The New England Patriots made a big statement on Monday night. Not only did they crush the New York Giants 33-15, but they also proved that they’re not going to hesitate to make opposing players pay when they face them.
Linebacker Christian Elliss had a brutal hit on Giants’ quarterback Jaxson Dart. Dart picked up a first down and kept running near the sidelines, and Elliss knocked him out of bounds with a textbook hit.
As hard as the blow was, it was legal. Dart should’ve run out of bounds to avoid the hit, but he chose to keep piling up yards. That’s why, when asked about it, head coach Mike Vrabel had nothing but good things to say about his defense’s efforts.
Mike Vrabel says ‘the best answer is violence’
"I just appreciate how they came out," Vrabel said of his defense, per Hayden Bird of Boston.com. "They were aggressive. It’d been a while since we’d played, and it just was a long week. We talked about attacking, and [being] aggressive, and saying, 'Hey, if they’re going to run the quarterback, or they’re going to run a gadget play, it’s hard to scheme these gadget plays up. Sometimes the best answer is violence,' and some of those guys chose that, and it was good to see."
The Patriots’ defense kept throwing the sink at Dart and everybody else. They stayed in front of players, made sure to take them to the ground, and didn’t miss a lot of tackles.
Vrabel shut down the notion of it being a dirty hit. If anything, it was all within the rules, and it was up to Dart to protect himself in that situation:
"We know on quarterback slides, they’re protected, and we have to go in making sure that he’s down and giving himself up, and we’re not hitting him in the head or neck. We coach that all the time," the coach added. "We know that that’s what happens. The quarterbacks are going to slide late, they’re protected. We can say anything we want about it. We just have to understand what they’re calling and what we have to do. But if there’s a football player running down the sidelines, we’re going to have to hit him."
The Patriots’ defense kept throwing the sink at Dart and everybody else. They stayed in front of players, made sure to take them to the ground, and didn’t miss a lot of tackles.
Now, they enter the bye week sitting on a league-best 11-2 record, and they look like a legitimate Super Bowl contender right now.