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FOXBOROUGH – The buzz is all the way back in Foxborough.
With their 27-14 win over the hated New York Jets on Thursday night, the Patriots not only won an eighth straight game to get to 9-2 – the best mark in the NFL heading into this weekend – but they showed the entire country just how special primetime games can be in Foxborough.
With the new Nor’easter jerseys, a loud, raucous crowd and Vince Wilfork, Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski in the building – along with the Amazon Prime Thursday Night Football crew – things just felt right again at Gillette.
Heck, even Robert Kraft was dancing in the fourth quarter on the giant video board as The Outfield’s ‘Your Love’ blasted.
The good vibes are here to stay again in New England.
“Well, I think they’re passionate. I think that they have high expectations. I think that they are loyal, and I think they’re knowledgeable,” Mike Vrabel said postgame when asked about the fans. “I think they understand what it is that they should be seeing. Like I said, we’ve got to give them reasons to cheer and be excited, so yeah.
“I mean, I think we’ve done that. They’ve, in return, given us a great atmosphere to play in front of.”
It was a typical, fairly ugly Thursday night game that we’ve all grown accustomed to these days, but the Patriots were able to do enough late to pull away.
Leading just 21-14 after three quarters, the Pats got a 36-yard field goal from Andy Borregales with 12:06 left to make it a 10-point game. After trading punts, New England got a big break when Justin Fields put the ball on the turf and Anfernee Jennings fell on it at the Jets’ 11. Ironically enough, that happened just seconds after Kraft was shown dancing on the board with Gronk next to him in the family box.
The Pats once again had to settle for three from Borregales with 6:36 remaining.
A Dell Pettus pass break up on fourth down at the New England 15, one first down and a kneel down from Drake Maye as “MVP! MVP! MVP!” chants rang out throughout Gillette Stadium officially finished off the team’s ninth win of the season.
“The goal of these Thursday nights is to come out with a win, and that’s what happened,” said Maye. “Things we looked back on, you know, didn’t have as much time to prepare for some things that I could look back at myself and wish I had plays back, but at the end of the day, just proud of these guys for the effort, the win, and that’s the best thing about Thursday night. You get a weekend to catch up on some rest and some heel-up.
“I thought the fans were awesome. I think it was pretty sweet for the prime time game, here for my first play at home. Pretty sweet. Just glad we won.”
The Patriots defense continues to struggle on the opening possession of games and it happened again on Thursday night. The Jets marched 69 yards in 13 plays, taking the first 7:40 off the clock. an easy five-yard TD run for Fields put New York up 7-0.
Maye (25-34, 281 yards, 1 TD) and the offense answered with a 13-play drive and ended with a seven-yard TD run for TreVeyon Henderson, his first of three touchdowns on the night, making it 7-7 early in the second quarter. Henderson finished with 62 yards on 19 carries.
The Pats D quickly forced a three-and-out and New England soon went up 14-7 on another seven-yard TD run for Henderson with 7:54 left in the half. From there, both teams traded punts until a missed Andy Borregales field goal just before the break from 45-yards out sent the teams to the locker room with New England still up just 14-7.
After trading punts to open the third quarter, New England embarked on a six-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Maye finding Henderson for a six-yard TD catch. The drive was pretty much The Drake Maye Show, as he eluded defenders several times and tight-roped the sideline to find open receivers. “MVP! MVP! MVP!” chants rang out at this point – and rightfully so. Stefon Diggs was a big benefactor of the drive and finished the night with 105 yards receiving on nine catches, his 39th career 100-yard game.
“Yeah, may have been for TreVeyon tonight. He scored three touchdowns. No, I think our fans have been great with me since I got here, since I got drafted,” Maye said of the MVP chants. “I just appreciate them for embracing me, and trying to embrace this city and give these fans and this team and just myself just leave it all out there and give it everything I got.”
The Jets responded with a nine-play drive and cut it to 21-14 heading to the fourth on a 22-yard touchdown catch for John Metchie.
So now, at 9-2, the Patriots continue to stun the football world with their remarkable turnaround.
It may be stunning to national pundits and most fans that thought the team would win eight or nine games at most this season, but it’s not a surprise to the guys inside the building.
Technically, they’ve got three days off until getting back to work on Monday, but most of them probably won’t be taking three full days. There’s too many good things happening at 1 Patriot Place right now.
“I’m expecting to see a bunch of guys in the facility throughout the weekend,” said Robert Spillane. “I’d be very surprised if we don’t have 30, 40, 50 guys here over the weekend looking to get recovered, extra lifts in because we know the real season is ahead of us.
“Everything that’s in the past is in the past. Going forward, this is our season.”