FOXBOROUGH, Mass — "You can't take a nap in this league."
That's what New England Patriots
head coach Mike Vrabel had to say about star cornerback Christian Gonzalez following his uncharacteristic bad game against the Green Bay Packers. According to Next Gen Stats, Gonzalez allowed seven catches for 105 yards to Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden, and three catches for 82 yards to Packers wide receiver Christian Watson.And he set a record he didn't want, becoming the only defender since Next Gen Stats started tracking these metrics to allow more than 80 receiving yards in coverage to two different players in the same game.
So, was there anything that stood out to Gonzalez when he went back and watched the film?
"It's a hard question to answer.
I mean, just certain things," he told Patriots Wire in an exclusive conversation on Wednesday, Nov. 11. "You know, there's certain techniques, certain mistakes that you just gotta fix."
But Gonzalez won't get any time to recover, as the Detroit Lions have two key players in their passing game: Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. But when asked if he has additional motivation to go out there and show what he can do, Gonzalez made it clear that this is just another week.
"It ain't no motivation. Like I said on Sunday, it's rinsed and washed," he explained. "We're on to Detroit. We're not worried about the Packers the same way as if we beat the Packers, we wouldn't be talking about the Packers. So that's what comes with this league. When there's losses and bad games, it's going to be talked about, but in the locker room, we're not worried about that game. We're worried about Sunday."
Gonzalez signed a four-year, $135 million contract just before the season began, earning the title of the highest-paid cornerback in the league for a reason. He's shown exactly what he's capable of since he joined the Patriots in 2023, but Sunday was a game to forget. However, luckily for him, there's still plenty of football left to play and he gets another chance to go out there this weekend.
Let's see how he responds.
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Christian Gonzalez isn't letting bad Packers performance get to him
