Unless you live under a rock, you know Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel went up against his former team in Week 7, beating the Titans 31-13 to get his team to 5-2 on the season.
And even though Vrabel tried to downplay the personal importance of beating the team that fired him in January of last year, his team making a point of handing him the game ball in the locker room after the win tells you everything you need to know.
For Week 8, another reunion for Vrabel is on tap.
This time, it’s not with a team he spent six seasons coaching, but rather an organization he spent the first 21 years of his life loving before spending one season as a consultant for them in 2024.
“You don't grow up in northeast Ohio [and] not be a Browns fan and have necklaces that are made of dog biscuits,” Vrabel said to close out his Friday post-practice press conference. “I mean, of course I did. And so, I lived that, and Bernie Kosar.
“And again, I've said this a lot, but I appreciate the Haslam family, Jimmy and Dee, Andrew [Berry], Kevin, that staff. I mean, that was a good experience for me. It was probably the place where I was supposed to be last year. It allowed me to kind of reconnect with a lot of different things as far as whether that's being back around home, seeing old friends and going to high school football games, or spending more time with people that you don't really spend a lot of time with during the season.”
Like Vrabel mentioned - growing up in Akron, OH, he had no choice but to love the Browns (2-5) with every fiber of his being. It’s a way of life for those in that region. Even with how bad the franchise has been for the better part of 60 years, they always show up, dog biscuit necklaces in hand, ready to embrace the pain as their team struggles its way through losing season after losing season.
Vrabel’s one season on the Browns staff was no different than most of the seasons Cleveland has had this century, as they finished with a 3-14 record and No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Regardless of their on-field failings, Vrabel has routinely talked about how valuable that season was for him as a “coaching and personnel consultant.”
“I learned a lot,” Vrabel shared on Friday. “I learned, as far as just different schemes or different techniques, working with Tommy [Rees] and Kevin [Stefanski] or Chad O'Shea about third downs. Everybody's got things that they believe in about coaching. I think that's the biggest thing, is that it's what you believe and it's what you can get the players to believe in.
“There's a lot of different ways to do things, a lot of different ways to run zone or to have a six-man protection, or anything like that. It's just having a belief in something, but then also getting the players to believe in it. So, you know, there were things that they did that obviously I liked, or that was new for me from my experience of being in Tennessee or being around different offenses.”
Once Vrabel was drafted by Browns’ arch rival Pittsburgh in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft, his fandom for his childhood team went out the window. After spending the first four years of his playing career with the Steelers (1997-2000), Vrabel would spend the next eight seasons in New England (2001-08) before finishing his career in Kansas City (2009-10).
From there, Vrabel spent time on the coaching staff of his alma mater at Ohio State (2011-13) before getting his shot at the pro level with the Texans (2014-17). After that last year in Houston was spent as defensive coordinator, Vrabel got the call to be the leading man in Tennessee, where he helped lead the Titans to a 2019 AFC Championship Game appearance as well as a No. 1 seed in the conference in 2021.
During his press conference on Monday, Vrabel was asked if he still has any friends or relatives that have stayed loyal to the Browns despite his various stops around the NFL as both a player and coach through the years.
“Friends,” he said. “Not a whole lot of relatives, but friends. I know there's a lot of friends that are season-ticket holders of the Browns. But, yeah, growing up in Northeast Ohio and being a Browns fan, so a lot of good memories back there watching them play football.”
Despite the soft spot Vrabel has in his heart for Cleveland, the oddsmakers don’t anticipate the AP Coach of the Year candidate to take it easy on the Browns on Sunday.
As of publishing, the Patriots are a 7-point favorite over Cleveland at BetMGM. They’re sitting at -350 on the moneyline, and the total remains at 40.5.
Tune in each and every Monday throughout the football season to Patriots Monday on WEEI. Head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show at 6:30 a.m. ET, and quarterback Drake Maye joins WEEI Afternoons.