Image courtesy of @ShrineBowl (X) Two years ago, Troy Brown led West team as the head coach in the East-West Shrine Bowl while the rest of the other Patriots staff was also on hand and got to know prospects up close and personal with Bill Belichick sort of watching over everything. One Patriots assistant who is (for now) still on staff, Drew Wilkins, will be serving as the East team’s…

Image courtesy of the New England Patriots  FOXBOROUGH – In the far right corner of the Sports Illustrated Pavilion where Mike Vrabel was introduced as the Patriots’ 16th head coach on Monday, there was a backdrop set up for stand up interviews that ultimately turned into a bit of ‘legends corner.’ Andre Tippett and Troy Brown gathered with reporters both formally and informally to speak about Vrabel. While Tippett’s words…

FOXBOROUGH – In front of a jam-packed Sports Illustrated Pavilion on Monday afternoon, Mike Vrabel took the first step in bringing accountability back to Foxborough. Over the course of close to 40-minutes, Vrabel talked about building a coaching staff, working with Eliot Wolf (and apparently Ryan Cowden), his desire to come back here and most importantly, how he was going to get this franchise back to respectability. There’s of course…

By Alan Segel NEFJ Contributor Foxborough—Back in 1978, there was a movie released by Universal Pictures titled ‘Same Time Next Year.’ It starred Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn and it was about a couple that had an affair and kept meeting year after year on the same date. The film came to mind this past weekend when the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel as their new coach. He was hired on…

Around 10:30 on Sunday morning, arguably the worst kept secret in Patriots history was finally revealed from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport. The Patriots are hiring team Hall of Famer Mike Vrabel as the franchise’s 16th head coach. One week after firing Jerod Mayo less than an hour after the regular season finale, another former linebacker is now tasked with bringing the team back to relevance. There’s several…