Patriots HC Mike Vrabel confirms Christian Barmore discipline

Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots were able to pick up another convincing win on Sunday, moving their win streak to five following their 32-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns. But not everything was sunshine and roses, especially when it came to the bizarre situation surrounding Christian Barmore.

The Patriots’ defensive tackle was benched for the first quarter of Sunday’s game, Vrabel confirmed.

“Yeah, I had to make a decision. My job is to protect the team,” Vrabel told reporters of the decision to bench Barmore. “When there are actions that I don’t feel are commensurate with what we want to do here, I’ve got to make a decision. And we move on.”

A day later, Vrabel didn’t divulge any more details about Barmore’s benching during an interview with WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”

“Just like everything else that I do — whether that’s in life, whatever — we’ve moved on, we’ve addressed it. There are no issues moving forward with me or anyone else,” Vrabel said. “That’s how we have to operate. And I’m excited to get going today here with the corrections and get these guys moving on to the Falcons.”

Why did Mike Vrabel bench Christian Barmore in the Patriots’ win vs. Browns?

While Vrabel wasn’t really willing to share many details about the matter, a report from Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard suggested that whatever he did to get benched wasn’t a major deal.

“From what I’ve been told, the infraction was fairly harmless, so we’ll see how it goes,” Bedard wrote.

Barmore and Vrabel seemed more than cordial after the Patriots’ victory on Sunday, too. In a video posted by the Patriots to social media, Barmore and Vrabel shared a hug during the head coach’s tradition of greeting each player as they arrive in the locker room. It also appeared that Barmore had a message for Vrabel.