Mike Vrabel
Mike Vrabel
Michael George Vrabelis a former American football linebacker and current linebackers coach for the Houston Texans in the National Football League. He played college football at Ohio State University, where he earned consensus All-American honors. He was chosen by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He also played professionally for the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs. After spending three years coaching linebackers and defensive linemen at Ohio State, Vrabel joined the Texans...
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth14 August 1975
CityAkron, OH
When we went to the 4-3, I thought we gave them some problems. We're going to make changes every week on the fly. We've got a lot of different ways of being aggressive.
When we went to a 4-3, it gave them some problems. We're going to make changes every week -- between series and on the fly.
We'll find out ... as this season progresses. We've always had the ability to change things simply to give us the best chance to win. It's not done just to get a guy into the game.
The Patriots have sort of become the measuring stick in the NFL, but that stick isn't very high right now.
Win, lose, win, lose . . . we've been doing that all year. We've got to start stringing a few of these together.
We got to 10 wins and I still think there are things we need to tighten up.
You look over there and guys are warming up the whole game.
Anybody we can get back to this football team at this point would help us, regardless of who it is. Whoever we can have back, we'll take back.
Are we a better 4-3 team? I think when we went to the 4-3 we gave them some problems. Those are four good defensive linemen up there. . . . It helped us.
So at 250 pounds, I was trying to play that position my first year in Pittsburgh, and soon after that we changed to linebacker, but it took some time, ... It wasn't like they didn't have good players. Obviously, you've seen the type of players that leave Pittsburgh and go on to play other places.
As a team, we've yet to form our identity. But every year we've proven we can play great football down the stretch. You get the sense that people are worried, but I think it's a little early to start hitting the panic button.
It's not done just to get a guy into the game.
It's always good to win, because a win in this league is worth a lot. We can play so much better than that. But this is our football team. No matter who's not here, this is it. The team we suited up tonight is the team we've got all year. We've got to accept that and get on with it.
It was a situation where you just had a crossroads in your career,