New England Patriots
The way Vrabel challenges players can be tough, Williams said, but the star defensive lineman wouldn’t have it any other way.
Milton Williams Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
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FOXBOROUGH — Mike Vrabel’s reputation as a trash-talker goes back decades, so imagine his reaction when the Patriots’ highest-paid player went without a sack for the first five games of the season.
The Patriots’ coach had plenty to say, and he didn’t seem particularly concerned with coming across in a nice way.
“Just talking noise,” defensive tackle Milton Williams said at the podium. “Like man, when are you going to get a sack? When are you going to get the quarterback on the ground?”
Williams paused for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and grinned as he remembered the coach’s words.
“Y’all know Vrabes, man,” Williams said. “He’s an a******. He’s going to be an a****** and that’s how he is, but I wouldn’t have it no other way. He just challenges us, challenges us, challenges us. Week in, week out. Day in, day out. I think that will continue to help us get better and better.”
During the second quarter on Sunday, Williams finally experienced a breakthrough against the rival Jets. He and Christian Barmore recorded sacks on back-to-back plays, setting the tone during a 26-19 divisional win at Gillette Stadium. Barmore’s sack was his first since the Week 2 home win against Pittsburgh.
“It was just eating at us week in and week out, being close but not finishing the job,” Williams said. “We had those conversations all week … we just continued to challenge each other like, ‘This is going to be the game when we get it done.’”
“We went out there and just executed like we were supposed to and took advantage of the opportunity. I was too tired to even celebrate, [Barmore] got his on the next play, so celebrate with him. That’s what it’s all about, rooting for your teammates, executing at a high level and dominating when you get the opportunity.”
The performance wasn’t good enough to make Williams satisfied, he said, but it is a step in the right direction.
“I think we did OK. I’m always super critical of myself and the group. I always feel like there’s more that we can do,” Williams said. “We can dominate a game more than we did today, but we got a win. We executed enough, but for our standard it wasn’t good enough. I’d rather correct mistakes and execution in a win than a loss.”
Milton Williams says Mike Vrabel was PRESSING him about not getting a sack until today
“Y’all know Vrabes, man. He an a**hole…But I wouldn’t have it no other way.”
–@CLNSMedia pic.twitter.com/0z0N5cgcD3
— Patriots on CLNS (@PatriotsCLNS) October 18, 2026
After last year’s surprise run to the Super Bowl, the Patriots are no longer able to fly under the radar as underdogs. That has brought more attention to Williams this season.
He told reporters earlier in the week that he had to figure out how to win quicker and beat double teams. It’s something that comes with the territory, he said after the game.
“All these teams, they watched us in the playoffs last year,” Williams said. “They watched what we were able to do up front. They’ve got a lot of tape on us, so they’re not going to let us wreck the game as much as we want to, but it’s on us to continue to fight, and grind, and figure it out.
“I’ll take that challenge up front, me and my group, every week. If we dominate how we’re supposed to do, it’ll make it easier for everyone behind us.”
After upsetting the Bills and blowing out the Raiders, the Patriots were not as dominant against the Jets as some thought they might be.
New York was able to trim a 14-point deficit back to seven by the end of the game. Geno Smith went 20-for-30 for 252 yards along with a touchdown and an interception.
The Patriots won, but Vrabel opened his press conference saying that New England was lucky to get the job done. There’s plenty to clean up, and it’s not yet clear how this third consecutive win will help the team moving forward, the coach said.
“Won’t know until we move forward, but I just know that you have to be able to continue to improve, and I don’t feel like we did,” Vrabel said. “We won, which is the most important thing. We just, I don’t think we improved from what we had shown the previous two weeks, and I have to figure out why. That’s my job. My job’s also to get us to win and also to get us to improve.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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