Labor Day pushed “Patriots Monday” to Tuesday, as Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel joined The Greg Hill Show in-studio at Gillette Stadium for his weekly appearance on WEEI.
One day prior to his hit with the morning show, Vrabel was spending his holiday at the podium for his weekly press conference with the local media, where he was asked about All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzalez’s availability for Week 1 against the Raiders:
Before we get into his comments from Tuesday, here’s everything Vrabel had to say about Gonzalez on Monday:
Question: “Any update on the health of Christian Gonzalez?”
Mike Vrabel: “Yeah, I wouldn't anticipate him out here today. So, hopefully that improves. But, he's working hard and trying to improve, and he wants to be out there. I think what’s good for us and for Christian and the team is to try not to be frustrated. Obviously, those things happen, and it's how we respond to them. It's how hard we work to get back, the communication, all the things that he's doing. So, just continue to work hard to get back and try to make sure that we're doing everything we can to help him.”
Q: “Is there a concern for him on Sunday with the timing and the days dwindling?”
MV: “Well, again, I think that – get him back for practice first, and then we'll have an update and status for Sunday.”
Q: “Mike, you mentioned making an effort, not to be frustrated. Is that something either the team or Christian has felt?”
MV: “No, that's in my own personal experience of, when you're not in there, right? When you're not in there with the team, I guess. And I appreciate you actually clarifying or asking. Those are just things in the course of my career or being a coach and dealing with players, that they want to play, they want to be out there, right? So, those are, I guess, the things that I've tried to talk to all the players about is, the time that you're not on the field is how you stay engaged and stay into the meetings and the schedule and just – they all want to play. So, again, I think that was just a broad term for things that I try to focus on when guys aren't out there. That could go for Jahlani [Tavai] or anybody else at this point.”
Q: “Without getting into timelines, has Christian had a setback at all?”
MV: “Well, it just hasn't gone – again, he's working hard, and whether it's – again, we can say one injury is going to be three-to-four weeks, one is going to be one-to-two. Everybody heals differently. So, just making sure that when the players are back that they can do their job with confidence, that they can protect themselves on the field, and that they can't make it any worse. Those are some things that I try to use as guidelines for when players are ready to play and get back there.”
Q: “You talked about the players not trying to get frustrated with the setbacks. What have you seen from that cornerback room and specifically with the depth you have at that position with Gonzalez sidelined?”
MV: “Well, I mean, I think D.J. [James] was one of our more improved players over the course of rookie minicamp, he participated in that as a veteran and hadn’t had the ability to participate in that until now. Double A [Alex Austin] has done a nice job of going out there and playing corner or playing nickel. Marcus [Jones] provides a lot of leadership in there. It's been good to have CD [Carlton Davis III] string some days together. So, it provides opportunity for other guys. We'd love to have Gonzo back, trust me, we would, but I think the other guys have stepped up and tried to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Obviously a lot to chew on there, which led to WEEI’s Greg Hill following up on Gonzalez’s status on Tuesday.
“What’s the update on Gonzalez?” asked Hill. “I know he didn’t practice yesterday.”
“He didn’t practice yesterday,” said Vrabel. “That's the only update [I have], I haven't seen anything from - I haven't met with the trainers. I gotta see you guys before, and then I'll see the trainers.”
“But that’s injury related?” Hill followed up. “You know, people look at a young player sometimes and wonder, ‘Hey, is there some kind of quiet hold-in?’”
“Oh no,” said Vrabel. “I mean, I said yesterday he's working hard to come back, and when he's ready to get back out and practice - hopefully that's this week - then we can decide and go from there.”
As of publishing, FanDuel has the Patriots as a 2.5-point favorite for Sunday, sitting at -144 on the moneyline. You can get the Raiders at +122, and the total is set at 43.5.