Mike Vrabel Sends Stern Message To Patriots Defense Ahead Of Week 8

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel wants his defense to do a better job of getting after the quarterback.

The Patriots’ defense has been off to a good start, as New England is 5-2 to begin the season and atop the AFC East. However, Vrabel still wants more from his defense, as he wants to see them get after the quarterback.

“I think that you have to kind of trust what you’ve called,” Vrabel said on Friday. “And again, if you live in the world of man (coverage), then you can sit there, hug and add on against bigger people, which we’ve done at times. And again, just trying not to give up big plays. I think that sacks come in bunches.

“We have to do a better job of affecting the quarterback. I’m not going to say that we need a certain amount of sacks. I think we need to, when they throw checkdowns, be ready to come up and tackle so that checkdowns aren’t eight-yard gains.”

Vrabel believes the Patriots’ defense, at times, has given opposing quarterbacks too much time, which leads to big chunk plays.

“What we can’t have is the quarterback looking over here, patting it, coming back over here. That system, that can’t work,” Vrabel added. “So, that would be one where we would, if we start to see that, then we have issues with basically marrying the rush and the coverage up if the quarterback could sit there, stare it down, pump it, come back and do something over there.”

New England has recorded 18 sacks through seven games, which is led by Harold Landry Jr.’s 5.5 sacks, but Vrabel still wants more.

The Patriots will host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Week 8 NFL action.