Inside Coach Vrabel’s Program Through the Eyes of Former Patriots and Titans Greats

Defensively, you can draw a straighter line between the system Vrabel thrived in as a player and the one he built in Tennesseee, initially under Patriots coaching disciple Dean Pees.

Pees coached linebackers and eventually rose to defensive coordinator with the Patriots from 2004 to 2009. After a long stint in Baltimore, Vrabel hired the veteran defensive coordinator to run his defense for his first two seasons with the Titans. As a result, there were similarities to the system Vrabel played in during his eight seasons in New England.

“It was similar to New England. A lot of the calls are the same as what I ran in New England. I believe that Vrabel does a great job of understanding the strengths of his team and building that,” Ryan said. “All the guys on defense, myself included, had some of our best, most productive years. Only a good head coach can deal with all those personalities and maximize their potential.”

One area Ryan pointed to as a strength for Vrabel is finding ways to scheme up pressure. Last season, the Patriots ranked last in sacks (28) and 29th in team pressure rate (28.7%). Furthermore, New England was 25th in unblocked pressure rate (5.6%), which measures how often a defense generates a free runner at the quarterback.

“We had a really strong secondary. We did a lot of complicated secondary pressures, blitzes, and stuff to make it hard on the quarterback because we had a really smart, veteran secondary. We found a way to simulate pressure. We found a way to be multiple and complicated,” Ryan added.

Based on Ryan’s breakdown, the Patriots have similar personnel to those Titans defenses. One could see New England leaning on its strong secondary led by All-Pro corner Christian Gonzalez, captain Kyle Dugger, and others to do their jobs in the backend so that the Patriots can run simulated pressures to “affect the quarterback,” as Vrabel says.

The other hallmark of Vrabel’s approach is how often his teams’ starters practice against each other, or in football jargon, good on good. Butler and Ryan both mentioned that Vrabel-led practices were heavy on scrimmaging, which helped defenders sharpen fundamentals.

“I remember that OTAs, we did so much good on good. We did so much scrimmaging, just like playing against each other, like competing. He wanted to figure out who the dogs were and who loved football. I appreciated that because I knew that’s what it took.”

He immediately went to team meetings and set the blueprint of what he wanted to be: a tough, smart football team. He started challenging star players right away. He started challenging guys to practice better, challenging guys to take pride in it,” Ryan said.

Butler added that Vrabel harps on being a good tackling defense that is assignment sound, saying, “He’s big on just doing your job, don’t overdo your job and just play as a team.”

Like on offense, we’ll see who Vrabel tabs as defensive coordinator and what direction the defense goes in schematically. But it’ll likely look familiar to past Patriots defenses.

Along with how his team plays on both sides of the ball, game management is a major aspect of being a good head coach.

Over the years, Vrabel’s shrewd game management moves have caught the eye, even exploiting a loophole during the Titans playoff win over the Patriots in 2019. Although many fans probably remember Vrabel taking a delay-of-game penalty to keep the clock running vs. the Patriots, it wasn’t the only time he was a step ahead in this regard.

“He’s much smarter than you think. He’s one of the best at in-game strategy to the level of using in-game strategy against Coach Belichick in a game,” Ryan said. “He did a better job of that than other teams. He used the punt loophole rule against Bill Belichick and took the delay of games on the punt to burn clock to close out the game.

We had a four-minute situation where we put 12 men on the field to purposely give them a free first down, so we had a fresh set of chains to get them off the field. I never saw a coach do that before. Vrabel is always studying the rules and finding ways to put his team strategically in a position to win the game in the end,” Ryan stated.

Another anecdote Ryan recalled was his pick-six in Tom Brady’s last game with the Patriots. Ryan famously intercepted Brady on his last pass attempt as a Patriot, but he broke his head coach’s rule by returning it for a touchdown.

“Watch the clip of me picking off Brady on his last pass. He was yelling at me to go down and slide because, theoretically, we’re up one. If I score a touchdown, we’re up eight and have to kick the ball back to him,” said Ryan. “I think he was actually mad. He threw his hands up in the air that I picked off Brady and didn’t slide to end the game. Vrabel was the only person on the Tennessee Titans sideline that was actually mad at me for having a pick-six on Brady’s last pass.”

Ryan’s recalling his head coach’s reaction to a game-clinching interception that won a playoff game perfectly summarizes Vrabel’s coaching style. A self-aware head coach who has both been between the lines and sees the game through a strategic lens. Hopefully, it will be a perfect blend of old-school football with a new-school approach to players and scheme.

Now, as Vrabel said to end his introductory press conference, it’s time to get to work.