Mike Vrabel’s speech to his team went viral among Patriots fans, but New England mysteriously took down the video.
Vrabel’s speech still made the rounds through aggregators, and the content of the head coach’s words was aggressive but didn’t feature anything out of the ordinary. That’s why it was odd that the Patriots took down the video on their official channels.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer believes there’s a simple reason why.
“I bet it’s because Mike doesn’t want to make it about himself,” Breer said on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher and Hardy” on Thursday. “I bet Mike saw that and said, ‘That’s corny as hell. We’re putting it up there and making a big deal out of something I don’t want to make a big deal out of.’ That line he had at the owners’ meeting. ‘We won March, awesome.’ Remember that line? I think that’s what this is. This is my guess, no one said this to me. My guess would be he probably saw that go up. ‘What the hell? I’m just giving them the rules. You’re making a big deal out of it.’ I think one thing you’re going to learn about him is he’s going to make it about the players because he was one.”
Breer noted that there were behind-the-scenes videos of the Patriots’ new signings with their families. But he continued and noted that he didn’t want the attention on him to send a message to the players.
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Patriots fans and media did make a big deal out of it. It’s partly due to how dysfunctional the Jerod Mayo era reportedly was and also due to how infrequently fans get to see videos like that made public.
The video made it clear how Vrabel will run the show in New England, but the fact that it was taken down might mean fans won’t get to see those nuggets too often.
Featured image via Eric Canha/Imagn Images
