Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez was on the wrong side of a 52-yard completion that helped set up the Denver Broncos’ opening touchdown in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.
But when the Patriots needed a play later to punch its ticket to the Super Bowl, it was Gonzalez who delivered — hauling in an interception of quarterback Jarrett Stidham to seal the win.
“It just says that he’s been playing really really good football and sometimes you get beat. The best ones do,” head coach Mike Vrabel said
following the game.
The interception marked Gonzalez’s first of the season, and came in the midst of heavy snow in Mile High.
“I just saw the ball, I didn’t even see the snow,” Gonzalez said. “I was off and saw the ball and at that point, it’s like I’m playing receiver again.”
After missing time early in the season with a hamstring injury, it was a slower start of the year for Gonzalez. But in a regular season win over the Baltimore Ravens, something changed.
“Just about six or eight weeks ago, I can’t remember when, but I saw a different Gonzo,” Vrabel shared. “I saw just something went off and it changed, maybe the Ravens game or something. I noticed just a different player and a different person.”
Down the stretch and into the postseason, Gonzalez was back to being one of New England’s top performers, a rise he capped with the game-sealing interception that sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl.
“He’s so talented and I appreciate every one of them and he could certainly be elite,” Vrabel said. “Your best players have to make those types of plays in championship games.”
