Former Buckeye Mike Vrabel had one of the best back-to-back Super Bowl stretches you'll ever see.
Former Ohio State star defensive end Mike Vrabel is getting forgotten about in the lead-up to Super Bowl 60.
Quietly, Vrabel has put together one heck of a football career. He was an integral part of the Patriots' first three Super Bowls in the Tom Brady and Bill Billichek era. From there, he became a coach and, while never getting the Tennessee Titans to the promised land, is back in Foxborough and has his Patriots on the cusp of immortality.
Vrabel wasn't just a jersey number on those Super Bowl teams; he was a key piece and a major reason for the Patriots' back-to-back run in 2004 and 2005.
As a defender, you have to earn the trust of the team, your head coach, the offensive coordinator, and your quarterback in order to catch one touchdown during an NFL season.
Forget about doing it in the Super Bowl, unless you're Mike Vrabel.
Vrabel found himself in the paint in back-to-back Super Bowls. His Super Bowl 38 performance should have resulted in the Super Bowl MVP against the Carolina Panthers.
In that game, he finished with six tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble, and one touchdown catch en route to the Patriots three point win over the Panthers. The victory can be directly correlated to what Vrabel did on the field in that game.
Just one year earlier, he had a similar stat line against the Philadelphia Eagles. In Super Bowl XXXIX, the Patriots and the Eagles were in a back-and-forth battle that Vrabel was balling in. He finished the game with four tackles, two solos, and one sack to go along with a one-yard touchdown catch from Tom Brady.
Vrabel was always a big-time player from his time at Ohio State through his playing career in the NFL.
From Northeast Ohio, he worked his way to the top, and that is exactly what he is doing with this current version of the New England Patriots.
After being fired from the Titans after a really tough season, he went to Cleveland to be a consultant under Kevin Stefnaski and his coaching staff. In his one year there, he was a glorified volunteer and then interviewed in New England after they fired Jarod Mayo.
I'm sure both franchises in Nashville and Cleveland are kicking themselves watching Vrabel take his team to the Super Bowl.
Vrabel has been there and done that. He was a two-time Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year and holds two Buckeyes records for sacks (33) and tackles for loss (66).
He is football personified, and he has his first opportunity to write his name in football immortality on Sunday Night's Super Bowl 60.
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