Mike Vrabel rides the heat of the moment, giving out his game balls postgame for the New England Patriots. We choose to watch some film and then give ours out.
The first two go to cornerbacks Marcus Jones and Carlton Davis, each of whom finished his day with four solo tackles.
Fearless and ferocious all day
The two corners were the lead men in a secondary that played fearlessly all day long stepping up in run support.
You can argue that was the No. 1 key to the game. New England played much more aggressively coming forward than the Bills did.
Not only were they strong against the run, the corners played tight on receivers off the line, rendering any quick passing game the Bills attempted as useless.
With Christian Gonzalez out, these two stepped up huge.
All kinds of ‘rizz’ from ‘Chis’
From there, you have to look to the offense and the plays made down the stretch.
Receiver Efton Chism opened the day without being part of the game plan on offense. He finished it with two of the biggest plays of the season to date.
Chism’s 19-yard grab over the middle with C.J. Gardner-Johnson right there, ready to lower the boom, was sheer grit. He followed that up with the highlight-reel game-winning TD grab that speaks for itself.
Lost in the heroics, Chism did a super job of blocking in the run game in the second half.
Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
And finally, it’s Drake
“We ain’t taking no more (expletive expletive)!” said Vrabel as he handed quarterback Drake Maye his game ball in the locker room.
The emotion was raw and biting.
Whether or not Maye has put his recent troubles in his past remains to be seen. The fact is, though, for one day in Buffalo, he found a way to rally from some early disaster – two more turnovers – and got the job done.
