FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said Tuesday that he's had “difficult conversations with people I care about," including his family, his coaching staff, team officials and players, following the publication of photos of the coach and longtime NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort.
"Those (conversations) have been positive and productive. In order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me. That starts with me,” Vrabel said, making an unscheduled statement from the podium at the team's facility on the second day of its offseason workout program.
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New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, displayed on a mobile phone, speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
The photos were of Vrabel and Russini at a Sedona resort and were taken before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the New York Post, which published the photos earlier this month.
A Patriots spokesman said there are no plans for other team officials to address the issue further.
The NFL, meanwhile, said last weekend that it is not investigating Vrabel’s behavior. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday that the league is not looking into the matter.
Vrabel and Russini, who are both married, released written statements to the Post after the publication of the story downplaying what the photos depict. But Russini resigned from The Athletic less than a week later, after the Post's report prompted an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.
Vrabel said he addressed players about the matter on Monday after they arrived for the start of the voluntary workout program. Two Patriots players were scheduled to be made available to reporters on Tuesday, but Vrabel said he wanted to speak before they did. He also said he didn't want the interest in the Post photos to take attention away from the NFL draft, which begins Thursday.
Vrabel said any conversations he's had with team officials would stay private.
“We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction,” he said. “There are comments and questions that I’ve answered with the team and will keep those private to ourselves."
Russini joined The Athletic in 2023 after nearly a decade at ESPN, where she held various roles, including “SportsCenter” anchor, NFL analyst and insider. She hosted a podcast for The Athletic and made appearances on their video platform.
Until his appearance Tuesday, Vrabel hadn't spoken in a news conference setting with reporters since the owners' meetings.
Last year, before his first season as Patriots coach, he addressed reporters as part of the lead-up to the NFL draft. He opted not to do that last week, with only Patriots vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf speaking at that news conference on April 13.
“Very involved. Business as usual,” Wolf said when asked how much Vrabel had been involved with the team’s draft process. “I’d say he’s been in there with us this round probably a little more than he was in there last year. ... He’s been in there. He’s been contributing. He’s watched a ton of the players.”
Vrabel, 50, won three Super Bowls as a player with New England. He is preparing for his second season as coach of the Patriots. He led the team to a 14-3 finish last season, which ended with a Super Bowl loss to Seattle.
Vrabel said his focus going forward is football.
“I care deeply about this football team and excited to coach them. I also know that I’m going to attack each day with humility and focus,” he said. "What I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, coaches and our fans, most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. That’s what I know and I’m excited to do that.”
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New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, displayed on a mobile phone, speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during an NFL football press conference, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
NEW YORK (AP) — Commuters in New York City’s suburbs navigated a gauntlet of car, bus and subway routes to get to work Monday as a strike on the Long Island Rail Road that shut down the nation’s busiest commuter rail system entered its third day.
Unions representing rail workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, which runs the railroad, negotiated for much of Sunday, wrapping their talks around 1 a.m. Monday.
But they failed to reach an agreement despite pressure from the National Mediation Board and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. The two sides returned to the bargaining table Monday.
Katie Dolgow, who teaches first graders in Manhattan, said it had already taken her an hour just to travel from Long Island to Queens as more commuters turned to the region's already notoriously gridlocked roads. But her big concern was going home.
“I have to get my son at daycare by 5:30. It's going to take me longer getting home. I'm a teacher, I'm going to have to leave work at 1:30,” she said.
Unionized workers were out early picketing in front of major LIRR hubs, chanting slogans and holding up signs that read: “No contract. No work,” and “Equal work. Equal pay.”
“We're just asking for a reasonable cost of living adjustment on our wages,” Byron Lee, a locomotive engineer, said outside Penn Station in midtown Manhattan. “People think that we don't deserve it.”
The LIRR serves hundreds of thousands of commuters who live along a 118-mile-long (190-kilometer-long) land mass that includes Brooklyn and Queens in New York City and the Hamptons, a summertime playground for the rich and famous. Most of its riders live outside New York City in two Long Island counties populated by nearly three million people.
The strike started at 12:01 a.m. Saturday after five unions representing about half the rail system's workforce walked off the job for the first time since a two-day strike in 1994.
The unions, which represent locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and others, have said more substantial raises are warranted to help workers keep up with inflation and rising living costs. The MTA has said the unions’ initial demands to raise salaries would result in large fare increases and be disproportionate to other unionized workers’ pay.
“With the rate of inflation nationally, and especially in this New York area, everybody feels it,” said James Louis, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, on Monday. “We’re just trying to keep their heads above water. We’re not asking for anything outrageous.”
The unions and the MTA have been negotiating a new contract since 2023, but talks have stalled over salaries and healthcare.
The Trump administration got involved in September after the unions asked for the appointment of a panel of experts. The move temporarily averted a strike, but months still passed without a deal.
Hochul said Sunday that workers would lose every dollar they would gain with a new contract by remaining on strike.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber also urged a fast resolution, saying LIRR service could resume as soon as Tuesday if a deal is reached Monday.
“We are headed in a positive direction, but we have to get it finished,” Lieber told WABC-TV, even as union officials, suggested talks Monday were progressing slowly.
Roughly 250,000 riders normally use the train system each weekday. Officials had pleaded with them to work from home rather than commute into the city.
Ridership has been lighter than expected on the free but limited shuttle buses the MTA provided from a handful of locations on Long Island to New York City subway stations.
During the morning commute, more than 2,000 people took advantage of the service, the agency said. It had prepared for about 13,000 riders.
The buses are also being offered for the evening rush hour and are geared toward essential workers and those who can't telecommute.
Molloy University and Stony Brook University on Long Island are both set to hold commencements Monday.
Officials at Stony Brook urged graduates and guests to carpool where possible as the state university's ceremony was slated to start during the afternoon rush hour.
The first impacts of the walkout were felt over the weekend as baseball fans had to find other ways to get to Citi Field in Queens to see the New York Mets take on their crosstown rivals the New York Yankees.
If the strike stretches into Tuesday, basketball fans looking to catch the New York Knicks continue their playoff run could also run into problems. Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks play their home games, is located directly above the railroad’s Penn Station hub in Manhattan.
Hochul stopped by MTA headquarters in lower Manhattan on Monday morning as negotiations were underway, according to her office. The governor was briefed on the status of talks as well as the morning commute.
“She is pleased that the unions accepted her invitation to return to the table and encourages both parties to continue negotiating in good faith,” said Sean Butler, a Hochul spokesperson.
The Democrat, who is up for reelection this year, has blamed President Donald Trump’s administration for cutting mediation short in September and pushing the unions toward a strike.
But the Republican president, on his Truth Social platform, said he had nothing to do with it and blamed Hochul instead.
McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Ted Shaffrey and Joseph Frederick in New York contributed.
Signs for free Long Island Rail Road shuttle buses hang at the Howard Beach–JFK Airport station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Long Island Rail Road workers walk on the picket line outside of Penn Station on the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
A pedestrian walks along an empty track at Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Tracks are empty at Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
People exit and board buses at the Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Commuters sit on a shuttle bus as Long Island Rail Road workers strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Visitors look out at the trains at the West Side Yard from the Vessel on the first day of a Long Island Rail Road workers' strike, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Tracks are empty at Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
