Patriots Coach Mike Vrabel Addresses Personal Matter After Two Weeks of Silence

Two weeks after Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel remained largely silent on photos published by the New York Post showing him with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini, Vrabel addressed the situation publicly on Tuesday.

“Thank you for your patience that you’ve shown in a personal and private matter,” Vrabel said, via Kevin Stone of New England Football Journal. “For me, and obviously everybody involved, I know that that’s not easy for you, and I respect that and I appreciate your efforts in doing so.

“I understand I could have, you know, addressed you guys sooner, but it was important to me to have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly, as we began our offseason program, which everyone is excited to be a part of. [Patriots VP of communications] Stacy [James] had mentioned the players’ [media] availability. It was never my intention to have them speak to you or address you before I did. So I asked him to come today and talk with you.

“You know, I also don’t want to take away from our, you know, the draft, the weekend of the draft. This is an important time for us, our organization, and the excitement and the joy that those players are gonna have that we bring onto our football team. They’re starting an amazing journey, one that should be celebrated as we welcome them onto our team.

“With that being said, you know, I’ve had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players. Those have been positive and productive. You know, we believe in order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me, that starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. You never want to be the cause of a distraction.

“And when I — those are comments and questions that I’ve answered for the team, with the team, we’ll keep those private and to ourselves.

“I care deeply about this football team, and I’m excited to coach them. I also know that I’m gonna attack each day with humility and focus. And what I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. That’s what I know, and I’m excited to do that.

“But I wanted to go and just address this, and thank you for your patience in dealing with the private and personal matter.”

“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn’t deserve any further response.”

That statement from Vrabel to the New York Post marked his initial response to the photos. However, after a 14-day stretch where the issue dominated league-wide headlines, Vrabel chose to address the matter publicly on Tuesday, acknowledging the impact on players and the organization.