How coach Mike Vrabel retains Fridays enjoyable and lightweight for Patriots, even amid playoff run

FOXBORO, Mass. — New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was in search of a solution to break up the monotonous nature of the NFL season. Days bleed collectively, at all times with the identical construction. It can really feel repetitive.

So Vrabel got down to make Fridays extra enjoyable for the Patriots this season. Essentially, the message was this: Work as arduous as you may Monday by Thursday, then we’ll have some light-hearted moments on Friday, whereas practising and prepping for the following recreation.

That’s how the Patriots discovered themselves of their facility’s auditorium for a weekly group assembly two days earlier than the season opener, questioning what they had been watching. On the large display, Vrabel confirmed some video clips from a highschool recreation, however it was unclear whose they had been or after they had been from.

After about 90 seconds, Vrabel made the reveal. They had been watching defensive finish Ok’Lavon Chaisson’s prep highlights. And he was going to hitch the group’s six full-time captains as a captain for that week’s recreation.

Thus, a brand new custom started for the Pats, who host the Houston Texans in a divisional playoff recreation Sunday afternoon. To announce the weekly captain, Vrabel exhibits the participant’s highschool highlights. It has turn into a guessing recreation for gamers as they struggle to determine whose clips they’re watching.

“We’re all whispering to each other, trying to figure it out,” left guard Jared Wilson stated. “It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s a California team. OK, who’s from California?’”

Vrabel’s culture-setting expertise have been dissected and written about at size. But a part of the explanation he provides gamers and staffers a tough time, typically in a joking method, is that he needs individuals to have the ability to chuckle at themselves. Not to take themselves too critically.

So there’s a little bit of that, too, in the highschool movie, with loads of jokes made on the expense of that week’s captain. No one is aware of that higher than proper sort out and Week 2 captain Morgan Moses, who turns 35 in March.

“I knew immediately it was him because it was in black and white,” joked offensive lineman Caedan Wallace.

It wasn’t really in black and white for the highschool class of 2010 graduate. “But it was a little grainy,” Wallace stated. “You could tell it was from a different time.”

“At first, they said they couldn’t play my high school tape because they didn’t have VHS tapes around here,” Moses stated.

“You watch some guys,” extensive receiver DeMario Douglas stated, “and it’s like, ‘Of course you were getting big college offers. Look how slow those other guys are.’”

Vrabel has even proven highschool highlights of the teaching workers and assistants.

“Those are the hardest ones to guess,” backup quarterback Tommy DeVito stated.

The announcement of a recreation captain is only one approach Vrabel has stored Fridays upbeat throughout this magical Patriots season that has them 15-3, together with final Sunday’s playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Before the season opener, Vrabel instructed first-round choose Will Campbell that he’d need to kick off the Friday group conferences. He’d must ship a monologue of types, stuffed with inside jokes, with a recap of the week.

The early opinions had been blended. But Campbell labored arduous, took to the teaching and improved.

“His slow, Southern drawl is the reason it’s so great,” stated Wilson. “It takes forever to get to the punchline, but once he says it, it’s great.”

The gamers say they know when the funniest jokes are about to be delivered as a result of Campbell can’t cover it.

“Most of the time he’ll start giggling before he even gets to the punchline because he knows what’s coming,” DeVito stated.

Moses, who performs reverse Campbell, is a frequent goal of the jokes.

“Obviously, I’m the butt of the joke somewhere in the speech about being the older guy on the team and being sent to the retirement home,” Moses stated. “But it’s all fun. When you can take a breath away from football and just be human and enjoy some laughs with one another, and it’s friendly fire, it’s always good. I think it brings a different element and some joy to Fridays.”

That vibe continues on the sphere. Fridays are a busy day on the facility with the group wrapping up the sport plan. The focus is on pink zone work.

Then, in some unspecified time in the future throughout observe, Vrabel will name out two assistant coaches to go head-to-head in a one-on-one rep as a large receiver and cornerback. Players root for his or her place coach or the assistant on their facet of the ball.

“We take it pretty seriously,” Wallace stated. “I look forward to it. The coaches go out there and try to ball.”

The clear front-runner for many spectacular coach has been Jeremy Springer, the group’s 36-year-old particular groups coordinator who performed linebacker at UTEP, although offensive assistant Riley Larkin and quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant have caught the eyes of gamers as effectively.

Either approach, it’s a enjoyable second for gamers to flip the script and be those cheering on their coaches to make performs.

“I just feel like you put a lot into it,” Vrabel stated of the lengthy week and the significance of getting enjoyable. “This isn’t the easiest profession in the world, and we only get one chance (to play) a week. And so, if we only try to focus on having fun during the game, it’s a small window of our week.”

Which leads us again to the announcement of recreation captains and highschool tape. It has made a powerful impression on gamers. Guys within the locker room are nonetheless speaking in regards to the strikes Week 18 captain Rhamondre Stevenson made whereas taking part in working again at Centennial High in Las Vegas. And how arduous it was to determine middle Garrett Bradbury was their Week 11 captain, on condition that he was often taking part in tight finish at Charlotte Christian School in North Carolina.

“There’s some surprisingly bad high school football highlights,” Vrabel stated. “And then there’s some good ones. Yeah, just trying to keep things light on the Friday tape. … It’s a good way to recognize somebody.”