Tag: Mike Vrabel

Mike Vrabel opens up about infamous loophole play against Patriots

Mike Vrabel commented on the one time he out-Belichick’d Bill Belichick

Former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel talked about an infamous loophole he used when his team faced the New England Patriots back in the 2019 AFC Divisional Round.

The Titans defeated the Patriots by a 20-13 margin and sent New England home packing in Tom Brady’s last game as a member of the organization.

Vrabel took advantage of a loophole in the NFL rulebook that allowed his team to run one minute and 49 seconds off the clock. The best part of this loophole was that they did not run a single play. This occurred with six minutes and 33 seconds left in the game, and the Titans managed to get the clock down to 4:44.

This infuriated former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, despite the tactic being perfectly legal. Vrabel opened up about the sequence during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take.”

“Outside of five minutes, any defensive penalty they would just wind the clock,” said Vrabel. “They would just take the yardage off and then put 25 seconds back and start the clock. So, you could take it down, you could false start or you could delay a game, then you could false start, then you could delay a game again. Eventually because, if you’re punting from the 36-yard line or 35-yard line, you don’t want to attempt a long kick in the weather.

“…The yardage really didn’t matter. It was about taking the time off and trying to give Tom Brady less opportunities, or if we get a stop, then they would have less time. We ended up stopping them, and they had eight seconds.”

This was a classic case of Vrabel beating Belichick at his own game. Belichick always found ways to exploit loopholes, and this time, it was Vrabel who managed to get the last laugh.

Tennessee managed to advance to the AFC Championship Game that year, where they were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs.

New Browns coach Mike Vrabel receives some love from The Pat McAfee Show

New Cleveland Browns coach Mike Vrabel receives some love from the Pat McAfee show after a clip showed him running the scout team defense.

Pat McAfee and A.J. Hawk enjoyed watching Mike Vrabel at the Cleveland Browns’ OTA session. The two riffed on the Pat McAfee Show about Vrabel’s command of the scout team’s defense, and his ability to talk trash while doing it. Vrabel is a good friend of the show and they’re happy to see him coaching again.

Vrabel played 13 seasons in the NFL before he started his coaching career. Vrabel has stayed in shape and looks like he can set the edge on the line of scrimmage.

Vrabel sounds happy to be coaching for his hometown team. Hawk, another Ohio native, joked that the Browns should send Vrabel out on gameday wearing a Walsh Jesuit high school jersey to rouse up the crowd. The stadium would lose their mind if they saw Vrabel smash the guitar before kickoff.
Unfortunately, he won’t have the time as Kevin Stefanski and Jim Schwartz are keeping Vrabel busy as a coach where he belongs. The organization did a good job welcoming him to the team after the Tennesee Titans fired him.

Titans’ Arden Key makes surprising admission about last coaching staff

Part of coaching is correcting mistakes, but it appears the previous Titans coaching staff wasn’t doing enough of that.

If there’s one thing Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Arden Key is good for aside from getting sacks, it’s giving honest answers. The latest example of that came after the Titans’ latest practice of organized team activities on Wednesday.

Key shared his thoughts on new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, who he is most definitely a fan of. During his response, Key revealed that Wilson doesn’t move on from something until the mistakes are corrected.

“The intensity (Dennard Wilson) got, the detail and we don’t move on until everything is fixed,” Key said, per Paul Kuharsky. “And the detail he got, the swag he got that he comes in with everyday, man, it’s going to be exciting.”

Kuharsky then asked if the previous coaching staff would move on before details were fixed, and Key was very clear in his answer.

“Hell yeah,” Key responded. “Yes, we moved on. If we messed up, we didn’t fix it. And now, this year, when we mess up, we don’t move on until we fix it.”

Key has only been with the Titans for one full season, so it isn’t clear if this was the approach in the years before he got there. However, it is a bad look for former head coach Mike Vrabel and former defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who is now with the New York Giants.

This goes a long way to explaining why we saw so many of the same mistakes over and over again last season.

Not taking the time to fix mistakes is not a good approach, especially when it comes to developing younger players. It’s a good thing the Titans chose not to rebuild their roster with a staff like that.

