New England Patriots
“Guys, we can try to sit here and put it all on one guy,” said Vrabel of questions about Drake Maye’s performance. “You’ll be disappointed, because that will never happen.”
Mike Vrabel talks to his players during the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
February 9, 2026 | 6:50 AM
2 minutes to read
Mike Vrabel kept his messaging about the Patriots straightforward, even in defeat following Super Bowl LX.
“I thought our guys competed. In the end, it wasn’t enough,” Vrabel said after New England’s 29-13 Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks.
“Nobody played good enough for us to win,” he said when asked about the offensive line.
Vrabel, asked about “what he saw” from Drake Maye’s performance, refused to solely blame his quarterback for the defeat.
“Guys, we can try to sit here and put it all on one guy,” said Vrabel. “You’ll be disappointed, because that will never happen. It starts with us as a coaching staff, and making sure that we’re doing our part. Then obviously we have to be able to execute. We’ve got to be able to protect, and when we protect, we have to be able to progress through and throw the ball to the guy that’s open and help the quarterback. And then he’s got to be better. That’s just how it goes, so that’s never going to change.”
“He cares deeply about this team, and he’s very talented,” Vrabel later added of Maye. “We’re lucky to have him.”
As for how he will view this game going forward, Vrabel noted that it might take longer to turn the page than if New England had won.
“I’m sure I’ll think about it longer than if we’d won,’ Vrabel said. “I told the players, a lot of people made a lot of sacrifices to be here, and every year unfortunately somebody loses this game. They can’t take it out on the people that love us the most. I tried to tell them that they’ve got to find a place to be with those people tonight, thank them, hug them.
“They’re going to be the ones that love you no matter what,” he added. “I think we have a bunch of great guys. I’m sure this will bother them for a while, but we’ll have to get back to work.”
Regarding the victorious Seahawks, Vrabel paid credit to the champions.
“They’re a good football team,” he said of Seattle. “We’ll have to be able to learn from this, and understand what we have to do to get back to this. We know how hard it is, and how difficult every year is, and that it starts over.”
Looking ahead to how his team can avoid the trap of falling off after one good season, Vrabel maintained the message he used with great effect for the Patriots in 2025.
“Same thing we did this year, just do it differently, do it a little bit better,” he said of getting back to the playoffs next season. “Every year is a new year, and we’ll continue to try to improve the roster, continue to improve what we do, continue to improve how we do it, and continue to believe in people, continue to get the right people in the building, and start all over.”
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Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.
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