Mike Vrabel’s anticipated return to Nissan Stadium went about as well as the New England Patriots and their fans could have hoped for.
The precise Drake Maye carved up yet another defense, and added a 39-yard touchdown bomb to Kayshon Boutte to his early-season collection. The running game finally got going, with Rhamondre Stevenson running with a purpose and the team gaining a season-high 175 yards. The defense even got into the act, with K'Lavon Chaisson’s strip-sack for a touchdown turning a once close affair into a rout in the third quarter.
Oh, and chants of “Vra-bel! Vra-bel! Vra-bel!” rained down from the Nissan Stadium crowd late in the fourth quarter of a 31-13 Patriots win.
Vrabel’s crew improved to 5-2, winning on the road for the third consecutive week — a feat that, amazingly, had never been done before in franchise history. He’s taken a four-win franchise that had lost its way into the thick of the AFC arm’s race.
So does New England’s head coach feel vindicated, still less than two years removed from getting fired by the Titans?
With the Vrabel “revenge game” finally in the rearview mirror, New England's coach finally had a chance to get real and move forward from a storyline that's probably been overplayed.
New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel took the high road after blowout win over former team
When asked about how it felt to take his young team into Nissan Stadium and leave with a convincing, three-phase win, Vrabel responded with a candid answer post-game.
“Yea, I’ve just moved on. Again, there’s a lot of guys over there and a lot of people on that support staff that helped us do some decent things. But, you know, you kind of move on and this is a whole different challenge, and I’m excited of where I’m at.”
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When asked if he was touched by fans chanting his name in the fourth quarter, Vrabel gave a vintage respose that should resonate with Patriots and Titans fans alike.
“Well I didn’t get that many tickets. I don’t know,” he quipped. “That’s neither here nor there.”
Vrabel’s first line to MassLive’s Karen Guregian was: “An emotional game, emotional stretch for us.” He hit on the difficulty of winning back-to-back-to-back road wins and kept it very much about his players.
He’ll depart Nashville tonight feeling more validation on his Patriots, than vindication over the Titans. Tennessee played well in the first half on Sunday. New England trailed 13-10 with less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter. His young team finished the game with 21 unanswered points.
The reality that his young group is learning how to win — on the road, in some tough spots — clearly means more to Vrabel than an 18-point win over a 1-6 team with no head coach and a rookie quarterback.
If anything, it’s just good to get that one and go home — where the Patriots haven’t played a game since Sept. 28.