Mike Vrabel is set to return to his old stomping grounds this week as his New England Patriots prepare to take on the Tennessee Titans. He was the head coach in Tennessee for six seasons and even won Coach of the Year with them in 2021. But now, donning Pats gear, he says everything feels a bit weird walking into the Titans’ stadium.
Only adding to the storyline surrounding Vrabel’s return is the fact that the Titans just fired his replacement head coach, Brian Callahan. Former offensive assistant Mike McCoy will serve as the interim head coach for now. You can bet the Titans are wishing Vrabel were still at the helm.
Regardless, when he arrived at his old team’s stadium this morning, Vrabel admitted it felt backwards going into the visitors’ locker room.
“It feels backwards,” the Patriots head coach told CBS about his return to Tennessee after 2 seasons. “I think it’s in reverse. We came in a different way than what I’m used to.”
There must have been a lot of muscle memory that Vrabel had to break once he got to Nissan Stadium. But he’s seemingly not letting the discomfort get to him, later sharing that he’s excited to get after it today.
“But, you know, I’m excited for the team to have this opportunity to continue what we’ve started this early in the season,” Vrabel added.
With the 1-5 Titans on the schedule today, followed by the 1-5 Cleveland Browns next week, there’s no reason not to be excited. It should be an easier stretch of games that could get the Pats to 6-2. If they can do that, they’ll cement their status as a clear threat to the Buffalo Bills, who have won the last five AFC East divisional crowns.
The catalyst behind New England’s 4-2 run so far has been quarterback Drake Maye. Vrabel discussed just how good he’s been and how he can keep that momentum going today.
“I think that he’s just trusting a lot of different people. We tell him just to throw the ball to the guy that’s open in the progression, and I think he’s really understood that. That’s our tight ends, that’s our backs. You know, the receivers, and everybody’s been really unselfish. When they don’t have it, they turn and try to block to protect the guy with the ball.”
The Titans have won three of the last four meetings against the Patriots, but two of those were with Vrabel in charge. When they locked horns last season, Tennessee got the last laugh in overtime, winning 20-17. However, we see this one going a different way.
Before this nice stretch for the Titans, the Pats have had a storied history of absolutely crushing them. In fact, there was a stretch from 2003 to 2018 where they won six straight games against them. Regularly winning by 20+ points. There was even one time where the Patriots beat the Titans 59-0, which is still the biggest blowout in NFL history.
Today, Vrabel and the Pats should come out victorious. Any other result would be a let-down for them. So, look for them to come out swinging with big plays to get out in front early. It worked last week for Maye against the New Orleans Saints. Let’s see if he can accurately air it out once again.
