Pats Pulpit
Entering Week 7 in first place in their division, the New England Patriots are in prime position to extend their win streak to four straight victories and improve to 5-2 on the year. In order to do so, they will need to beat a 1-5 Tennessee Titans team that fired its head coach just six days ago.
Before turning our attention to the game, let’s clean out the notebook from the week that was. Welcome to this week’s edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
For Mike Vrabel, Sunday’s game will be a return to his old stomping grounds.
Between 20018 and 2023, he led the Titans as their head coach, posting a 54-45 regular season record with two AFC South titles and going 2-3 in the playoffs. However, despite his success — only Jeff Fisher and Bum Phillips won more games for the organization dating back to its inception as the Houston Oilers in 1960 — he was fired after posting back-to-back losing seasons in 2022 and 2023.
Now, he will get a chance to head back to Nashville for the first time. Does the return come with extra motivation, though? At least publicly, it does not.
“There is going to be, probably, a lot to be said about this. I think it would file under the category of, ‘Is it interesting or important?’ I would probably say this would be very interesting,” Vrabel said. “But in the end, not very important to our preparation or what we need to continue to try to do to improve as a team. But having spent six years there or seven years there, I think it’ll be nice to see some people that I haven’t seen in a few years that helped us win, players and staff. But we’ve got a huge job here to do as we prepare for them.”
Besides Vrabel, several other members of his staff have ties to the Titans. Acting defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr, wide receivers coach Todd Downing and Vrabel’s right-hand man, John “Stretch” Streicher, among others, worked with him in Tennessee.
The head coach’s message to them was the same he told the media and in fact the rest of the team: it’s business as usual.
“The way Coach Vrabel handles it is what leads into how we’ll handle it,” said quarterback Drake Maye. “He’s focused on this team and not worried about going back to a place he coached for a long time and had some great success. He’s not treating it like a big deal, so it’s kind of bleeding into us. We’re treating it like another week, another opponent, and treating it the same. The way he’s handling it is the right way.”
“We’re not really worried about the he-said, she-said,” added safety Jaylinn Hawkins. “I call it poison. It reminds you of poison. We’re not getting too high or too low. We’re trying to stay ready.”
Whether or not the tone will shift after the...
