Outside of a 72-yard touchdown by rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams, the New England Patriots offense did not find a lot of success early on against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The tide started
to turn late in the second quarter, however.
Starting on their own 22-yard line, they managed to string some plays together and advance all the way to the opposing 1. Once there, some difficult decisions had to be made. After gaining zero yards on the first three plays at the goal line — including a potential kneel on first down — Mike Vrabel opted to keep his unit on the field rather than go for a chip-shot field goal to tie the game at 10 heading into the half.
The decision paid off: Drake Maye connected with Stefon Diggs on a touchdown pass that put the Patriots ahead 14-10 and set them on the course for victory. New England ended up winning 28-23, in large part because of Vrabel’s aggressiveness in the late first half.
For him, however, his decision making on fourth down was only part of the story.
“I made a decision to go for it. I trust our players, and they came through. They made me look good,” Vrabel said.
“It was a huge play for us on fourth down. Got confidence in our guys. To be able to have confidence in them at that moment and then come through, that’s about players and not necessarily plays. I was really excited and proud of Stef and Drake for scoring when we were and being able to end the half with the football in our hands.”
The Patriots are middle-of-the-pack in the NFL so far this season when it comes to fourth down attempts, but their conversion rate is among the best in the league. Including the 2-for-3 performance on Sunday, the team is now 12-for-16 on fourth downs this season for a success rate of 75%.
For wide receiver Stefon Diggs, it all comes down to confidence.
“He was a player once. He wants to be aggressive,” he said about his head coach after the game. “He wants to instill confidence in his guys and let us know he trusts us out there. It’s our job late in the downs when your coach wants to roll the dice and has some faith in you, to make plays. It gives your quarterback confidence, it gives your coach confidence, and it has us going in the right direction as a team.”
On Sunday, that was indeed the case. The Patriots were able to score touchdowns on both sides of the half to turn a 10-7 deficit into a 21-10 lead too big for the Buccaneers to overcome.
