Patriots' Christian Gonzalez Issues Challenge to Teammates

Thursday Night Football games are always sloppy. Teams are coming off a game just four days prior, and it's typically just vanilla play calling. No team is opening up a brand new game plan for such a a short rest, and the Patriots went out and beat a team they should have beat. Gonzalez says that it wasn't his unit's best game, but they grabbed the one stat that truly matters in the end.

"A short week is always hard, but we embraced it," he said. "It is a division game, like we talked about all week. It is going to be a battle no matter what; it's a division game. They are going to come in here and play hard. So, as a defense, I feel like we let up a little bit, but we were able to get stops when it mattered. So, it felt good to come in here and get a win, and in front of the home crowd, it's always good to give them something to cheer about."

After the Patriots raced out to a 21-7 lead in the second half, the defense was able to round into form. It was the eighth game in a row that a team scores 23+ points and allows 23 or fewer points, just the third team in history to do that (the other two teams, the 1961 Houston Oilers and the 1984 San Francisco 49ers, ended up winning the championship). Players like Christian Barmore and Elijah Ponder swarmed the quarterback, while unsung defenders made critical plays at the back end.

Edge rusher Anfernee Jennings grabbed a poor snap that landed on the turf for the game's only turnover, and safety Dell Pettus broke up a pass that sealed the game in the fourth quarter.

"We Have Energy. We Bought In, And Everybody's Bought In"

"We have energy. We bought in, and everybody's bought in," Gonzalez said. "Just coming into work every day and pushing each other. We're real tight. I feel like, as a team, especially as a defense, we just come in and come to work, and it translates to Sundays."

The All-Pro cornerback credits his head coach, who he says tries -- and successfully does -- get under the skin of players.

"Yeah, (head coach Mike Vrabel) has done an amazing job," he said. "Even just coming in from OTAs, he stood in here and told us what we were going to do, and building a team and building connections and coming together, and getting close. As not just a former player, but a great player, he knows how to get people going. He knows how to get us going, and we call it getting under our skin a little bit. He likes to talk, but I mean, it's fun. It's good energy. We love playing for him, and we'll do whatever we got to do to go out there and get wins."

While the Patriots still have things to work on (getting a stop to open the game would be the first thing on that list to accomplish), the defense knows that they'll be able to find things to improve on as they fight for what they hope to be a Super Bowl run.

"No matter if we play the perfect game and they score zero points, there is still stuff you can learn from, so many things you can learn from, like little things people don't notice," Gonzalez said. "Nobody in this locker room and this organization is satisfied. So, that is one thing that I've really liked a lot, and I would enjoy this one, but get ready for the next one."