Mike Vrabel Quotations

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.

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.

(New England) has a great group of guys and we've been successful. Also to have a little bit of personal success has been nice,

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.

He has made his fair share of big plays here. Game-winning and game-changing plays. So when you look at it that way, we are getting a guy who can come in and make those kind of plays and help us.

I think you get this certain stigma that ?This guy can do a lot of things,? but you just want to be able to help the team, ... It?s fun because it?s something different. It breaks up the year a little bit when you go over there in offensive meetings or another meeting to learn a different position. It makes everything go by a little faster.

I think you could take that and turn it around to a number of positions,

I think we've got the best coach in the league. I think that was proven again tonight.

Our worst game last year was opening night against the Colts. We need to take this and build on it and move forward. We think we're a better defense than what we showed . . . but we need to go out and prove it.

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.

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.

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.

You look over there and guys are warming up the whole game.

This will be a great test. It?s a division opponent, so there?s a lot of familiarity from the head coach right on down. This is a team that?s physical and has gone on the record as saying they want to play physical, dominate people and run the football, and it shows. They are doing that. It?s impressive, so it?s going to be a huge challenge.

We lost last week. We had to bounce back. It so happened it was the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We do seem to be able to handle these situations pretty well.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is something that I'm sure has been thought about and has been planned. He'll be ready to go.

It was a situation where you just had a crossroads in your career,

It was important for us to just keep it close. They win so many games here, going away. We just wanted to be competitive and make it a game.

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.

That kind of stamina and production over the course of eight or nine years is impressive. He's been a great teammate. He's done everything to help this team win. I think we're going to start to see a lot more Corey (in the coming games).

They've run away with so many games, it's pretty much been over by the middle of the third quarter. That was our whole thing, to make it a football game -- keep it competitive and have a chance to win at the end. We handle those situations pretty well.

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.

If I stood here and I had eight sacks and four picks, something like that, then I could say, 'Well, some other guys need to step up.' That's not the case. We all have to play better. We all realize that. We've got the guys in here that can do it. Guys have proven that they can do it.

He's obviously made his fair share of plays here. He's made game-changing and game-winning plays. I think that when you look at it like that, you're getting another guy out there that has the ability to make those types of plays and help us.

And I don't think we're necessarily done. This team is set up for championships. I don't think we're necessarily finished. It's just that we've done all we can do this year.