Mike Vrabel praises team after win over Texans, but says Patriots not satisfied yet
Mike Vrabel has the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game in his first season coaching for the franchise where he won three Super Bowls.
Vrabel's team advanced on Sunday with an ugly win in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs over the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium.
"I'm always excited for our organization. Excited for the players. I'm appreciative of their work, their efforts. Everybody stepping up, we're using everybody, everybody's making plays. Everybody's helping us win," Vrabel said. "I'm excited for these guys. But they're also not satisfied. I can tell that. It wasn't pretty. Defense kept us in there. And then when we needed it, our offense was able to come through late in the game there."
Patriots defense dominates Texans
Vrabel said the Patriots defense is playing well together at the most critical time of the season.
He was asked if his defense took offense to how much praise Houston's defensive unit received, as they came into the game widely seen as the top defense in the NFL.
"Yeah, I mean I'm sure they're going to tell you guys that when you go rushing out of here," Vrabel joked. "[Houston is] really good for a reason, they've shown it each and every week. But our guys are prideful men. They want to compete and they want to win. They deserve the recognition they're going to get. They're a top five defense for a reason as well."
Drake Maye makes key throws
Drake Maye struggled at times on Sunday against that monster Texans defense. Maye was 16 for 27 with three touchdowns and 179 yards. But he also had an interception, fumbled four times, and lost two of those fumbles.
With 12:58 left in the game, Maye was able to bounce back and find Kayshon Boutte for a gorgeous 32-yard touchdown pass that essentially put the game away.
"To be able to stay the course, and trust Kayshon, and give him a great ball that was him or nobody, those guys have kind of done that all year," Vrabel said.
"There's times when it doesn't look great. We know going against a great defense, which that's what they are, it's hard. There's some tough sledding and some plays that don't look great. … We always talk about it only takes one play," Vrabel added.
The Patriots travel to Denver for the AFC Championship Game on Sunday at 3 p.m. against the No. 1 Broncos. Former Patriots quarterback Jarrett Stidham will be at quarterback for Denver after Bo Nix suffered a season-ending injury on Saturday.