On Sunday, the Patriots (13-3) pulled off their most dominant win of the season, beating the Jets (3-13) at MetLife Stadium 42-10 and doing so while missing more players from injury (7) than they have in any other game this season.
In getting the win, the Patriots put themselves in a position to clinch the AFC East later that night, needing the Bills (11-5) to lose at home to the Eagles (11-5) to clinch the division crown. Buffalo did just that, and the Patriots were able to walk off their team bus on Sunday night to a table filled with hats and t-shirts for the first time since 2019.
The pure domination and the division title are storylines 1A and 1B from Sunday, there’s no doubt about it. But one moment in the game that caught the attention of both fans and media was at the end of the first half, when Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore and Jets offensive tackle Armand Membou were up in each other’s grills ready to go blow-for-blow.
The two were separated as both teams walked to the locker room for halftime, but both remained fired up as they walked away from the confrontation.
Barmore, typically not one to say many words to the media, had no problem blasting the Jets rookie postgame.
“What happened was sorry ass No. [70] do dirty-ass s*** behind my back,” Barmore told Doug Kyed of The Boston Herald. “People want to talk s***, but he ain’t out there on this field. I’m just saying, bro. They want to act tough, you go in the locker room. The play was already over. I heard the whistle blown. Bro came behind me and literally landed his whole body on my back.”
He told Mark Daniels from MassLive, “You all need to see the tape, what that O-lineman did, No. 70. You should all see what he did. The play was already over, blown whistle, I’m about to get up, No. 70 - I don’t know his name - he literally dove on my back. Like, he put his whole body weight [on me], doing some dirty stuff. So I got up and was about to [fight], and my coach came out and calmed me down.”
On Monday, his head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about the brouhaha during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show.
"We want to take them to the line,” Vrabel told WEEI. “We take them just past the line, and that's what you have to be able to do. It's a violent game, and we want to take them just to the edge of the line. And then we gotta get back and play the next snap, and be under control, and figure out what that next situation [is]. So we're always working on that, and I appreciate not only Christian's efforts, but everyone else's efforts to play that way.
"And then you have to shut it off for a few seconds - they always end up getting the second guy, and we want to make great decisions for the team. So these are great learning messages, moments for our players, for me, for everybody, to be able to say that the stakes are going to get raised, and it's going to be a high pressure environment. We have to be able to go to that line, and then come off of it."
Vrabel, a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame for his eight years as a Super Bowl-winning linebacker for New England from 2001 to 2008, was a legendary trash talker on the field. Someone who not only took pride in getting under the other team’s skin, but did so while backing up his words with high level play off the edge. It was that combination that quickly made him both a fan favorite and leader in the locker room.
Vrabel told FOX Sports’ pregame show that the six championships the Patriots organization has won serve as a blueprint for them to follow while establishing a winning culture moving forward. These comments from Monday back that up.
It’s OK to get chippy. It’s OK to partake in extracurriculars when warranted. The key is being able to figure out where that line is, and get back behind after the message has been sent.
The Patriots will look to take that same mentality into Week 18, where they’ll have a chance to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a win over the Dolphins (7-9) and a loss by the Broncos (13-3) to the playoff-bound Chargers (11-5).
As of publishing, the Patriots are a 9.5-point favorite, sitting on the moneyline at -575. The total is set at 45.5.
Tune in each and every Monday throughout the football season to Patriots Monday on WEEI. Head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show at 6:30 a.m. ET, and quarterback Drake Maye joins WEEI Afternoons.