After Mike Vrabel was hit with a 15-yard penalty in the Patriots’ win over the Bills in Buffalo, the head coach explained that he had told the official “it was a terrible effing call.” Vrabel added that he had made such a comment “87 times since I’ve been a head coach” while indicating that the official who threw the flag “was a little sensitive.”
Vrabel did later admit that he apologized and that he needs to be “better in those moments,” but the NFL clearly felt like the damage was done. According to Albert Breer, Vrabel — along with Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni and the Jets’ Aaron Glenn — was fined $250,000 for “conduct toward officials.” The report indicated that the fine was held in abeyance, meaning it could be forgiven with “good behavior.”
On Monday, Vrabel was asked during his press conference about the fine. He stated that he is not allowed to comment on it publicly while expressing some clear disappointment that the news was public.
“I don’t have any comment. Those things are supposed to be held in strict confidence, confidentiality, so I’m not going to comment,” Vrabel said. “I’m not gonna comment. I can’t. Not supposed to. I can’t comment. I think it’s best just to talk to the league. They seem to have plenty to say already about it.”
Vrabel, however, did manage to share his opinion on what he considers to be the most effective communication between a coach and an official.
“There’s going to be bad calls by coaches, there’s going to be bad plays by players, and then once in a while, an official’s going to miss one. So, again, how we respond to those things is critical,” Vrabel said. “So, I enjoy when they have conversations with me and can explain exactly what it is that they saw, or they follow up with another official, and as long as I get an explanation about what they saw, then I have to be OK with that. And I would say for the most part, I am. And I like the ones that are willing to communicate and say, ‘Hey, this is what I saw.’ They did it and they’re decisive about it and they’re confident. We can always go back and second-guess, but it’s not an easy job and I think they do really good.”
Earlier in the day, during his weekly radio interview on WEEI, Vrabel was in a bit more of a joking mood when asked if he talks to officials differently in light of the looming $250,000 fine.
“No, I just tell them everything is a great call. ‘I thought you were gonna miss that one, but you got it. You nailed it. You got it,'” Vrabel said while making a clapping motion. “Every time I go to cuss at ’em, I’m like, ‘Ugh, Christmas. We got Christmas, we got holidays, we got kids.’ I just say, ‘That’s a great call.'”
