It’s only preseason, but the New England Patriots struggled and already left Mike Vrabel sweating. Definitely, they defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21 on August 22; however, the Patriots’ defensive struggles left a sour taste.

“I saw dogs*** defense and I wanted to talk to them,” Vrabel said in the post-game presser, via 98.5 The Sport Hub’s Matt Dolloff. “And I felt like if I didn’t call a timeout I wouldn’t be able to get what I wanted to say off my chest.”

While Vrabel did not hold any particular player responsible or mention any particular play, there were enough examples to see where his frustration came from. He’d rested his defensive starters for this game, and the mistakes had him call a timeout in the first half. But the message wasn’t any good, as the Eagles resumed their drive and scored a touchdown six plays later.

“[He told us] that he would [play] guys who are gonna go out there and fight and challenge, not just let things happen,” Patriots safety Dell Pettus recalled from that timeout in the postgame presser.

A myriad of things went down for the Patriots defense before the team somehow orchestrated a win at the end of the game. Rookie linebacker Khalil Jacobs suffered an injury in the first half, highlighting the position’s shaky depth.

Chad Muma showed sparks during training camp and rose on the Patriots’ depth chart this summer. However, his performance against the Eagles was less impressive, as he gave up a 25-yard gain to Darius Cooper after blowing his coverage and then missed a tackle on the very next play. He recorded two missed tackles overall.

The defensive line was no better. Behind Milton Williams, Christian Barmore and Cory Durden, New England has several players competing for rotational duties and roster spots. However, they struggled to find their footing as they struggled to contain Eagles running back Will Shipley in the first quarter.

The Patriots defense forced two punts afterwards, but by halftime, the backups had already allowed Philadelphia to run away with a 14-10 lead.

All this left Mike Vrabel’s patience running thin, who addressed things then and there. However, the Patriots camp is accustomed to their head coach’s strong reactions.

“Vrabel, he does a good job just keeping us on our toes, making sure that we get the best out of us,” linebacker K.J. Britt said after their joint practice on August 20. “And we’ve got a defense that wants to respond to it. We’re not going to take it. We just want to build off of it and have fun with it. At the end of the day, we just want to have fun with it.”

Unfortunately, that fiery spirit of rising to Mike Vrabel’s challenge went missing against the Eagles. Ultimately, Behren Morton came to their rescue, leading the Patriots on a late 37-yard touchdown pass to Nick DeGennaro to secure a 24-21 victory.