The New England Patriots started the season 0-1 after a less than stellar home loss. Now they enter Week 2 in a very precarious situation as defensive coordinator Terrell Williams was forced to step away from the team this week as he deals with undisclosed health issues. The man that will take his place Sunday is inside linebackers coach Zak Kuhr, who has never done it before.
“I’ll help him like I always do, but I’m excited for that,” Vrabel said of longtime coaching partner Kuhr. “I think we’ve been prepared all week for that, for the preparation, for the game planning. All the phases of first and second down, what this team wants to try to do and how we want to try to defend them, and the keys and the plan on third down or short yardage in the red zone. So, it was a good week of preparation.”
Zak Kuhr Has The Resume For The Job
Zak Kuhr is a career coach. He served as an intern under Urban Meyer with the Ohio State Buckeyes for two seasons. This is where he first established a relationship with Mike Vrabel, who became an assistant at OSU after retiring from the NFL in 2010.
After coaching at OSU, Kuhr went on to take on roles at various different colleges, like Texas State, Rutgers, and the University of Texas. He was an offensive coach until he got to the NFL.
After arriving in the NFL, now head coach Mike Vrabel hired and employed Kuhr as a linebackers coach for the Tennessee Titans from 2020-2023. After Vrabel was fired, he was hired by the New York Giants.
When Vrabel made his return to coaching, he once again plucked Kuhr for his staff. It is clear the head guy has a significant amount of trust and respect for the young coach.
“Going back to just having been an offensive coach, and I watched him work at Ohio State, and when we were able to get him to Tennessee, how quickly he translated that knowledge to defense,” Vrabel explained his decision. “How quickly he learned defense and what an asset he was defensively for us, especially coming from some of the college game and as some of those trends started to make their way to the National Football League, some of the spread, the RPO or things like that — he really became an asset for us defensively.”
No Time Table On Williams Return
Coach Vrabel did not reveal was DC Williams was dealing with, however he did say it was not the same illness that kept him away from the team during the Spring.
NBC Boston’s Darrell Hartwell says it is partially because of this time away that Vrabel was able to see what Kuhr was made of.
“Vrabel also was impressed with how Kuhr filled in for Williams this spring, noting that he saw ‘a lot of maturity, a lot of growth, (and) also a lot of knowledge’ from his assistant,” Hartwell writes. “How much longer Kuhr will be calling defensive plays remains to be seen. Vrabel said he’d likely have an update on Williams ‘next week,’ but if his absence continues, it sounds like Vrabel is comfortable with Kuhr leading the defense.”
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