FOXBOROUGH – During his Hall induction speech, Mike Vrabel spoke at length about his days as a Patriot.
Mostly he talked about now being a head coach, and trying to emulate what he learned from the coaches, and what he experienced with his Patriot teammates.
Whether it was Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Willie McGinest, Roman Phifer or Ty Law, Vrabel had a tight bond with all of them.
It’s a special feeling, one that so many years later, he’s still trying to replicate.
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“There was understanding, there was respect, you could say things that needed to be said to each other, and every day that’s what I’m trying to recreate wherever I coach, and now it’s with Tennessee,” said Vrabel, who was inducted Saturday into the Patriots Hall of Fame along with Dante Scarnecchia. “What I’m trying to recreate is what we had in that locker room. I don’t know if we’ll get it, but every day I’m going to try.”
The biggest lesson he tries to impart to his current players? The importance of team. That was ingrained in every Patriot who walked through the door.
“Nothing was more important than the team,” said Vrabel. “Not your feelings, not your stats, not your paycheck, not what you’ve done in the past. Nothing was more important than the football team. And guys that were here before me, made me aware of it. Just like I was able to make our guys aware of it.”
Vrabel said one of his greatest honors was being voted a captain of the team. It fell on him to make sure the message was delivered.
“The only thing that mattered on a team, was what you could do to help us win,” said Vrabel. “And the amazing thing was, the more we won, the more individual opportunities were created for each and every one of us. Whether that was on the field, off the field, post-career . . . the better the team did, the more opportunity we had individually here and everywhere else.
“This is just an amazing (honor). I don’t want to take it for granted. I’m so thankful to my teammates, the organization, the coaches, the fans . . . I’m very appreciative of this honor.”
When Robert Kraft introduced Vrabel he joked that the linebacker, who finally made good on his seventh try to gain entry to the Hall, might have gotten in sooner had he not been such a good coach.
“This Hall of Fame honor is well deserved and long overdo,” said Kraft. “I’m sure you would have been in years ago. But after beating the Patriots in 2018, knocking us out of playoffs the following year, you might have lost a few votes.”
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