New England Patriots
“I think I headbutted everybody. But I forgot Vrabes ain’t have no helmet on.”
FOXBOROUGH — Mike Vrabel’s days of doling out punishment on the football field are over.
But the former linebacker and three-time Super Bowl champion was sporting some damage as he made his way up to the podium after New England’s 16-3 win over the Chargers in the wild-card round.
The Patriots head coach had a fat lip as he fielded questions — courtesy of New England star defensive tackle Milton Williams.
After Williams sealed New England’s first playoff win since Super Bowl LIII with a fourth-quarter sack against Justin Herbert, the 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle left a path of destruction in his wake as he celebrated with his teammates along the sideline.
After Williams dished out some helmet-to-helmet headbutts with some of his teammates, Vrabel went into embrace the key free-agent pickup —catching Williams’ helmet right in the mouth.
“I was just turnt,” Williams joked postgame. “That was just pure emotion. I think I headbutted everybody. But I forgot Vrabes ain’t have no helmet on. He’ll be alright though.”
Despite taking a football helmet to the face, Vrabel laughed off the sequence while showing Williams the damage.
For Vrabel, it was a fitting showing from Williams and a Patriots defense that made life miserable for Herbert and the Chargers offense all night long.
Williams finished with two sacks as part of a six-sack showing from New England’s defense, with Herbert completing just 19 of 31 throws for 159 yards.
“We talked to them about being willing to spill some blood out there, that the big dogs come out in January,” Vrabel said of his defense. “I think Milt took that to heart in the way that he played the game, in the way he finished the game. He came over and got me pretty good. That’s what happens.”
This is not the first time this season that Vrabel has taken some damage in his first year as Patriots head coach.
In August, Vrabel was bloodied after jumping into a fight that broke out between his players and the Washington Commanders during joint training-camp practices in Foxborough.
“I said, ‘Coach, what’s wrong with you?’ And he said, ‘You should have seen the other guy,’” DeMario Douglas said of Vrabel’s bloodied face in August, per Mike Reiss of ESPN. “I just saw the scar on his face, but I didn’t know what happened.”
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