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Browns Podcast: Mike Vrabel hiring is huge for Cleveland in 2024

How did the Browns do in the first week of free agency

Just like that, the first week of NFL free agency is over, and the Cleveland Browns were active in the market. However, the team’s best move of the week might have been hiring veteran coach Mike Vrabel.

Having someone who has had so much success in the NFL as both a player and a coach on your staff as a consultant is a real positive move to help the team take the next step.

Most of the moves on the defensive side have been retaining their best talent from a great unit last year. Being able to retain top talent is something good teams do, and the Browns did that.

The team upgraded on the defensive line, trading out Jordan Elliott for Quinton Jefferson, a more proven and productive pass rusher. Andrew Berry continues prioritizing strong special teams units, bringing back their punter and signing special teams ace Tony Brown.

You can watch us discuss these topics and the first week of free agency overall by clicking here, or you can listen to the audio-only version by clicking here.

Former NFL HC Mike Vrabel takes new football job in Ohio

The Mike Vrabel-to-Wisconsin news looks less likely

Well, this news may make Mike Vrabel joining Wisconsin as an analyst or special assistant more challenging, if not impossible.

The former NFL Coach of the Year is signing on with the Cleveland Browns as a coaching and personnel consultant, according to reports from ESPN’s Field Yates and Adam Schefter.

Related: Ranking Big Ten football teams by highest 2024 ceiling

This move comes after the Tennessee Titans fired the longtime head coach after a disappointing 6-11 2023 season.

Vrabel moves back to the state of Ohio, where he and Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell shared the field for several years at Ohio State.

Fickell had said at a press conference in February that Vrabel may be around Wisconsin football ‘in some capacity’ this offseason. This news does not make that impossible, though it certainly makes it seem a lot less likely.

Wisconsin football is set to begin spring practice later this month in preparation for the 2024 season.

For more 2024 season preview work, we’ve already ranked all 18 programs in the Big Ten, ranked the 18 starting quarterbacks, ranked all 18 head coaches, predicted each Big Ten team’s 2024 record, looked at the early College Football Playoff tiers, made bold predictions for the season and checked in on the Las Vegas win totals for each team in the conference.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

Mike Vrabel’s role with Browns defined a bit more

Here is what Vrabel will be doing in Cleveland.

After the Cleveland Browns hired former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel as a consultant, his role has been fleshed out a bit more.

According to Robert Mays of The Athletic, Vrabel’s role with the Browns is to “act as a sounding board for Kevin Stefanski but also as a resource for a coaching staff with a lot of youth and turnover.”

The Browns added two offensive coaches with no NFL coaching experience in former Alabama and UConn offensive coordinators Tommy Rees and Nick Charlton. They also replaced their running backs coach with Duce Staley and swapped out Bill Callahan for Andy Dickerson and Roy Istvan as offensive line coach. Not to mention bringing on Ken Dorsey as the new offensive coordinator.

That is a great deal of turnover for one man to manage, so kudos to head coach Kevin Stefanski for bringing Vrabel on as a consultant for the season.

Former Ohio State coach Mike Vrabel is coming back to Ohio

Vrabel comes back home for his next job. #GoBucks

[autotag]Mike Vrabel[/autotag] carved out a great career with the Ohio State Buckeyes and in the NFL. He parlayed that into a very successful coaching career.

That path started in Columbus. He spent the 2011 season as the linebackers coach and 2012-13 as the defensive line coach for his alma mater. The NFL called quickly: Vrabel was the Houston Texans linebackers coach from  2014 to 2016 and elevated to defensive coordinator in 2017.

The Tennessee Titans hired him in 2018 as their coach, and he was named NFL Coach of the Year in 2021. Unfortunately, he was dismissed earlier this year following a 6-11 record.

Many wondered what the next step for Vrabel would be. Now we know. The news broke on Friday afternoon that he is taking a consulting job with the Cleveland Browns.

It would not surprise me at all if Vrabel’s tenure with the Browns was short. He’ll surely be a wanted man come next offseason.

Contact/Follow @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Michael Chen on X. 

Browns hire a former NFL Coach of the Year as a consultant

The Browns have added another high profile coach to their staff.

