Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mike Moraitis

Titans’ Mike Vrabel clarifies player preparation comment, includes coaches

Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel made some headlines after the Week 16 loss to the Houston Texans after suggesting players weren’t doing enough to prepare when away from the team facility.

“You hear [from players], ‘man, I hate losing,’” Vrabel said. “I hate losing, too, so maybe we should love preparing and love focusing before the game and doing as much as we possibly can so that we don’t make mistakes in critical times or mental errors; things that can be avoided.”

Buy Titans Tickets

When pressed further, Vrabel added this:

“It’s not the buy-in, it’s just, how much are we doing outside of the time that we’re at the facility?” Vrabel asked. “If you as a professional athlete just work 8-4 or 8-4:30, I don’t know how much you get out of it.

“Maybe God gifted you with some really, really cool talents. We just have to all do a little bit more, and that’s with me, with preparation, and that’s with coaches and players. A little bit more of everything.”

Vrabel received some slack from fans for his comments, as it was another example of him putting things mostly on the players’ shoulders when we know coaching has been a problem, also.

On Monday, Vrabel attempted to clarify his comment, while also noting that coaches need to do a better job in preparing players for games.

“I guess I just have to be more careful with how I choose my words,” Vrabel reflected. “I just was trying to say that we all need to say less and just try to start doing more right now. And just studying more, communicating more, asking more questions, coaching better, explaining, teaching better, so that players can come back with questions and say, ‘hey, I saw this. How would we play that.'”

“I’m not spreading a message to the media that I haven’t said to the players at any point in time,” Vrabel continued. “That’s not how I want to coach. So, that’s all that was, that was just explaining that I think, again, building off how much better can we get physically at this point in the season. Where can we find an edge to help us win.”

Vrabel touched on a number of other topics on Monday, which you can check out below.

On offensive line replacements

On possibly resting starters in Week 17

On Malik Willis' latest start

On Denico Autry

On David Long, Kyle Philips

On Ryan Tannehill

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.