FOXBOROUGH - "You're gonna eat lightning and you're gonna crap thunder! You're gonna become a very dangerous person." - Mickey in 'Rocky 2'
I don't know if Mike Vrabel channeled his inner Mickey Goldmill, trainer of the great Rocky Balboa, but it sure feels that way. The Patriots beat the Giants every which way they could on Monday Night at Gillette Stadium, running their win streak to 10 games. And here I was, worrying about the cumulative effects of a Pats season that hasn't had any breaks since they got started in earnest back in late July.
After all, injuries were mounting - the entire left side of the offensive line is out - and with the bye week looming, maybe this would be the time to slip up. Boy, was that a stupid thought. This team may be tired and a little beat up, but with the promise of a nice break, it left little doubt about the outcome of this one. In fact, if there were ever a night for the opposing team to throw in the towel, this was it.
There was an element of physical toughness from the Pats that harkened back to their dominant defensive days when Vrabel wore the #50, and not a headset and a red vest. It started early, on special teams even. Marcus Jones took a punt back 94 yards to the house, exploiting some rather large gaps - canyon-esque - presented by the GMen’s wayward coverage team. But a closer look revealed several blocks delivered with purpose. Caleb Murphy, Marte Mapu and Jack Gibbens all took defenders to the ground.
"I commend them," Jones said. "Without them, I wouldn't be able to get any yards, I can honestly say. ... I try to just make them right. They do the hard part and everything, and all I do is just follow blocks and kind of go from there."
Jones was being modest. He's just the fourth player in franchise history to have two punt returns for touchdowns in a single season, joining Troy Brown, Irving Fryar, and Mike Haynes. He's also now the NFL's all-time punt return average leader, officially qualifying tonight.
"First off, man, I think of those situations, whenever my dad had me, like, in the parking lot, and I was four years old, and he used to throw the ball in the air and be like, track it," Jones added. "That was the first thing I thought about."
On the Giants' ensuing series, with the crowd already deep in their feelings - singing and cheering and unabashedly seranading Drake Maye with MVP chants - Christian Elliss decleated a scrambling Jaxson Dart just short of the first down marker. It was a clean hit. Shoulder to shoulder. Not only did the stadium gasp and roar, but there was some of that in the press box as well.
"That sparked some energy," Christian Gonzalez said. "Sparked momentum."
"He started tiptoeing on the sideline, and I thought he was just going to go out of bounds, but then I saw him tiptoeing so," Elliss said. "What am I supposed to do? We play hard on defense. We try to bring life to this team. So that's all I was trying to do, just do my job and hit anything in the whites."
The Giants defended their QB, and, of course, Elliss was the target in that moment.
"I understand it, 100%," Elliss said. "If that was Drake that took that shot, we would probably react in the same way."
The energy boost the stadium got from that hit was undeniable. But so too was what it did for the sideline. It was the kind of play a team feeds off of.
"I think I certainly did. I think our fans did. I think our team did," Vrabel said, before sending a not-so-subtle message to Maye. "And again, it's a weekly reminder to the quarterback, our quarterback. And I mean, we show them every week. I wouldn't get too cute over there by the sidelines. It happens every week. And so Christian's playing through the whistle, and as long as the player's inbounds, he's going to try to hit him legally."
Later in the half, Ellis was at it again, with an assist from Mapu. It came on a kick-return by old friend Gunner Olszewski. Mapu hit him with a violence that was only topped by Elliss. The hit was helmet to helmet, and Olszewski lost the ball - and possibly consciousness - before he hit the ground. That set up a second field goal by Andy Borregales, and a 27-7 lead.
"We take a lot of pride in covering kicks," Vrabel said. "They were number five, and we were number six in kickoff, and I expect us to be the top five. And that's what I try to tell our kickoff coverage team. So it was good to see the impact that it can make and turning the ball over as well."
It was 30-7 at the half after a deftly executed drive with just one timeout and 1:07 on the clock. I’ll pick at what happened in the second half later. For now, the Pats have earned their flowers.
"We came out ready to go, focused on being aggressive and attacking and keeping that mindset," Vrabel said. "And I think we did."
I can be argumentative, but even I wouldn't dispute that. Vrabel has set the tone, and it's not only touched every corner of the locker room but all of One Patriot Place. For a slew of players who experienced back-to-back four-win seasons, this is a welcome change.
"It's easy to come to work here," Elliss noted. "It's not like that everywhere."
Or even here, just 11 months ago.