Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Drake Maye couldn’t watch the game-winning field goal.
Andy Borregales only watched it about halfway through.
The rookie kicker absolutely drilled a 52-yard kick right down the middle with 15 seconds left to give the Patriots a rather stunning 23-20 win over Buffalo on the road Sunday night.
After knocking down a big kick in Miami following a rough start, Borregales was calm, cool and collected in an even bigger spot on Sunday night, booting the winning field goal so purely that it would have been good from at least 60 yards.
So far, when called upon in big moments, Borregales has pulled off his best Adam Vinatieri impression.
“Some people can’t watch, some people can watch. I watched it halfway and saw it down the middle and I kind of just got excited, started celebrating a little bit. At that point, I already knew it was going in,” Borregales said post game when asked about Maye saying he couldn’t watch it. “It was probably my best ball of the day, really. Even like, pregame and all that, it was definitely my best ball of the day.”
“I couldn’t watch. It was trust. It was trusting him,” said Maye with a smile. “Back in the day, he was committed to North Carolina in high school and he flipped on us, he went to Miami. But, what a kick. Pressure, ultimate pressure…I was just looking down at the iPad looking at something in the run game I could have done the last couple plays to get another first down.”
After missing two early extra points in Miami, but having Mike Vrabel rely on him for a big game-sealing kick against the Dolphins, that early vote of confidence was significant, even now a month later.
“It meant a lot,” he said. “Obviously, I’m a rookie, had my struggles in the beginning. Just having them kind of just come tap me on the shoulder and be like ‘hey, don’t worry about it, onto the next one’ helped me just remind myself that one kick doesn’t define me. Just keep moving on because life doesn’t stop.”
Hearing his teammates roar his name in the locker room postgame was a special moment almost as cool as the kick itself.
“That was awesome,” he added. “We take pride in you know, building a brotherhood, a family. I treat every single one of those guys in there as my brother and I’ll die for them.”
Borregales said mentally. the game-winner was like any other.
“I treat every kick like it’s a game-winning kick, really,” he said. “So, I’m just on the sideline takin my practice kicks. I try to time it up whenever like, the crowd gets really loud when I’m back there. It works for me. I don’t know if anyone else does that, but that definitely kind of helps me just get used to the noise in that stadium, I guess. But, overall, it’s the same kick every time.”
Vrabel had a unique comparison when asked about Borregales’ kick and he was also quick to point out that game-winning field goals are group efforts on special teams.
“You can see when he’s building some confidence in his swing, it looks good,” said Vrabel. “I don’t know much about kicking other than it just looks like a good driver. When those pros hit it right down the middle, there’s a balance to it and a calmness. I think he’s been working really hard and Tom and Jeremy, they’ve been working hard with him as well to maintain that consistency and consistent swing.
“I’m excited. I’m happy for him and all those guys…we asked them to treat each kick like it was a game-winner all week. The protection was sound and you see around the league that these kicks are getting blocked. They practiced it, they recognized how important it was and we were able to execute there at the end.”
Borregales is just five games into his NFL career and has a LOT of big moments left to catch up to the legend that is Vinatieri, but for the time being, he’s exactly what the Patriots need at the position and appears to have plenty of confidence when the money is on the table.