The New England Patriots earned their second win of the Mike Vrabel era on Sunday when they destroyed the Carolina Panthers 42-13. While the final score is quite lopsided, things didn’t exactly get off to a great start for the Pats.
After receiving the ball first, the Panthers immediately drove down the field and scored a touchdown, although they missed the ensuing extra point attempt. New England’s offense responded by going three-and-out and giving the ball right back to Carolina.
Of course, the defense forced a stop, and Marcus Jones ended up scoring an 87-yard punt return touchdown, which gave the Patriots all the momentum they needed to crush the Panthers. As it turns out, Jones’ big play fulfilled a strong message Vrabel has been sending to his team early in the season.
“It just takes one play, and I think that that’s continued to be the message,” Vrabel said on “The Greg Hill Show.” “Whether it’s in Miami and we hit one down the sidelines and it gets us going with a big play, or on a punt return, or maybe defense, there’s an interception.”
“It just takes one play to get this thing back going, and that’s what we have to look forward to in the game when it’s not going great or it’s a close game. You just keep plugging away, and then it just takes one play for this thing to break open.”
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In each of their first four games, the Pats have started slow before eventually finding their way. It hasn’t necessarily been pretty, but their persistence has paid off, and on Sunday, it yielded one of their most comfortable victories in recent memory.
With a 2-2 record, the Patriots still have everything to play for moving forward. Their quest to keep up the positive momentum is going to get a bit more difficult in Week 5, though, as they have a Sunday Night Football matchup with the Buffalo Bills up next on their schedule.