The Cleveland Browns are not done adding to their staff. After hiring a new offensive assistant and run game specialist this week, the Browns have now added former NFL Coach of the Year and head coach of the Tennessee Titans Mike Vrabel as a consultant.

After being fired from the Titans this offseason, predominantly due to disagreements with the direction the team was taking, Vrabel did not get another head coaching gig. Instead, he lands with the Browns as he soaks in his buyout from Tennessee.

Ironic enough, it was Cleveland’s defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz who once worked under Mike Vrabel as a Senior Advisor. Could this be Schwartz repaying Vrabel with a title that would not cause him to forfeit his buyout with the Titans?

Regardless, the Browns have constructed quite the all-star staff this offseason, and now it’s time for them to get to work to get this team back into the playoffs and deeper than they’ve been before.

Mike Vrabel wasn’t happy with Dianna Russini after report on his ‘intimidating’ size

Ex-Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was none too happy with Dianna Russini after her report on his size being a possible reason he wasn’t hired.

After being fired by the Tennessee Titans, many believed former head coach Mike Vrabel would land a job quickly, but that turned out not to be the case and instead Vrabel is without a head-coaching gig for 2024.

It isn’t exactly clear why no teams hired Vrabel, who did receive a few head coach interviews with teams.

After he didn’t get one, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini gave a few possible reasons, one of which came from an unnamed general manager who she spoke with at the Senior Bowl.

Russini first said that she didn’t think “there was a fit” for Vrabel, but she also added that the aforementioned GM speculated that Vrabel’s size and intimidating demeanor might have played a role.

“I don’t think there was a fit for him,” Russini said in February. “I don’t think he sat in front of any owner who thought that his style was going to work for what they were looking for… I had a GM at the Senior Bowl who mentioned to me Vrabel’s physical build. That he’s a very large human being and can be very intimidating to people in an organization that are going to be part of these decisions. And that is a factor.”

That report did not sit well with Vrabel, apparently.

During a recent interview on “Pardon My Take”, Russini was asked if she had ever done a story that got her in hot water with a player or coach and Russini cited the Vrabel story as an example.

“He didn’t call me after the piece we did on why he got fired, but the piece on him calling him a little fat, he wasn’t too happy,” Russini said.

You can check out Russini’s comments on the Vrabel situation in their entirety below (H/T James Foster, No Flags Film).

It has long been known that Russini had an in with the Titans through Vrabel, but it’s possible that silly story won’t do her any favors in terms of getting scoops from the former head coach when he gets his next job.

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Titans’ Jeffery Simmons ready to rally the troops for Brian Callahan

Per usual, Jeffery Simmons is ready to step up as a leader with the Titans making the transition from Mike Vrabel to Brian Callahan.

Tennessee Titans defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons has been the epitome of a leader since coming to Nashville, and that has been especially true after signing a monster extension last offseason.

And Simmons is ready to step up once again in 2024 as the Titans make the transition from former head coach Mike Vrabel to new head coach Brian Callahan.

During the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Simmons said he’s ready to rally the troops around the Titans’ new head coach and has a very simple, straightforward message for his teammates.

“You know I am always that guy,” Simmons said, per team writer Jim Wyatt. “I am going to make sure I can keep the locker room tight, and make sure no matter what it might be, no matter the situation, of course we just got a new head coach, I think it’s going to be simple: Buy in or you just have to get left behind.

“For me, being a captain and a leader on this team, my job is to keep holding my end up on that,” he added. “At the end of the day, it is a new beginning for us. It’s a new chapter. We have a new head coach, so we just have to take off with it.”

Simmons has met Callahan and says he is excited for the staff he’s putting together, which includes the new defensive coordinator Simmons will play under, Dennard Wilson.

“I think coming up this season for us is it’s going to be one of those seasons where we have to really reestablish ourselves in Tennessee,” he said. “Having a chance to meet Coach Callahan in person, when I was in the building, I could tell that he is ready, he wants to win. And I am excited for the staff he is bringing in, especially with DC (Dennard Wilson) from Baltimore. I am excited, man. I think it is going to be good for us as an organization.”

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