Tuesday’s press conference from Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was a surprise to everyone. Including the reporters who cover the team.
As explained by Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, the notice sent by the Patriots on Monday did not mention Vrabel would be speaking.
Instead, the email sent at 4:35 p.m. ET on Monday said only that, on Tuesday at noon, “two players” would be available at the end of their workouts.
The approach ensured that the press room wouldn’t be swarmed by reporters who don’t regularly cover the team — reporters who would have no qualms about attempting to pepper Vrabel with questions after he made a statement that lasted a little longer than two minutes.
Volin explains that, after the statement was delivered, Vrabel was available for a “side session” with the reporters who were present. Per Volin, “reporters were ordered to turn off all cameras, including phones, and were told to ask only football questions.”
Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald didn’t stick to football. Per Volin, she asked Vrabel about Dianna Russini’s resignation last week from The Athletic, as a result of the photos that Vrabel initially dismissed as “laughable” before providing a more grave and contrite explanation on Tuesday. Vrabel declined to answer.
Nicole Young of the Globe asked about Vrabel’s conversations with Robert and Jonathan Kraft regarding the situation. Patriots V.P. of communications Stacey James said that the “questions should be kept to football matters.”
The strategy, which Volin dubbed a “sneak attack,” came after a report emerged on Sunday night that the Patriots tried to kill the initial publication of the photos of Vrabel and Russini by the New York Post. On Tuesday’s PFT Live, Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston questioned whether the Monday morning leak to Adam Schefter of ESPN that a trade by the Patriots for Eagles receiver A.J. Brown is “likely” was aimed at changing the subject from the latest development in the Vrabel-Russini imbroglio to a football topic.
Challenges of this nature are always handled with planning and premeditation by the involved organizations. The initial response was woefully inadequate; the photos juxtaposed with strong statements from Vrabel, Russini, and The Athletic left plenty of daylight between the visual evidence and the verbal denials.
The more recent tactic apparently worked. Vrabel spoke to the beat reporters who had shown up to hear from “two players,” without the potential crush of others hoping to grill him about the publication of the photos, his original reaction to them, and his latest remarks.
The next questions become whether news publications will send reporters to Vrabel’s next media availability on the first night of the draft, whether they’ll ask him about the photos and their aftermath, whether he’ll answer them, and whether the Patriots will even allow him to do so.
Our guess is that, if asked about the matter on Thursday night, Vrabel will say (to quote one of his predecessors in New England), “It’s already been addressed.”
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