FRIENDS AND FOES
Vrabel faces former team, coach as Titans host Pats
NASHVILLE — Mike Vrabel won three Super Bowl rings in eight seasons with the New England Patriots. He even caught eight passes — all for touchdowns and all thrown by Tom Brady.
Then coach Bill Belichick traded the linebacker away to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009.
“We didn’t talk for a couple months, maybe a year,” Vrabel said. “Then we became friends, and I used him as a resource when I started my coaching career and still talk to him a lot now. This week we’re competitors.”
In his first season as an NFL head coach, Vrabel gets his first crack at both his old coach and former team today when his Tennessee Titans (4-4) host the Patriots (7-2).
Belichick, 66, and Vrabel, 43, share some of the same philosophies about football, though they seem to diverge where their public personalities are concerned. Titans cornerback Logan Ryan, who spent his first four pro seasons in New England, sees similarities, though.
“They’re hard-nosed,” Ryan said. “They care about the fundamentals.”
For his part, Belichick said Vrabel will be a great coach, with his passion and football knowledge as a player easily carrying over. Belichick also believes Vrabel deserves to be recognized in the Patriots Hall of Fame, and yes, the Nashville native — Belichick was born there when his father was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt — cheers for Vrabel and the Titans every game except this one.
“It will be the Patriots against the Titans,” Belichick said. “That’s what it will be.”
Of those who played alongside Vrabel during his tenure in New England (2001-08), only three remain with the Patriots: Brady, kicker Stephen Gostkowski and special teams captain Matt Slater. Brady was there throughout, Gostkowski arrived in 2006 and Slater was a rookie during Vrabel’s final season with the team before being traded.
Vrabel, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and played with them from 1997 to 2000, retired after the 2010 season, his second with the Chiefs. Brady is just two years younger than Vrabel and has said he wants to play until he’s 45.
“His body can do it longer than mine could at the position that he plays,” Vrabel said.
This will be a milestone day for Brady in at least one fashion and could be in multiple ways. The three-time league MVP will play his 300th NFL game, including the postseason, joining Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks to reach that mark. Brady needs four touchdown throws to pass Peyton Manning (579) for most in NFL history, including the postseason.
In six regular-season meetings with Tennessee, Brady has completed 66 percent of his passes while throwing for 1,561 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception.
“He’s seen every look in the book, and even ones that haven’t been in the book,” Vrabel said. “Anytime that somebody’s open, they get the football. Anytime you make a mistake, he’s always going to find the guy that you make a mistake on and get them the ball really quickly.”
The Patriots’ 31-17 win against the Green Bay Packers last week was their sixth straight victory. They have won seven in a row against the Titans, including the postseason, with the most recent a 35-14 romp in the divisional round last January. The Titans snapped a three-game skid Monday night with a 28-14 road win against the Dallas Cowboys.