With the Patriots back in Foxboro for offseason workouts, we're all getting our first look into how Mike Vrabel's impact is being felt so far. There's a lot expected of Vrabel, who was hired this offseason, even without the whole 'Patriot Way' stuff hanging over his head.
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And if you were looking to get way too excited, way too early in the season, you're in luck. While talking to the Boston Herald's Doug Kyed, new Patriots linebacker Harold Landry went into a good bit of detail about not only what it's like to play for Vrabel, but why following him to New England – the two were together when Vrabel was the coach in Tennessee – was such an easy decision.
Mike Vrabel is already proving to be a great recruiter for the Patriots
"I feel like one of the main jobs for a head coach is to make sure your team’s prepared situationally,” Landry said. “And all I know is, as long as I played for Vrabes, there was never a situation I wasn’t prepared for. Like, I don’t care what the score was in the fourth quarter. I don’t know. We just always had a feeling that we was going to pull this out. Didn’t matter what the score was going into the fourth and we just always found a way to win. It’s crazy. We just found a way to win. And that was just kind of the mentality. We just didn’t think we could lose, to be honest, no matter what was going on in the game."
Weird, that also sounds a lot like another Patriots coach. I wonder where Vrabel gets it from! Belichick stuff aside, considering how unprepared the Patriots looked throughout last year's slog of a season, it's especially rewarding to hear a player speak so highly about a coach's process. And it already kinda feels like people want to play for the Patriots more now than they have in the last 3-4 years, so things are starting to look up.
I don't want to sound too crazy, but at this rate, players may start talking about winning games soon. Then, maybe, a home wild card. The sky's the limit with Mike Vrabel and his preparation – that's my story, at least, and I'm sticking with it until the first really ugly Dolphins loss of the year.