Mike Vrabel is in the Super Bowl in his first season as head coach of the New England Patriots.
Mike Vrabel is in his first season as head coach of the New England Patriots, while Drake Maye is a second-year QB. Usually, a head coach and a young QB in Year 1 of their partnership don't have a lot of success.
However, the Patriots are in the Super Bowl in Year 1 of the Vrabel-Maye era and Vrabel knows it's been a collective effort to get here.
"I just want to thank a lot of people here for helping us get here," Vrabel said. "Obviously, Robert [Kraft] and Jonathan [Kraft] for the support that they showed us from the time that I got here through free agency, and we're excited to finish up this chapter here, move into a new building and just have a lot of excitement there. As we get back, just the Foxboro Fire Department, these guys all jacked up on top of their trucks and the excitement there. I mean, just look at our parking attendants. I mean, we came back, there's a bunch of snow, we're worried about starting our cars and getting everything cleaned off, and our cars are cleaned off, and I can't thank those people enough for what they do.
"Our staff to get our coaches prepared, our coaches to get our players prepared, our training room, just everybody involved with this thing. But obviously the players, I thank them, and I know that they're excited to get us this next game and just the work that they're going to put in here this week. I think we have a good plan for them. We're excited about it, and it'll be a huge challenge and it'll be a huge test."
Maye and the Patriots face Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. It's a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX, a game Tom Brady and New England won, 28-24.
Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as a star linebacker for the Patriots, could become the first person in NFL history to also win as a head coach for the same franchise.
"I won't win it. It'll be the players that'll win the game," Vrabel said. "I promise you, it won't be me that'll win it, and I promise you that I'll do everything I can, and our staff, to have them ready for the game."
This could be a historic season for the Patriots. Not only is the team one win away from winning the Super Bowl, but Vrabel and Maye are also finalists for awards.
Maye could win the Coach of the Year Award, while Maye could win MVP.
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