FOXBOROUGH, Mass — Following the New England Patriots' 20-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, head coach Mike Vrabel addressed reporters, answering numerous questions, highlighting some key moments from the game, as well as unanswered questions, specifically surrounding all the injuries.
Here are the key takeaways:
Will Dre'Mont Jones play in Week 3?
Patriots veteran edge Dre'Mont Jones left Sunday's game early with a shoulder injury, and despite being initially listed as questionable to return, he was eventually downgraded to out. But as for how long he will be out, Vrabel didn't rule out the possibility of him playing this weekend against Jacksonville.
"Again, we have to look at all those things. I don’t know how he’s going to progress during the week," Vrabel said. "I know he wasn’t
able to finish the game, obviously. He’ll do everything he can to be ready, and if he’s not, then we will have alternate plans.
Is Mike Onwenu done for the season?
Another injury from the game was when starting right guard Mike Onwenu went down in the first quarter with an ankle injury, unable to put any weight on it and ultimately had to be carted off.
"Again, I don’t think he’ll be available here in the short term," he said. "So, I wouldn’t anticipate him being out there here in the next few weeks. If that changes and it ends up being longer than that, then we will let you guys know.
It was reported shortly after the game that he suffered a broken ankle, but Vrabel wasn't willing to confirm or deny this.
"Mike hurt his ankle," he later added. "I think you guys could see that on the TV."
And what about the two safeties?
Safety Dell Pettus and Craig Woodson both left the game early and were ultimately ruled out. While he didn't get into specifics regarding their status for the upcoming week, he did say that they will be leaning on some of the safeties who are currently on the practice squad.
"Again, we’re looking at Dell [Pettus] for an ankle. We have guys on the practice squad. I think some of the veteran practice squad guys are going to factor in this week," he said. "I know that Mike Brown has been with us since the spring, and I think that’s the balance that you weigh with the practice squad. We’ve talked about that. You have some young guys that you’re looking to develop, some veteran guys that have played in games that are preparing as a starter and that’ll be ready to go. So as the week unfolds, we’ll have to make sure that everybody’s ready to go. If guys can’t end up making it, then however we sign guys or elevate guys."
Could Caleb Lomu move inside?
After Onwenu went out, it was veteran guard Greg Van Roten who came in and took over next to Morgan Moses.
"I think he had a few plays that he’d like to have back, so would everybody," Vrabel stated. " But I thought he had some positive plays. Again, to go through an entire game, there are going to be some good ones, some bad ones, and some ones that we have to eliminate. So, I think that he stepped in there, was ready to go. Then we’ll have to kind of figure out who’s the next guy, and if it is Greg, then make sure that he’s as ready to go to work with Morgan [Moses] and Jared [Wilson] as [soon as] possible."
They will be slotting in a few different guys over the next few days and weeks, and that could include 2026 first-round pick Caleb Lomu.
"Again, there are a lot of things that we could look at. Caleb has been trying to predominantly practice, be there, be ready to go playing tackle," he explained. "So, we have some guys that we could move in there, and Caleb would be one of the guys that could possibly do that. But again, we just have to make sure that we have the best five available, and then the other three guys that are versatile on game day."
Drake Maye's interception
After throwing three interceptions in the season-opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Maye added one more on Sunday, being picked off by Patrick Queen on an underthrown ball to Hunter Henry.
Based on the replay, there was some coonversation that the ball might have been tipped, but Vrabel didn't see it that way.
"I don’t think so. Again, I didn’t slow it down. When the linebacker drops that deep, we should probably just get it down to Reggie [Gilliam]," he explained. "I think he realizes that and knows that. Those are the decisions that the quarterback makes. Those are the decisions that Drake makes. Again, if they get us."
Jared Wilson's performance
Vrabel was also very critical of center Jared Wilson's performance in Sunday's game.
"I think Jared, that wasn’t one of Jared's better games yesterday," he said. "There were some times where we have to hold up in the middle and pass rush, but I also know that sometimes, when we break those runs and he’s at the second level and getting guys covered up, that he’s at the point of those attacks as well. So, I think he can protect better. I know he can protect better. I’ve seen him protect better. But they also had a lot of really good, nice blocks when we ran the football, broke through there and were able to get to the second level."
Wide receivers without A.J. Brown
While the Patriots finished their Week 1 contest without A.J. Brown, this was the first game where they were without the receiver for the entire week of preparation as well the game. Vrabel spoke about what he saw from the group.
"Well, I mean, for the most part, I thought we made good decisions. I thought we caught the ball," he said. "I think Drake can help Romeo [Doubs], Romeo can help Drake. I think those are bang-bang plays on a slant. Pop [DeMario Douglas] made a good decision getting in there, a lot of space early in the game. So, I mean, Pop had to play the block that sprung TreVeyon. So again, those guys, their job is to be versatile, move around. We had put guys in different spots based on Eli [Raridon] coming out of the game early on, so making sure that everybody’s where they need to be. But I mean, we hit a couple plays down the field. Rome had a couple plays, Drake kept his eyes up on third down, extended, hit that play. I mean, again, we’ll keep looking for opportunities. Kyle [Williams] had a huge third-down conversion, got drilled and converted. So, I think when we get some opportunities, just take advantage of them, and I think we did for the most part."
What happened on the back-to-back timeouts?
Vrabel explained what happened after the Patriots were penalized for a delay of game, which came after he called a timeout immediately after they had just been charged with a timeout for an injury to cornerback Marcus Jones.
"Yeah, I blew it. Injury timeout," Vrabel said. "I was all caught up on the fact that they should’ve been winding that play, which again, I don’t understand. Clearly his shin came down in bounds, and so in my haste to try to correct the officials, the injury timeout under two goes on us, and then we were going to see what they ran and I called timeout. So yep, I blew it, and I was hoping to try to convince the official to run the clock, and then the injury stopped the clock. So, that went in as a team timeout under two minutes."
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Takeaways from Mike Vrabel's press conference after win over Steelers
