Vibes are much different inside the New England Patriots‘ locker room this season. Mike Vrabel has the Pats playing winning football, and now they’re heading into Week 9 with a 6-2 record.
Yet, despite being in first place of the AFC East, there have been several challenges along the way. Just ask the Patriots’ starting defensive tackle Christian Barmore.
Despite not being listed anywhere on the Patriots’ injury report this week, Barmore didn’t see his first action until New England’s third drive on defense. He ended up recording just one tackle in the team’s second-biggest win of the season.
According to head coach Mike Vrabel, the Patriots benched Barmore for the first quarter of New England’s 32-13 win over the Browns for disciplinary reasons. Specifically, Vrabel said he benched the Patriots’ $83 million defensive tackle to “protect the team.”
“I had to make a decision. My job is to protect the team, so when there’s actions that I don’t feel like are commiserate with what we want to do here, I’ve got to make a decision, and we move on.”
Mike Vrabel on Christian Barmore
Barmore and the Patriots did move on. By all accounts, coach Vrabel and Barmore are still on good terms. At least that’s what it looked like after their latest win, where the team’s X social media account shared a picture of Vrabel and Barmore embracing each other. As they say, winning cures all.
The Patriots did not reveal the reason for disciplining Barmore, and the truth may never come out. Even though they won, the Patriots likely just hope that they don’t need to send another strong message to one of their most expensive players.
