Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Brand-new Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel is trying to remake the Patriots in is image. The first thing he had to do was address the team's future, in his re-introductory press conference.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft hired Vrabel after this year's disappointing 4-13 season with Jerod Mayo at the helm.
Kraft called Vrabel someone who could help the team bounce back, and impressed him during the interview process.
“Mike showed us that he had a very deep understanding of our current team,” Kraft said. “Most importantly, he had a clear and focused strategy of how to get us back to a championship way that is so important.”
When asked about how he was going to lead, Vrabel focused on locker room culture.
“I want to galvanize our football team, I want to galvanize this building,” Vrabel said. “We’re going to earn the right to be here every day, we’re going to remove entitlement from our football team, we’re going to get everything that we earned, from the head coach to the position coaches, all the way down to the plays.”
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He also stressed the importance of detail, and said that his eventual goal was indeed to win the division, and playoff games -- even a Super Bowl. But Vrabel said that would take a lot of time. At first, he said, the team needs to start slow and win against bad teams — something this current roster struggled with this year under Mayo.
“We can work towards taking advantage of bad football and being good enough to, when someone makes a mistake, capitalizing on it, and not being the ones that make the mistakes,” Vrabel said.
Vrabel — present during the Patriots dynasty's first three Super Bowl wins — emphasized how the team’s previous successes won’t make them winners, but said they can become that team again.
“The banners that hang in our stadium, they’re not going to help us win,” Vrabel said. “But I think it’s a great reminder of what it takes to win and the type of people that you have to have in the organization, the selflessness, the work and sacrifice that you have to make.”
When asked what he's looking for in players, he said he's looking for players that can "put the team first, and care about somebody other than yourself," focusing on how he's hoping for good work ethic over anything else.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.