FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Mike Vrabel’s been here before.
Through the first six weeks of his tenure as Patriots coach, the 50-year-old boasts a 4–2 record—with an upset win over the Bills already in his back pocket—and has New England sitting atop the AFC East standings for the first time since the 2022 season.
First place is a spot Vrabel knows all too well, and one that brings things full circle this weekend as the Patriots head to Nashville—another place he’s been before. Literally.
His opponent in Week 7 will be the same Titans team that fired him less than two years ago.
Over his six seasons in Nashville, Vrabel built the Titans into a perennial contender. He led them to a 54–45 record, three consecutive playoff berths from 2019 to ’21, and AFC South titles in ’20 and ’21. He also helped them reach the AFC championship game in ’19, and earned AP Coach of the Year honors in ’21 after earning the AFC’s No. 1 seed with a 12–5 season.
And yet, despite tallying more wins than losses and building a rock-solid culture, Vrabel’s Titans never truly broke through. Two consecutive losing seasons followed that promising 2021, and he was let go by the club in January of ’24.
What makes a revenge game?
As Vrabel prepares for his much-anticipated return to Nissan Stadium, this time in a different shade of blue, he’s doing his best to block out the noise.
“I think it would file under the category of, ‘Is it interesting or important?’” he explained on Monday morning when asked about going back to Nashville, delivering his signature line. “I would probably say this would be very interesting. But in the end, not very important to our preparation or what we need to continue to try to do to improve as a team.”
But let’s not sugarcoat it. This one means more. It has to. While Vrabel has done his part in shouldering the blame for his own demise in Tennessee, there were plenty of other circumstances that led to his eventual firing. Between a pedestrian-at-best quarterback in Ryan Tannehill, his front office trading wide receiver A.J. Brown out from under his nose, and having to report to a meddling team owner in Amy Adams Strunk, it’s fair to say Vrabel’s hands were tied down the stretch of his time with the Titans.
It turns Sunday into somewhat of a revenge game not only for Vrabel, but an abundance of others that he brought with him to Foxborough.
Vrabel’s staff with the Patriots is made up of an abundance of front office members and coaches who worked with him in Tennessee. They include:
VP of player personnel Ryan CowdenVP of football operations and strategy John StreicherDefensive coordinator Terrell WilliamsInside linebackers coach Zak KuhrSafeties coach Scott BookerCornerbacks coach Justin HamiltonDefensive line coach Clint McMillanWide receivers coach Todd DowningRunning backs coach Tony DewsAssistant offensive line coach Jason Houghtaling
Additionally, New England linebackers Harold Landry, Robert Spillane and Jack Gibbens were all members of the Titans at various points during the Vrabel era, but were eventually either cut or not re-signed by the team.
So yeah, Sunday’s game in Tennessee means something. Even if the Patriots won’t admit it.
“For the media, it’s easier to make it about coach Vrabes going home and that kinda thing,” wide receiver Stefon Diggs said at his locker on Wednesday. “But I think what’s gonna travel is our identity and being able to commit to the process week in and week out. I still feel like [the Titans are] a good team and, you know, things are shifting as far as coaching changes and stuff like that. You get a lot of different stuff, you get trick plays, you get things that—they’re not gonna hold anything back, why not?”
Diggs, of course, is familiar with the idea of a revenge game, having played in one himself just two weeks ago when the Patriots went into Orchard Park and beat the Bills. The 30-year-old played in Buffalo for four seasons alongside quarterback Josh Allen, playing a pivotal role in one of the league’s top offenses. Over that stretch, Diggs notched four consecutive 1,100-yard campaigns and earned a first-team All-Pro nod in 2020 after leading the NFL in both receptions (127) and receiving yards (1,535).
He was then traded to the Texans amid some signs of tension between him and Allen, declining numbers and a salary cap hit that had Buffalo hamstrung. In his return to Highmark Stadium just over a year later, he tallied a 10-catch, 146-yard performance that helped the Patriots move into first place in the AFC East for the first time in three years.
“I talked to my position coach [Todd Downing] about it, I talked to coach Josh [McDaniels] about it weeks ago,” Diggs said, explaining how he approached a game like this. “You know he had told me his tidbit as far as like, going back and playing some of the old teams he coached for and stuff like that. But I told them from my point of view, like, I don’t chase it. And I don’t chase the game, I just let the game come to me. You can play with a chip on your shoulder but, at the end of the day, it’s still football. You can’t force things to happen. … Don’t get caught up in the hooplah and all the extra stuff. Just play football. I feel like coach is gonna be the same guy … he knows that guys like us are gonna go out there and give it everything we got regardless.”
As for his teammates who also enter Nashville with a vengeance?
“They’re gonna play hard,” said Diggs. “When you see your old guys or you see coaches that you once played for and you’ve got a lot of love and respect for, of course, small parts of you probably want to beat them, you know? But it’s just like each and every week. I feel like guys who play hard and love this game, they’re gonna play with a passion. So you can expect everybody’s best shot.”
I spoke with two of the players mentioned above—linebackers Spillane and Gibbens—about what this week means to them as they return to a place that once thought they weren’t good enough.
“At the end of the day, the people I care about impressing are in this locker room, in this building,” Spillane said.And I do that through effort, playing your heart out on the field—whether it’s against a former team or whether it’s against any team. So I think we’ve kept that messaging the same this week, even though it is an old home to a lot of people in this locker room. It’s an opportunity to really show our identity out there.”
Through six games, Spillane leads the Patriots in tackles with 51 and has also notched a sack, a forced fumble and an interception. Gibbens has tallied 27 tackles of his own, and he, too, mentioned Vrabel’s messaging hasn’t changed this week.
“The messaging is just to ignore the noise and kind of make it just like any other week,” said the 26-year-old. “Try to prepare the exact same way. And not let it be something that it’s not. It’s just the next game on our schedule. So that’s definitely the focus right now.”
With a grin, Gibbens added a lighthearted note about walking back into Nissan Stadium: “Yeah, man, I hope I don’t get lost trying to find the visitor’s locker room. It’ll definitely feel weird, I think, but then it’s just like any other game. Once the ball is kicked off, it’s just football. It doesn’t really matter where it’s at. So I think it’ll settle in quickly, but it’ll probably be a little different standing on the other sideline this year.”
I also asked the 26-year-old if there’s been a change in how Vrabel has approached this week. The answer was short, but it got the message across: “I feel like he's just been the same guy.”
Long story short? The storylines woven into this one are certainly interesting. But to the Patriots, they’re not important.
