Mike Vrabel
Mike Vrabel
Michael George Vrabelis a former American football linebacker and current linebackers coach for the Houston Texans in the National Football League. He played college football at Ohio State University, where he earned consensus All-American honors. He was chosen by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He also played professionally for the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs. After spending three years coaching linebackers and defensive linemen at Ohio State, Vrabel joined the Texans...
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth14 August 1975
CityAkron, OH
I think we've got the best coach in the league. I think that was proven again tonight.
This will be a great test. It?s a division opponent, so there?s a lot of familiarity from the head coach right on down. This is a team that?s physical and has gone on the record as saying they want to play physical, dominate people and run the football, and it shows. They are doing that. It?s impressive, so it?s going to be a huge challenge.
Our worst game last year was opening night against the Colts. We need to take this and build on it and move forward. We think we're a better defense than what we showed . . . but we need to go out and prove it.
I think you get this certain stigma that ?This guy can do a lot of things,? but you just want to be able to help the team, ... It?s fun because it?s something different. It breaks up the year a little bit when you go over there in offensive meetings or another meeting to learn a different position. It makes everything go by a little faster.
I think you could take that and turn it around to a number of positions,
I think if you're going to give up 400 yards a game, you'd better be pretty good in the red zone. That's been our saving grace. It wasn't enough last week because obviously we lost. But we can do it. You just can't do it some games and then not some (other) games. You can't be good against the run one week (and not the next). It's (about) consistency.
That's what is all-important to everybody in here, ... that you make the decision that's in the best interest of your family.
But we kept it close. It's important for us that you keep it close, because we have a lot of confidence that if we keep it close, we can win it in the end.
He has made his fair share of big plays here. Game-winning and game-changing plays. So when you look at it that way, we are getting a guy who can come in and make those kind of plays and help us.
(New England) has a great group of guys and we've been successful. Also to have a little bit of personal success has been nice,
Since he?s been here, he?s been the heart and soul of our defense. I don?t know what the situation is, but hopefully it?s nothing serious.
Since he's been here, ... he's been the heart and soul of our defense.
When we went to the 4-3, I thought we gave them some problems. We're going to make changes every week on the fly. We've got a lot of different ways of being aggressive.
When we went to a 4-3, it gave them some problems. We're going to make changes every week -- between series and on the fly.