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‘Electric’ Gillette Stadium atmosphere brought back memories of the early dynasty days
"I don’t know if you guys could sense it or feel it the way I did Sunday night, but the crowd was a real asset to the team," team owner Robert Kraft said.
Last Sunday, the Patriots scored 16 points on a West Coast team in their opening playoff matchup while being led by a second-year quarterback who overcame an early interception and wound up doing just enough to win.
But, the similarities between Drake Maye‘s and Tom Brady‘s playoff debuts weren’t the only things that brought back memories of the early days of the Patriots dynasty.
The loud, intense atmosphere inside of Gillette Stadium conjured up memories for team owner Robert Kraft.
“Hearing the fans last Sunday night, it brought back to me the early days when we started doing well and the vibe in the stadium,” Kraft said during a recent interview on the “Quick Snap” podcast. “I don’t know if you guys could sense it or feel it the way I did Sunday night, but the crowd was a real asset to the team.”
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“Also, the feelings. I think part of it is what’s happened to the franchise the last 3 or 4 years compared to the two decades previous. So, it’s pretty cool to be back.”
The place was rocking, center Garrett Bradbury said. The adrenaline rush he felt while running out of the tunnel before the game was “electric.” With a pair of rookies, guard Jared Wilson and tackle Will Campbell lined up to the left of him, Bradbury made sure to tell them to soak it in.
Bradbury had experienced an overtime playoff win against the Saints during his rookie year with the Vikings. It took him six years to get another playoff win. One of the veteran linebackers on that Vikings team told Bradbury that he had no idea how special the accomplishment was, a reminder that such wins shouldn’t be taken for granted.
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On Sunday, Bradbury finally got to deliver a similar message to the rookies on this Patriots team.
“We just kept saying on the sideline in the fourth quarter and they were playing those AC/DC songs like ‘this is football,’” Bradbury said. “This is why you play. I was trying to keep those rookies in the moment like ‘this is sick.’ Don’t take this for granted. Let’s go out and play some good football with our fans. It was a special night. It was fun.”
Kicker Andy Borregales, who scored 10 of the Patriots’ 16 points in the low-scoring affair, was impressed with the crowd noise.
“It was so loud at some points of the game. A lot of the game was just loud,” Borregales said. “It definitely showed in my performance because we feed off the crowd and hopefully the crowd feeds off of us and it’s a two way street.”
Mike Vrabel, who was a linebacker on the Patriots’ first three championship teams, said he didn’t want to get into specifics about how it felt to be back in the playoffs with the Patriots as a coach.
He couldn’t say enough about the Sunday’s atmosphere, though. It starts with the players’ willingness to play a style that the fans appreciate, he said.
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“We’ve talked about that since as long as I can remember, that if we play to a certain style, they’ll embrace that and they’ll cheer for us,” Vrabel said. “I think that what we do here from the stadium perspective, the introductions and the fireworks, I mean, that’s all part of it. We’re in the entertainment business, and we have to provide things for people to get excited about.”
Stefon Diggs‘s playoff claim to fame is the Minneapolis Miracle during the 2017 divisional round. He hopes to add to his playoff resume on Sunday.
Diggs challenged Patriots fans to be even louder this week against the Texans, for whom he played last season. His season was cut short midway through last season after suffering a torn ACL.
He signed with the Patriots in the offseason and bounced back bounced back this year with his seventh 1,000 yard season in eight years.
You never know how a loud crowd can affect a game, Diggs said.
“It’s just another challenge for them,” Diggs said. “I know they challenge us each and every week to be amazing, so I’m just throwing a little challenge for them when we show up on defense. It was quiet on offense, but I’m just trying to get it a little louder.”
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Unlike Brady’s playoff debut in the Tuck Rule game 24 years ago, Maye’s first playoff game didn’t feature any snow or dramatic game-winning kicks.
But, the excitement of playoff football was there in Foxborough. The tailgating, the cheers, and the good vibes did not go unnoticed.
“So if you were here Sunday night, and you think [about] over 60,000 people here. Every ethnicity, every skin color, every religion,” Kraft said. “They were all here rooting for the home team.”
“How many things are there in life, in this world that’s so divisive now … it really only happens with sports, especially the NFL, and music. Those are the two things that bring people together.”
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