FOXBOROUGH - The trade deadline came and went, and the Patriots stood pat. Given their team's health and tenuous position in the standings, you could argue they should have added, even if it was on the fringes, until the cavalry comes back. Instead, crickets. Disappointing to some. Was Mike Vrabel among them?
“I'm excited to get ready for the Lions,’ he said when I asked Wednesday afternoon. “That's all I can do right now. That's it, and that's what we were trying to do before. So, you know, I think it was good to be able to get in here Tuesday afternoon to kind of get a jump start on things and understand, like, the schedule and how we're traveling and the intent of it and it's another good football team, so that's where our focus is.”
If you were wondering if I put the wrong quote into this story, you’d be justified, but incorrect. That was Vrabel’s answer, or non-answer, as it were. Contrast that with Lions coach Dan Campbell, whose team also didn’t make a deadline deal. When he was asked today, Campbell declared, “We love our guys.”
That’s not to say there’s a right or wrong answer. But it does speak to Vrabel’s state of mind about his football team. They got embarrassed on Sunday, and the season feels like it’s teetering (even if that's being a prisoner of the moment).
As we illustrated here, Vrabel made pointed comments on Sunday, looking for 48 guys who “care,” and Mack Hollins concurred. Linebacker Robert Spillane went on WEEI and said, “You’re going to have to ask Mike Vrabel and Mack Hollins about the comments they decided to make. Those are words that came from them. I don’t agree with those words… I don’t see what those are about.”
Did Vrabel feel the need to clarify his comments to the team or to Spillane?
“No, I didn't have to explain myself, and he didn't say anything to me," he said. "I mean, listen: I want people to be here. I want you guys to want to be here. … if we're gonna get together, we're gonna have a team, I want people that want to be here. Like that's really nothing new. That's not earth-shattering. So I don't know. I try to explain that that wasn't an accusation, and if somebody took it like that, then it's probably who we were talking to.”
Not an accusation, and yet, that final line, “probably who we’re talking to,” sure sounds