Mike Vrabel Had Such a Powerful Locker Room Speech After Patriots’ Win Over Bills

Mike Vrabel was fired up after the Patriots' win over the Bills.
Mike Vrabel was fired up after the Patriots' win over the Bills. / @Patriots

The Patriots got the biggest win to date in the new Mike Vrabel era, beating Josh Allen and the Bills 23-20, and after the game the head coach had a fired-up message for his guys during his locker room speech.

Vrabel, who is in his first year in charge of a franchise that he won a few Super Bowls with during his playing days, praised his players for the effort they displayed in the win and then gave game balls to Stefon Diggs and kicker Andy Borregales.

"I’m happy for you. It’s you. It’s the players," Vrabel said. "Fellas, you guys go out there and do the s---. There’s so much we can do to improve. We talked about taking the next step and they were in the way. And we took the next step but I’m not surprised. I want you to understand that—I’m not surprised at all."

Vrabel closed out his speech with this message about the team's identity:

"Fellas, I just got to keep reminding you every day we come to work what you’re capable of if we just work a little bit and focus on our identity and we start protecting this f------ thing. Now we need each other protecting it every single day. Practice our identity every single day. Nothing’s gonna change. I promise you I’m not going to change. We’re getting on the plane, we’re making the corrections—good, bad, ugly—and we’ll give you a plan that you guys believe in and then we’ll practice it and then we’ll go win another game."

Here's that speech:

The Patriots, who are now 3-2 on the year after two straight wins, face the Saints this coming Sunday in New Orleans.


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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.