New England Patriots
“You get between them lines, then we see what’s going to happen. So cut the tape and see what happened today.”
Hours before Sunday’s AFC championship game kicked off at Empower Field at Mike High, Mack Hollins set the tone with his pregame attire.
The barefoot wide receiver walked into the Broncos’ stadium dressed as one of the characters from the cult 1979 film, “The Warriors.” As he made his way to the locker room, Hollins clanged together a trio of bottles together in a reenactment of the famed scene from the movie — where the titular group was taunted by a rival gang.
“Warriors! Come out to play-ayyy,” Hollins said as he walked by cameras.
It should come as little surprise that Hollins — who has arrived to Patriots games dressed as a minuteman and shirtless during a snow squall — stole headlines with his pregame outfit.
But the theme was one rooted in Mike Vrabel’s message to a Patriots team that has embraced a mantra of being “road warriors” away from Gillette Stadium.
“I think playing on the road is one of the coolest things of coming off the field at their place with screaming fans and coming out with a win,” quarterback Drake Maye said ahead of Sunday’s AFC title game. “I think it’s pretty cool to celebrate and celebrate in the away locker room that’s different. Coach has always been saying ‘road warriors’, so we’re trying to find that one more time and finish out strong what we’ve done this year, and we got a tough job and tough challenge.”
It wasn’t pretty on Sunday — a byproduct of both a stingy Denver defense and whiteout blizzard conditions that had both offenses stuck in the mud.
But in a season where New England has thrived in hostile environments, it should come as little surprise that the 2025 Patriots left a snow-swept field in Denver with another hard-fought win.
Just minutes after New England defeated the Broncos, 10-7, to improve to 9-0 in road games, Vrabel once again echoed a familiar mantra as he fielded questions from CBS’ Jim Nantz.
“WARRIORSSSS!”, Vrabel exclaimed — Lamar Hunt Trophy in hand — as he stared at his players.
Vrabel’s affinity for ‘70s-era cult films has seemed to have rubbed off on his players — who have relished the role of snuffing out rallies and quieting raucous crowds on an improbable road back to Super Bowl LX.
“Gritty,” Christian Elliss said when asked of the culture set down in New England. “No one expected us to be here. No one gave us the benefit of the doubt, but Vrabes — kudos to him. He came in. Made a culture that we believed in, and we stuck with it, and here we are.”
“It feels like every week is something like that, where they’re always talking about the other team’s defense,” Elliss added. “But wherever they line up the ball, we’re going to line up and play. We’ll let everyone else get the accolades. We’ll keep the chip on our shoulder and keep pushing
New England’s defense once again led the charge to help keep afloat out a Patriots offense that generated just 206 total yards of offense — including 65 net passing yards from Drake Maye.
Beyond relinquishing a first quarter touchdown to Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham, New England’s defense doled out plenty of pain on Sunday — limiting Denver to just 181 total yards of net offense in the win.
Despite getting matched up against a Broncos offensive line that was only knocked for 22 sacks against Bo Nix, the Patriots’ blitz-heavy defense got after Stidham — who was sacked three times and was put under duress on multiple occasions.
Stidham completed just 17-of-31 throws for 133 yards and two turnovers — with one of those miscues being a backward pass to no-man’s land generated off pressure from Elliss.
When Stidham wasn’t pressured in the pocket, he completed 16-of-21 pass attempts for 129 yards, one touchdown, and a 107.0 passer rating. But on his 11 throws delivered under duress, Stidham completed just one pass for four yards and two giveaways.
Through three postseason games, New England’s defense has forced eight turnovers and coughed up just two touchdowns — with the Patriots averaging just 8.6 points allowed over those three matchups.
As noted by NFL Media’s Jack Andrade, the only NFL team to allow fewer points than New England’s 26 over three playoff games before a Super Bowl appearance was the 2000 Ravens (16 points allowed).
“I heard that all week,” Milton Williams said of the Broncos’ sterling numbers on the offensive line. “I mean, I don’t care about numbers and all that, whatever. We got to go out there. We’ve got to play. All that stuff don’t matter. You get between them lines, then we see what’s going to happen. So cut the tape and see what happened today.”
In the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl LX, it’s to be expected that some of those sterling defensive credentials will be poked and prodded by sports pundits and critics.
Yes, New England feasted against a porous Chargers offensive line en route to an eight-sack showing against Justin Herbert in the wild-card round. An implosion from CJ Stroud (four first-half interceptions) loomed large over New England’s victory over the Texans.
And yes, the Patriots pounced against a backup QB in Stidham who hadn’t attempted a pass in a game since Week 18 of the 2023 season entering Sunday evening.
But for Williams and the Patriots, more bulletin-board material is welcomed this time of year.
Just one more win stands between the Patriots as a championship that can’t be discounted or brushed aside — a win that once again needs to be secured hundreds of miles away from the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who have been counted out,” Williams said. “Nobody really believed in us and what we could do. They’re probably going to say it’s just how they [Broncos] played, we ain’t do nothing, it’s what they did. We’ve got one more game to go out there and take care of business and see if we get some credit then.”
What’s your message to the Pats ahead of the Super Bowl?
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