A primetime victory over the Baltimore Ravens Sunday night secured the New England Patriots their first playoff berth since 2021.
But with two games remaining on the schedule, the message from veteran wide
receiver Stefon Diggs is straightforward.
“Don’t let your foot off the gas. Don’t get comfortable,” Diggs said Wednesday. “You’re going to the playoffs, cool. But you’ll be out of the playoffs faster than you know if you don’t play good ball consistently, week in and week out.”
The 32-year old, who has played 14 postseason games, brings more playoff experience than anyone else in New England’s locker room — and understands how quickly momentum can swing in January.
That’s why Diggs had stressed the importance of not only winning the Patriots’ final two games to secure the AFC East crown, but also playing their best football while doing so to head into the postseason.
“When you’re going into the postseason, you want to be hitting on all cylinders. You want to be healthy and you want to be in a good spot,” Diggs said. “It’s good these last two weeks to be playing good football, something that you can be proud of, something that you can look at on tape and say, ‘OK, we’re going in the right direction.’’’
“We want to be able to set a tone for ourselves going into the playoffs and being able to have a long stretch,” fellow wide receiver Kyle Williams added. “If we could just clean up some things that we’re slipping on and we could just play great football for the rest of December and going into the playoffs, I think we have a good chip on our shoulder to do that.”
Following the win over Baltimore, many Patriot players weren’t even aware they had punched their ticket to the dance. That’s a reflection of their focus remaining on winning the AFC East.
That starts with a win over the New York Jets this weekend, which would also clinch the Patriots a perfect 8-0 road record this season.
“That’s a big thing this week is finishing what we started on our road missions this year,” Christian Gonzalez said. “We got another one this week and want to go 8 and 0 on the road and be the only team in the league to do that this year.”
