Inside the Patriots’ locker room : Following his team’s most recent win, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel took a blunt view of pursuing success in the NFL.

“This s*** isn’t easy,” said Vrabel after the 26-20 win over the Bengals. “I want you to understand that.”

Speaking to his players in the locker room, Vrabel alluded to the toll injuries had taken on Sunday. New England was forced to call on several backups, a notion that the team’s coach said would be inevitable.

“We need everybody in here,” Vrabel added. “If you guys didn’t understand that already, you saw that today. Everybody stepped up. I’m proud of the coaching staff. I’m proud of the players.

“There are going to be some dirty games out there,” he added of the imperfect display in Cincinnati. “And what we need to do is come

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