The internet hashed up the summer scandal that rocked the NFL during Thursday’s Patriots-Colts preseason opener.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel tossed a red challenge flag and did a dramatic spin move in an over-the-top moment on the sideline at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
A clip of the moment went viral and many reminded Vrabel of his photo scandal with Dianna Russini, a former NFL insider for The Athletic.
Page Six broke the story and published photos on April 7 showing the pair, who are both married to other people, holding hands while at a resort in Arizona in March.
“Vrabes yeeted that challenge flag,” the team account captioned the post.
“He yeeted his marriage in the offseason too,” someone replied.
Other replies mentioned the photo scandal and trolled the coach and former NFL insider.
Russini has not spoken publicly since she resigned from The Athletic after Page Six published photos of her and Vrabel looking cozy on multiple occasions.
The New York Times, the parent company of The Athletic, is in the midst of an investigation of the matter.
Russini and her husband Kevin Goldschmidt have two sons together.
Vrabel and his wife Jen have been married since 1999 and have two sons together.
The Patriots supported Vrabel in the aftermath of the photos being released, and he missed Day 3 of the NFL Draft to seek counseling with his family.
Vrabel’s flag toss, which looked more like he was attempting a track and field shot put move, came after the league announced earlier this week that it is allowing head coaches to designate a member of their coaching staff to throw challenge flags.
Vrabel said he won’t be delegating flag-tossing duties after the Patriots and Colts ended in a 13-13 tie.
“I don’t think that that’s new because I think that there are other people,” Vrabel said. “I don’t know where this is getting so much traction. I think maybe it’s on a form now that it’s a designated person. The officials will normally ask us 90 minutes prior to the game.
“You have a meeting, and you go through who has the challenge flag, who’s the ‘get back’ coach, who’s the captains, who has a cast, running any trick plays, anything that we want to look for. They’ve always asked me who has the challenge flag, and I know that there’s been other players, or other people other than coaches. So I was kind of surprised that this got talked about. But, no, I’ll keep the challenge flag.”
The Patriots posted a video of Bon Jovi dressed as the team’s mascot, Pat Patriot, to surprise Vrabel for his birthday Friday.
