Vrabel faces old home week at early juncture
Former assistant under O’Brien fondly recalls preparation for landing Titans coaching job
Former Texans assistant Mike Vrabel was certain he had prepared for every possible situation as the Tennessee Titans’ first-year head coach. He was wrong. For their first game at Miami, Vrabel didn’t prepare his new team for two weather delays and the longest game since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 — a 27-20 defeat that took seven hours and eight minutes to complete.
“That was the one situation we didn’t cover,” Vrabel said Wednesday in his conference call with the Houston media. “We thought we had a handle on all the situations in training camp, but that was one we missed.”
Vrabel had no idea the Titans would make NFL history in the first game of his head-coaching career.
Because of lightning in the area around Hard Rock Stadium, the first delay came with 1:11 left in the first half. It lasted 1 hour, 57 minutes.
After they returned to finish the first half, the Titans and Dolphins had what must have been the shortest halftime in history: 3 minutes, 30 seconds.
With 6:47 remaining in the third quarter, the field was cleared again. This time, the Titans and Dolphins spent another 2 hours and 2 minutes in the dressing room.
After kicking off at 1:02 p.m. (Eastern) the game ended at 8:10 p.m.
“I give a lot of credit to our football ops staff,” Vrabel said. “They did a great job (of ) trying to turn the locker room into the most comfortable setting we could have.
“Guys were getting hungry, and they (football operations) were finding food and bringing food in.”
The Titans ate a lot of barbeque, spent time on social media and talking with coaches about game adjustments. The Dolphins won on a 102-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Vrabel had been preparing to be an NFL head coach since he helped New England win three Super Bowls through his four seasons working for Bill O’Brien, the first three as linebackers coach and last season as defensive coordinator.
“He gave me an opportunity to coach in the National Football League, and I appreciated that,” Vrabel said. “He also was able to develop me and try to prepare me for this opportunity and continue to talk about things as far as management, understanding the level of the team and organization, how things work, how critical putting a staff together is and being able to manage a team.”
Sunday’s game at Nissan Stadium is crucial for both teams. Neither wants to start 0-2, and they don’t want to lose an AFC South game. Vrabel admits it’s special beyond that.
“I have a lot of history with the players and coaches there,” he said. “You make relationships. Having coached those guys and having worked with those coaches every day, I think it’s unique this is happening early on.
“Once the game starts, it’s just going to be football.”
O’Brien hired Vrabel to be part of his first staff in 2014, luring him away from his alma mater, Ohio State, and Urban Meyer. Once he got to know Vrabel and watched him coach, O’Brien was convinced he had what it took to be an NFL head coach.
“He’s got all the qualities of a head coach,” O’Brien said. “Smart guy, leader, very hard worker, played in the league for a long time, knows the game.”
Defensive end J.J. Watt saw many of the same qualities during his four seasons with Vrabel.
“He has experience (and) he knows what he’s doing,” Watt said. “He’s been around the league a long time. He played at a very high level. He has knowledge. I think a lot of people probably saw it for a while.”
Vrabel knows the Texans well, and that familiarity could give the Titans an advantage.
“I’m sure he’ll have some wrinkles and things that he’ll want to use,” Watt said. “We know a little bit about him as well, so it’ll be a good game (and) a tough game.”
That familiarity could benefit the Titans’ preparation and their game plan.
“I think there’s a familiarity, but they’re doing some new stuff just like everybody else,” Vrabel said. “I think just the preparation of trying to explain to guys what we think what their skillsets are, how they like to play, what they made do in certain blocks, coverages, routes — all those types of things.”
The Texans lost two starters at New England, right tackle Seantrel Henderson and cornerback Kevin Johnson. The Titans already have a serious injury problem.
Quarterback Marcus Mariota left the Miami game with a right elbow injury. He’s playing against the Texans but doesn’t have his offensive tackles. Taylor Lewan is out with a concussion, and Jack Conklin is recovering from knee surgery. Tight end Delanie Walker, who is Mariota’s favorite receiver, is out for the season.
Vrabel was asked if it’s frustrating to have so many injuries on both sides of the ball?
“It’s really not,” he said. “I learned a long time ago nobody in this league feels sorry for you, and the train keeps moving.”
As Vrabel and O’Brien witnessed last season, injuries can decimate a team and cause that train to crash.