FOXBOROUGH -- It wasn't as long as Matthew Slater needed to wait, but Chase Winovich got his first touchdown since he was a quarterback in high school during the Patriots' 35-14 win over the Giants Thursday night.
In the first quarter, Brandon Bolden got his hand on a punt, knocking it straight into the air. The ball fell into Winovich's arms and he ran the six yards into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.
The rookie out of Michigan celebrated by throwing the ball into the stands.
"It was back in high school, so it's been a while," he said. "I've been planning on throwing it in the stands for a while, so it's kind of already been accounted for. I didn't know the fine was quite so steep, but no regrets. The last touchdown that I had was as a runner, as a quarterback running the ball. I probably threw some passes as well, no big deal."
Winovich added: "I didn't get the ball back, no not yet. I'm hoping that the lucky fan that went home with a souvenir returns it to me. Honestly for me, it's mostly the experience of scoring the touchdown. That's priceless. A football is a football and yeah it's cool to look back on it, but I have the film to look back on it. The memory with my teammates celebrating in the end zone, that's priceless. There's no football that can equate to that."
Fortunately, for the rookie, he actually was able to get the ball back from the fan who caught it.
Winovich is off to a great start to his rookie season, as beyond his contributions on special teams he has eight tackles and four sacks in six games.
