Patriots - 33, Dolphins - 27
Q. Looks like you're trying to keep up with Antonio on the sidelines. What were you doing?
MIKE VRABEL: Again, I told you, we had to have those guys be a weapon for us. Too many times we had penalties, and we didn't. Rhamondre answered and then Gibby answered. Again, we had a similar situation in practice where we had a couple bad plays, and I'm like we've got to just keep -- we're going on. We've got to snap the next play.
Then somebody hit a play, a back hit a play. I'm like, you see, it just takes one play. That's exactly what Rhamondre did to get us out of that wall. We unfortunately just gave up the punt return but then answered, and Gibby answered and that unit answered.
Again, I felt like we were willing to get into a street fight. We had a little lull, and we didn't pack it up and quit.
Q. To follow up on that, were you running along? When he caught that, where you were when all that was happening?
MIKE VRABEL: I just was watching about the 50. I'm just excited for these guys. I'm really excited that they could fight and compete, come on the road, be in a game, get off to a good start, not be front runners -- everything that we talked about.
We tried to get the drive stops sometimes. We ended the drives with scores, with touchdowns, much better in the red zone. Offensively the only thing that stopped us today was us, so there was a lot of really good keys there.
Again, the penalties on special teams, there's lots to coach from, but it's going to be easier to coach from a win. We'll be able to coach them hard and make sure we're trying to fix the things that hurt us.
We got off to a good start. Again, we knew that a lot of that was to make sure we made them earn it, and we didn't get the drive stop on a couple of those X plays, and they scored touchdowns.
Q. On the extra point for the kicker, Borregales, a couple extra points, but you put him in for the 53-yarder, and he nails it.
MIKE VRABEL: Yeah, you've got to have a lot of confidence in him. I do have a lot of confidence. It didn't waver. I was going to try to go for the fourth and five to try to get it there. Then when we got backed up, we immediately kicked the field goal. I'm happy for Andy. That's why he's here.
I thought after the first two he really settled down. That's what we'll have to have.
Q. Your thoughts this week on the performance of your quarterback?
MIKE VRABEL: I think there's a lot of good things and a lot of things we'll have to fix. The command and the operation, and when he feels that lull, that's when we've got to tighten the screws on these guys and get them set faster and get them out of huddle faster and really push them.
He's a jockey, and he's got to know what the flow of the team looks like offensively. We had a couple of penalties and false starts. Again, things we really aren't going to be able to overcome eventually.
Q. You talked a lot this week about precise over perfect and kind of pushing through when bad plays happen. Do you find this win revealed more about the character of your team or built it?
MIKE VRABEL: Again, I appreciate the character. Certainly don't have to put it to the test all the time with mistakes and silly penalties or being offsides and having an interception. There's a lot of things out there that we have to do better, but we didn't pout, we didn't drop our head. We went on to the next play, and we kept competing.
I appreciate that. We've got to learn how to compete and believe that we can come down here and win football games, and I think they did.
Q. As you try to put your fingerprints on this program, Game 2, I know it's early in the season, but what does a game like this represent to you, five lead changes back and forth on the road?
MIKE VRABEL: Again, that we're not front runners, and that's a big thing in this league because when you play in the National Football League, you have to be willing to take some punches, and that's okay, but you've got to give more than you take because that's the nature of this business, having been in it a long time.
There's pros on the other side, good players on the other side, good coaches. Again, proud of my team. It will always be about the players now and forever.
Q. Obviously not a perfect defensive performance, but big plays from Milton, Marte, Harold Landry at the end. What does it say about the team in general?
MIKE VRABEL: Yeah, those players, we need them to play good for us to win. I've said that for as long as I can remember. Your best players have to play good if you want to win in this league. Again, talking about Te, our punt team has improved, and he's our PP, and he takes a lot of pride in that. He stays into every meeting. He's into it.
He plays to show the team, and he's ready for his opportunity. He went in there and made a play, made a huge play, so I was proud of him.
Q. Sticking with the defense, how did it go with Zak calling plays today?
MIKE VRABEL: Good. We had some good plays, and we had some plays we would like to have back. Again, a lot of it, as long as the operation is good, there's no perfect play. There's good calls. There was no perfect call. It's about getting it in there. The players understand it, and we've made adjustments to the things that they're doing, and that gives them a chance to succeed.
We weren't scrambling, I didn't feel, at any point in time. You could look at the other side, and they had the delays late in the game. They had different things that backed them up that really helped us. So our ability to get a call in and keep our composure and be ready to go -- again, just keep making them earn it and get the drive stopped. Eventually, that was a big key for us defensively, and we got the drive stopped and got the one stop that we needed to get stopped.
Q. The defense, they did make the plays in the end, but for a while there, Miami didn't have the ball very much. They've taken the lead. How concerned -- explosive plays were again an issue. What did you see out of the defense there for a while?
MIKE VRABEL: We'll have to do better. We won't be the only team that they get explosive plays against, and we'll just have to continue to be better. I know that. I understand that.
There were times where we did, where we took away those throwing lanes, and there were times that we certainly didn't. I told you that we had to be willing to give up some of those plays outside the numbers, and they hit a couple off us, they hit a couple of those sevens and those corners. So I told the team that that was what going in we were going to make them hit them.
They probably hit too many, but again we'll be okay.
Q. Rhamondre could ground and pound, but how about the catches he caught?
MIKE VRABEL: I think he's always been. He's had good hands, you know what I mean? He's athletic with the ball in his hands. He makes good catches. He drops, steps, and goes. He turns second and 13 into third and three, and those are critical when you can do that and not end up in third and eight.
Excited for him. Just really excited that he could have a real impact on this football game for us throughout the entire day.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports