{"id":45141,"date":"2026-08-14T20:52:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45141"},"modified":"2026-08-14T20:52:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:52:38","slug":"mike-vrabel-roasted-for-alleged-dianna-russini-affair-after-patriots-post-viral-challenge-clip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=45141","title":{"rendered":"Mike Vrabel roasted for alleged Dianna Russini affair after Patriots post viral challenge clip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2Fnewspress-collage-p28e42vvc-1786719564466.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261786705242\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The internet hashed up the summer scandal that rocked the NFL during Thursday\u2019s Patriots-Colts preseason opener. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"\/>\n<p>Page Six broke the story and published photos on April 7 showing the pair, who are both married to other people,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/04\/07\/celebrity-news\/new-england-patriots-mike-vrabel-and-top-ny-times-nfl-reporter-dianna-russini-hold-hands-and-hug-at-luxury-hotel\/\">holding hands while at a resort in Arizona<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVrabes yeeted that challenge flag,\u201d the team account captioned the post.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cHe yeeted his marriage in the offseason too,\u201d someone replied. <\/p>\n<p>Other replies mentioned the photo scandal and trolled the coach and former NFL insider. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Patriots coach, Mike Vrabel, and reporter Dianna Russini at Ambiente Sedona hotel, Arizona on Saturday, March 28, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">\u00a9 Page SIx<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Mike Vrabel, and reporter Dianna Russini on January 15, 2020. <span class=\"credit\">Dianna Russini\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The New York Times, the parent company of The Athletic, is in the midst of an investigation of the matter. <\/p>\n<p>Russini and her husband Kevin Goldschmidt have two sons together.<\/p>\n<p>Vrabel and his wife Jen have been married since 1999 and have two sons together.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and reporter Dianna Russini at the Ambiente Sedona hotel in Arizona on Thursday, April 2, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">\u00a9 Page SIx<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Vrabel\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel watches during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Indianapolis Colts on Friday, August 14, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass.   <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Mark Stockwell<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Vrabel said he won\u2019t be delegating flag-tossing duties after the Patriots and Colts ended in a 13-13 tie.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think that that\u2019s new because I think that there are other people,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/sports\/new-england-patriots\/2026\/08\/13\/patriots-mike-vrabel-challenge-flag-toss-comments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vrabel said.<\/a> \u201cI don\u2019t know where this is getting so much traction. I think maybe it\u2019s on a form now that it\u2019s a designated person. The officials will normally ask us 90 minutes prior to the game.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Giants Training Camp Day 14: Smashmouth Identity Being Instilled | Blue Rush\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fMBTzRID2KU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYou have a meeting, and you go through who has the challenge flag, who\u2019s the \u2018get back\u2019 coach, who\u2019s the captains, who has a cast, running any trick plays, anything that we want to look for. They\u2019ve always asked me who has the challenge flag, and I know that there\u2019s been other players, or other people other than coaches. So I was kind of surprised that this got talked about. But, no, I\u2019ll keep the challenge flag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Patriots\/status\/2088264383155810663?s=20\">posted a video of Bon Jovi <\/a>dressed as the team\u2019s mascot, Pat Patriot, to surprise Vrabel for his birthday Friday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The internet hashed up the summer scandal that rocked the NFL during Thursday\u2019s 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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/newspress-collage-p28e42vvc-1786719564466.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1786705242&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}