A pair of players earned locker room kudos from Mike Vrabel after the Patriots knocked off the Bengals, 26-20.
In a video released by the team, the New England coach singled out wide receiver DeMario “Pop” Douglas and kicker Andy Borregales in front of the team.
Early in the third quarter, the Patriots were facing a third-and-11 deep in their own territory. Douglas shook free in the middle of the field and Drake Maye hit him for a 37-yard completion that jump-started the drive. It was Douglas’ lone catch of the day, but clearly made an impact.
Meanwhile, Borregales went 4-for-4 on field goals, including a 52-yarder in the fourth quarter.
“There’s guys in here that stepped up, man,” Vrabel said. “Pop, I appreciate what you did coming out of half, giving us a spark there on third down and helping us. There’s so many guys — Andy, that’s a way to do your job. Offense, we’ve gotta finish these drives off. We’ve gotta finish these drives off for touchdowns.”
The six-point win was far from New England’s best performance of the season. While Vrabel pointed that out in his speech, his tone was positive as the Patriots improved to 10-2 on the season.
“There’s going to be some dirty games out there and what we need to do is come together a little bit tighter and fix problems,” Vrabel said. “It starts with me. That’s our job, to fix problems and then compete and communicate. I’m proud of you, man. We said we wanted to be the first team in the NFL to win 10 (expletive) games, and we are. And we are. But we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
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