NASHVILLE, Tenn. — “Vra-bel. Vra-bel. Vra-bel.”
That’s the sound the Patriots and their head coach heard as they salted away another victory Sunday afternoon, closing out a 31-13 rout of the Tennessee Titans with a series of kneeldowns.
Were those chants coming from the scores of traveling New England fans, who occupied roughly half of the seats at Nissan Stadium? Or from Titans supporters rueing their team’s decision to fire Mike Vrabel?
“That’s neither here nor there,” said Vrabel, who tried hard to downplay the game’s most obvious storyline. “I mean, I’m happy for my players. … I guess it’s humbling to have these people want to, whoever that is, cheer for us. Whether that’s the Patriots or me or Drake Maye or anyone else.”
Many of those players, however, said they very much wanted to deliver Vrabel a victory in his return to Tennessee.
“I don’t care what he said,” wide receiver Stefon Diggs said. “We wanted to win that game for him.”
The Titans fired Vrabel — the third-winningest head coach in franchise history — after the 2023 season. They’ve won just four games since and have already dismissed his successor, Brian Callahan, who was canned after getting off to a 1-5 start this season.
Vrabel, meanwhile, has the Patriots sitting atop the AFC East seven weeks into his first season as New England’s head coach. Sunday’s win was the Pats’ fourth straight, improving their record to 5-2.
Maye, the Patriots’ ascending second-year quarterback, said hearing the crowd chant Vrabel’s name was “pretty cool.”
“He downplayed it all week, which we appreciate,” said Maye, who set a Patriots record for completion percentage by going 21-for-23 for 222 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. “I think he was focused on us and worried about us, and that’s what matters. But I know it feels good for him.”
Slot receiver DeMario Douglas said it “felt good just to see that smile on (Vrabel’s) face.”
“We played for Vrabes, no matter what,” Douglas said. “But we always play for Vrabes, and it felt good to get this win.”
The Patriots also have several other Titans alumni on their roster and coaching staff, including edge rusher Harold Landry (who tallied one sack in the win) and backup QB Joshua Dobbs (who delivered a clutch third-down completion while Maye was undergoing a concussion test).
“All week, we obviously tried to emphasize it just being a regular game, regular week,” said edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, who broke the game open by returning a Cam Ward fumble for a touchdown midway through the third quarter. “But man, when you gain such a bond with your peers and obviously with your coach, they try not to make it more than it is to keep their guys level-headed, but you know that it’s personal for them, and we just want to play hard for them and give it everything we’ve got to make sure they come out on top and they the exact feeling that they would like to feel at the end of the game.
“So, it definitely was some extra juice on the defensive end to make sure that our guys — anybody that came from this team or was a part of this organization — they got their revenge and they came out on top.”
