Ahead of practice on Wednesday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel informed the media that defensive coordinator Terrell Williams would be away from the team for “the next few days” due to some “unforeseen ongoings.”
Vrabel went on to say that this is unrelated to the health scare in March that kept Williams away shortly after being hired by New England, saying this current situation “just came up.”
“We'll have to run some more tests, and we think it's best, and I think it's best, that he focused on that and we prepare for Miami,” Vrabel said in an opening statement at the top of his pre-practice press conference.
Vrabel said he would explain on Friday how defensive play calling duties would be handled for Week 2 in Williams’ absence, mentioning that he and inside linebackers coach Zak Kuhr have been working with the staff “to make sure that we’re where we need to be.”
During his first stint away from the team, Vrabel mentioned that Kuhr had been handling a lot of Williams’ in-person duties, working as his proxy while still running the defense remotely from his home in Michigan.
It appears Kuhr has been tabbed once again to help pick up the slack as Williams deals with this current set of circumstances.
“It just felt like Zak has great knowledge of what we've done here in the past with me, this system and with Terrell,” Vrabel said back in May when asked why Kuhr was the right guy on his staff to be picking up Williams’ responsibilities while he was away.
He echoed that same sentiment on Kuhr on Wednesday.
"I mean, I think Zak does a fantastic job," said Vrabel. "Always has since he's been with us before. Work through the game plan, we'll work through practice, we'll work through the normal operation at third down, short yardage and red zone.
"We'll have to be great. We'll have to have great preparation for an offense that motions a lot and relies on their speed and their timing, their precision. So, it's always a big challenge to play this team."
Here's Vrabel's full opening statement on his 51-year-old defensive coordinator:
"Just want to update you here. I didn't want to put out a statement, I would rather just speak on it myself. So, due to some unforeseen ongoings here with Terrell [Williams], Terrell Williams will be away for the next few days, okay? So, it's nothing related to the incident from March, but it was something that just came up. We'll have to run some more tests, and we think it's best and I think it's best that he focuses on that, and we prepare for Miami with what we've been doing.
"We'll talk to you a little bit later in the week on Friday about how the calling of the game will go defensively. Zak [Kuhr] and I have been working with the staff to make sure that we're where we need to be. That'll be all we'll talk about with Terrell, but I just want to let you guys know what would be going on there, here for the next few days, and then we'll keep you posted as anything comes up."
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