Patriots coach has great 6-word phrase to describe Mike Vrabel’s intensity

FOXBOROUGH — Much has been written about Mike Vrabel‘s return to Tennessee this weekend. The Patriots coach will square off with his former franchise and owner Amy Adams Strunk, who fired him almost two years ago.

Asked how Vrabel’s energy has been this week, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said nothing has been different. In the process, he found a unique new way to describe the daily culture Vrabel has fostered in Foxborough.

“Like it always is: Intense. It’s fourth-and-1 every day,” Springer said. “You better be ready to go. You better have your detail, technique, fundamentals down. You better have guys with urgency, and you better yourself be urgent. Because it’s fourth-and-1. Every day. And that’s a good thing.”

Third-year wideout Kayshon Boutte agreed with Springer’s assessment.

“Yeah,” Boutte said. “He’s got energy every day. I think that’s a good thing about Vrabes. Energetic guy, great coach. He played too, so he understands what it’s like to be in our shoes. I think it’s great to have that coach that understands what we go through.”

For his part, Vrabel downplayed the importance of his return to Tennessee, where the Titans sit 1-5 and just fired his replacement, Brian Callahan.

“I think it would file under the category of, is it interesting or important?” Vrabel said. “I would probably say this would be very interesting. 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.”