Changes have nothing to do with past Patriots teams

New England Patriots

Vrabel said he doesn’t feel the burden of the past as the Patriots notably changed their pregame introductions ahead of their Week 8 win.

By Conor Roche

October 31, 2025 | 4:46 PM

2 minutes to read

Mike Vrabel has changed some of the norms from the Patriots’ dynasty days in his first season as the team’s head coach, but he’s insisting the changes aren’t because he’s looking to get out of the shadow of the team’s prior success.

When Vrabel was asked if he felt he was erasing the burden of the past with some of the decisions he’s made, the Patriots head coach made it clear he was going to leave his own mark on the franchise, regardless of prior success.

“I don’t know what the burden is,” Vrabel told reporters on Friday, scoffing at the question. “They’ve won eight games in two years. So, none of that matters. Whether it was the Super Bowl or a not very good year, it doesn’t matter.

“In this league, if you take a nap, you’re going to get beat. That’s how it is. We’re not trying to take a nap. We’re just trying to play good football, be competitive, take advantage of our opportunities … all these things that we talk about doing. I don’t have enough time to focus on what happened yesterday, let alone what happened seven years ago.”

The most recent change from the Patriots’ dynasty days that Vrabel made came prior to their Week 8 victory over the Browns. Instead of being introduced as a team, the offensive starters were introduced individually, ditching a tradition that had been in place for 24 years.

In addition to the change in the pregame introductions, the team has ditched the “Awww, yeah!” chant that they would use at the end of locker room speeches following victories. Bill Belichick’s “Do your job” phrase has also seemed to become a thing of the past in Foxborough.

So, it’s easy to look at those changes and think that it’s Vrabel’s way of saying that it’s time for the Patriots to move on from the glory days. But Vrabel said that he’s just “trying to do what we feel like is best” in order to win games.

“With the players and the communication and me and the staff and Eliot [Wolf], and everybody else involved,” Vrabel said. “That’s all we’re trying to do, just win games, get good guys, have them enjoy coming to work, coach the [expletive] out of them, watch them have success, be excited for them. None of that is, ‘Well they did it this way, we’re going to do the opposite.’

“There’s a lot of things and ideas that are good that you take from people. And there’s some things you come up with on your own that are good.”

At the halfway mark, Vrabel’s approach has worked. The Patriots are 6-2 and lead the AFC East, with a playoff bid looking likely.

But the changes Vrabel has made haven’t been all smooth sailing, including the changes he’s made to the culture. There were multiple messups when the Patriots took the field individually ahead of their Week 8 matchup against the Browns, allowing Vrabel to laugh a bit at himself on Friday.

“There’s some ones that are clunkers,” Vrabel said of the changes. “When they’re clunkers, you own it, change it, and fix it. So, we’ll make some modifications to the player announcements, and we’ll get the names in order this time, and we’ll go from there.

“Again, I’m excited. I love coaching these guys. It’s fun. They make coming to work a lot of fun.”