Mike Vrabel wasn’t in the mood to let Buffalo safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s comments slide.
A day after Gardner-Johnson brushed off New England Patriots receiver Efton Chism III as a practice squad player who happened to make a big play, Vrabel pushed back on his weekly spot on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” The Patriots head coach was asked about Gardner-Johnson’s description of Chism, even though Chism has been on New England’s 53-man roster all along.
“For a guy that’s been on eight teams in four years?” Vrabel said. “I mean, I guess he knows the drill.”
Gardner-Johnson has spent time with plenty of teams, though Vrabel’s number was off. The veteran has played for seven teams in eight seasons, beginning with the New Orleans Saints and also logging stops with the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears and Bills. His week on Baltimore’s practice squad last season ended with his release.
The jab from Vrabel came after Gardner-Johnson downplayed both Chism’s play and New England’s offense. Gardner-Johnson called Chism “a practice squad player” and said the Patriots didn’t do much beyond that one moment.
“A practice squad player made a hell of a play,” Gardner-Johnson said on Chism. “That’s all I’m going to tell you.
You throw it again he probably won’t make it again... There wasn’t no issue.
They didn’t do nothing crazy. They won the game.
Whatever, they didn’t do s--- better than us. We gotta play better, and they can mark that.
We’ll be back and see them again at the end of the year. So they better have that same energy.
They only put up, what? Twenty-something points?
They barely scored. They struggled all game.”
New England’s offense had been stuck in the mud entering Sunday, with 29 points across its first 30 possessions. Against Buffalo, the Patriots matched that total in a single game.
Whatever else Sunday revealed, it also made one thing plain: the Patriots-Bills edge is still very much there.
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Joe Mazzulla Is Letting Celtics Assistants Face A Real Test
The Celtics first preseason game against the Cavaliers will come with a different look on the sideline, as Joe Mazzulla is stepping back and handing the coaching duties to two assistants. Tony Dobbins and DJ MacLeay will share the workload in Cleveland, giving Boston a chance to see how the staff functions when the head coach is not directing things in the usual way.
Mazzulla said the move is meant to give the assistants a real developmental opportunity, which matters for a bench that has already been asked to grow alongside a championship-caliber roster. It also adds a little extra meaning to the preseason opener, since both Dobbins and MacLeay have been on the radar for bigger roles and now get a live-game setting to show how they handle them. [Read more 🡒]