Make no mistake, Mike Vrabel will be going for the throat in Tennessee

FOXBORO — Mike Vrabel says his history there is unimportant.

Interesting, he’ll admit, but unimportant.

And it’s a clever deflection, we should admit.

But come on.

Do you really believe Vrabel’s return to Tennessee means nothing?

That he wants anything less than to rub the Titans’ faces in their owner’s mistake this Sunday?

And that his personal feelings, as the commanding leader of this organization, could ever be separated from the Patriots’ business?

Of course, Vrabel won’t admit to chasing revenge, but anyone remotely familiar with him knows that’s exactly what he wants because that’s part of who he is.

Clever, caustic, caring and competitively ruthless.

Patriots great Rodney Harrison once told a reporter that Vrabel is an a—hole, then took a beat before adding he’s “one of the best a—holes I know.” Mind you, those two were teammates for six years, and remain friends. So if that’s how a confidant feels about Vrabel, imagine what opponents think about him during and after weeks like this.

Bill Belichick has an idea.

Vrabel twisted the knife late during his first head-to-head battle with Belichick, a shocking Titans blowout back in 2018. Early in the fourth quarter, Tom Brady face-planted after catching a short pass on a trick play the Patriots had called to jump-start their offense trailing 27-10. The next play, they turned the ball over on downs, and the play after that, the Titans called their own trick play involving a pass to their quarterback, Marcus Mariota.

Sit with that for a second. Tennessee called a trick play while leading by 17 with 10 and a half minutes left in a regular-season game. Why?

Just so Vrabel could stick it to his old coach and quarterback. And until the Patriots travel to Tampa Bay next month for another measuring-stick game, stick-it-to-them games like Sunday’s are the best and most important we have. A test of his players’ willingness to dig even deeper for their head coach.

Again, not that Vrabel will admit it.

“Having spent six years there or seven years there, I think it’ll be nice to see some people that I haven’t seen in a few years that helped us win, players and staff,” Vrabel said this week. “But we’ve got a huge job here to do as we prepare for them.”

For the record, Vrabel has fibbed to my face in an interview about his close friend, John Streicher, the Patriots’ vice president of football operations and strategy. It was low-stakes stuff. Just for kicks.

So even for a coach who wears his emotions on his sleeve, and whose press conferences often leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind, Vrabel knows how to comport himself when he wants to have a little fun or control the narrative. Like he did Wednesday.

“Yeah, we’re not trying to win one for the Gipper here,” he said. “We’re just trying to make sure that these (players) are focused on improving, and I think that they are. I think they’re locked in. And hopefully we can get them as prepared as we possibly can between now and Sunday.”

What about the Titans firing his successor, Brian Callahan, who won as many games in Tennessee as Vrabel has here? Any reaction when the news broke Monday?

“I just had a focus here,” Vrabel said. “And again, the surprises in our business shouldn’t be surprises. Things happen in this league, and that’s a decision that they made. I didn’t have a particular reaction to it other than trying to get ready for the game on Sunday.”

Sure.

It’s been speculated Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk fired Callahan this week to sidestep the embarrassment of Vrabel schooling his successor Sunday. Granted, by going 4-19, Callahan dug his own grave deep enough to be thrown in and buried. But I buy it.