here and support and I know that he’s happy for Chiz, just because those two have been really close since the time that Chiz got here. I think it’s been fun mentorship and we’ll need that from Mack. We’ll need him to make contributions off the field as we move forward.
