Ahead of the Patriots’ wild-card matchup, head coach Mike Vrabel had a simple message to his team.
“We talked to them about being willing to spill some blood out there, that the big dogs come out in January,” he said.
Nobody embodied that message more than defensive tackle Milton Williams.
In an advantageous matchup against a Chargers offensive line that ranked near the bottom of the league in pass block win rate, Williams anchored a dominant performance by New England’s front seven in a 16-3 win Sunday
night.
The star pass rusher — who was the team’s marquee free-agent addition signing a four-year, $104 million contract this spring — finished with two sacks of Chargers’ quarterback Justin Herbert, who was pressured on nearly 50 percent of his dropbacks.
“Our defensive line did a phenomenal job. Milton [Williams], KC [K’Lavon Chaisson], guys that are called upon in big situations, coming up with big-time plays. I could not be happier for those guys,” captain Robert Spillane said.
Williams’ second sack proved to be the clincher, as he beat his block inside to bring down Herbert on the Chargers’ final offensive snap of the game.
The moment echoed Week 2 in Miami, when Williams’ fourth-down sack sealed New England’s first win of the season.
“You look back at how our season started, and it started in Miami with the Milton Williams’ game-winning sack,” Spillane said. “So, for us to be able to be in the playoffs and him to come up with a huge play like that, I’m going to just go tell him we are going to need more of that. So, everything that you have given us, just give us some more. I know he will because he is a hard-nosed player who comes out and works every day.”
Following the final sack Sunday night, Williams quite literally followed Vrabel’s message, cutting the coach’s lip during celebration.
“I think Milt took that to heart in the way that he played the game, in the way he finished the game. He came over and got me pretty good. That’s what happens,” Vrabel said.
“Man, I was just turnt. That is just pure emotion,” Williams added. “I think I gave it to everybody, but I forgot that [Coach Vrabel] does not have a helmet on. It will be all right, though.”
