FOXBOROUGH – The media circus was back at Gillette Stadium on Thursday.
But, for mostly the wrong reasons.
After allegations against Stefon Diggs surfaced on Tuesday, more came to light on Wednesday morning against Christian Barmore from an incident in August. Barmore is facing domestic assault and battery charges after his girlfriend told police he threw her to the ground.
During his usual Wednesday press conference, Mike Vrabel was asked if he’s disappointed by the distractions for the team after clinching the AFC East and heading into the regular season finale against Miami with the No. 1 seed in the AFC still potentially on the line.
“Well, I would say not disappointing at all. These are allegations, like you mentioned in your question,” he said. “It’s things that we have to handle, and every day there’s distractions, some are smaller than others. I’m confident that we’ll focus on the Dolphins and those two individuals that you mentioned will be able to handle the ongoing legal process.”
Vrabel of course has seen the best and worst of distractions during his time as a player and coach, particularly while winning championships here in New England. Vrabel and his staff will be doing the best they can to make sure guys remain locked in on the task at hand this weekend before turning their attention to the postseason.
Asked if he was ‘afraid’ about the distraction, Vrabel answered in a way only he could.
“Afraid? No, not afraid. I’m 50 years old and going to be 51. I’m not afraid,” he said with a bit of grin. “I love coaching this football team, I love the way that they come to work, I love the youth, I love the veterans, I love the leadership and I really have appreciated everyone’s growth throughout this entire process. I think that’s the thing that I really enjoy is just guys like TreVeyon [Henderson] and Kyle [Williams] being excited and Will [Campbell] being excited about coming back, and then our quarterback and the way Drake [Maye] has grown, our veteran leadership from Stef [Stefon Diggs], Morgan [Moses] and Garrett [Bradbury] on offense, the consistency that Big Mike [Mike Onwenu]’s had, and Hunter [Henry], we talked about his consistency.
“I want the best for these guys on the field and off the field.”
All year long, the Patriots have done an excellent job of compartmentalizing anything and everything that may pop up. Of course, nothing has been this serious, but with so much still ahead of them and the possibility of continuing this historic season, it feels as if Vrabel and this staff – and the veterans in the locker room – will do whatever it takes to not let this derail any of the positive momentum that’s been built up since OTAs and training camp.