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
I think if you're going to give up 400 yards a game, you'd better be pretty good in the red zone. That's been our saving grace. It wasn't enough last week because obviously we lost. But we can do it. You just can't do it some games and then not some (other) games. You can't be good against the run one week (and not the next). It's (about) consistency.
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.
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.
We lost last week. We had to bounce back. It so happened it was the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Our development as a group is not good. You look at where we're at defensively and what we've done, and it's not good. That has nothing to do with new guys/old guys, it's got a lot to do with guys that have to play better, everybody.
I've always tried to think that it was an unwritten rule that you never try to put yourself in another team's locker room.
We do seem to be able to handle these situations pretty well.
That's what is all-important to everybody in here, ... that you make the decision that's in the best interest of your family.
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.
But we kept it close. It's important for us that you keep it close, because we have a lot of confidence that if we keep it close, we can win it in the end.
Since he?s been here, he?s been the heart and soul of our defense. I don?t know what the situation is, but hopefully it?s nothing serious.
Since he's been here, ... he's been the heart and soul of our defense.