Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson scored a touchdown in Sunday's win over the Titans, but that doesn't mean Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was happy about it.
In a video posted on the Patriots’ social media channels, Vrabel went over some of the key plays from Sunday's win, and when he got to Stevenson's touchdown, he showed Stevenson starting to hold the ball out before crossing the goal line. Vrabel said, "What we can't do is we can't do this."
Vrabel knows that multiple players have cost their teams touchdowns this season by dropping the ball before crossing the goal line, and he said he won't tolerate it happening in New England.
"We can't sit there and be careless with the ball. We're not gonna see it anymore. We're not gonna start doing this. We're not gonna become a team that gives the other team an advantage," Vrabel said. "We need to make sure that we're securing the football."
That's a message that every coach has to get across to his team. It should have been a message that every NFL player knew after Colts wide receiver Adonai Mitchell cost himself a touchdown by fumbling at the 1-yard line in a Week Four loss to the Rams, but the message clearly didn't get through to everyone because in Week Five, Cardinals running back Emari Demercado did the same thing, fumbling away what would have been a game-clinching touchdown at the 1-yard line in a loss to the Titans.
Stevenson apparently hadn't gotten the message yet either. Vrabel says every single Patriot gets it now.