Anyone who ever watched Mike Vrabel play football knows this is light work.
Vrabel, now the New England Patriots head coach, walked away from trying to break up a a training camp fight between his team and the Washington Commanders with a bloody face on August 6.
From ESPN: “Patriots coach Mike Vrabel jumped into a scrum of players at Wednesday’s practice with the Commanders and came out with a bloodied cheek. No players were ejected from practice and it was resolved quickly.”
“I saw it and somebody said it looked like the Trump gunshot wound,” Patriots quarterback Drake Maye said after the joint practice.
Vrabel played 14 NFL seasons as a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs, where he was a 3-time Super Bowl champion, NFL All-Pro and Pro Bowler. He’s also the only primary defensive player to score a touchdown in 2 different Super Bowls — he caught touchdown passes in multiple Super Bowls for the Patriots.
Vrabel in First Season as New England’s Head Coach
Vrabel, who played from 1997 to 2010, started his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Ohio State. He became the Houston Texans defensive coordinator in 2017 then the Tennessee Titans head coach in 2018.
Vrabel coached the Titans from 2018 to 2023 and led them to the playoffs for 3 consecutive seasons from 2019 to 2021, including an AFC Championship Game appearance in 2019. He was named NFL Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading the Titans to a 12-5 regular season record.
New England hired Vrabel after another former Super Bowl champion and NFL All-Pro linebacker, Jerod Mayo, was fired after going 4-13 in his one season as head coach.
Social Media Reacts to Vrabel’s Role in Dust Up
Old school football fans had to feel a little bit of pride well up in their chests by seeing the 49-year-old Vrabel unafraid to still mix it up with dudes close to 20 years younger than him.
“#Patriots HC Mike Vrabel jumped into a scuffle between his players and the Commanders during joint practice — and came out of the pile bleeding,” The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov wrote on his official X account. “The ultimate football guy.”
“THIS IS WILD,” ML Football wrote on its official X account, “#Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel is BLEEDING from his face after he ended up at the bottom of a pile with many players fighting on top. New England WR Kayshon Boutte and Washington CB Marshon Lattimore got into it, causing a fight between the teams. WOW”
One interesting sidenote to the brawl was who it happened in front of — Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum was watching from the sideline after meeting with New England quarterback Drake Maye, Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels and Vrabel before practice.
“Mike Vrabel is bleeding from his face after diving into a pile to try to prevent a fight,” The Boston Herald’s Zack Cox wrote on his official X account. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before.”
The Commanders and Patriots face each other in a preseason game in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday, August 8.
