Mike Vrabel found himself at the center of controversy following Sunday’s game, in which the New England Patriots seemed to have the victory in hand against the Buffalo Bills, only for a comeback starting in the third quarter to completely change the outcome.
Perhaps it was the frustration of the following day or the lingering questions about what went wrong, but the head coach lost his composure and launched harsh criticism at the officials.
After the game, Vrabel did not hide his frustration with the way officiating was conducted. His initial comments came on The Greg Hill Show, where the head coach pointed out the lack of consistency in referee decisions.
“They do have a difficult job. The consistency – sometimes I struggle with it. I’ll say this: the Bills lead the NFL in offensive holds, and I’ll leave it at that. That would be hard for me to understand – how a team coming into the game leading, and that’s how they play, didn’t have one yesterday. So that’s hard for me to understand,” the coach explained.
His point was that the Bills lead the league in offensive holding penalties, yet during the game they were not flagged even once for it.
Although Vrabel did not directly blame the officials for the 35-31 loss to the Bills, his remarks resonated widely and seemed to suggest he was trying to shift some of the responsibility away from the field.
Vrabel retracts his criticism of the officials
After his morning statements, Vrabel’s tone shifted by the afternoon, and in a press conference he emphasized that the only ones responsible for the loss were the team themselves.
“There’s nothing that we can do. They see what they see. They call it the best that they can. I’m confident in that. We have to know what it is that they’re looking for to call penalties. They have mechanics that they’re looking for, and we have to understand that, and we have to play to that, that no more, no less. And, you know, the officiating or the penalties weren’t the reason that we lost.”
New England Patriots currently lead the AFC East with a record of 11 wins and just three losses. Next Sunday, they will face the Baltimore Ravens.
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