Patriots' Kevin Byard III expands on Mike Vrabel's use of Allen Iverson clip before Bills game

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye previously explained that head coach Mike Vrabel showed his players the famous clip of Philadelphia 76ers icon Allen Iverson stepping over Ty Lue during the 2001 NBA Finals as a way to tell the Patriots squad to "be the answer" during New England's Week 4 game at the rival Buffalo Bills.

The Patriots responded by earning a 29-26 win against the Bills that improved New England to 2-2. During a Tuesday appearance on NBC Sports Boston, Patriots safety Kevin Byard III expanded on the message Vrabel wanted to send to New England players.

Mike Vrabel wanted Patriots to get back to "stepping over people"

"He showed a video of the famous Allen Iverson, NBA Finals, making the 3-point shot, stepping over Tyronn Lue. So at first, you don't really know where he's going with it. ... I think the overall messaging was, 'It's time to start stepping over people.' You know what I mean? It's time to get back to where we're stepping over people and making sure that we're not about to be the team that's gonna let people bully them," Byard said, per Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston. "...So yeah, I think that was kind of the overarching message to, hey, we are physical. We are a tough team. Let's, let's start stepping over people kind of like how A.I. did in that video."

The Patriots were coming off a 35-6 loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 27 that seemingly left Vrabel and Co. worried about Maye's overall confidence in his abilities. Maye produced a mixed bag of results against the Bills, as he tossed an interception and lost one of three fumbles. He also passed for 269 yards and three touchdowns, including a game-winning score with 1:50 remaining in regulation.

Patriots' true culture was "exposed" after a 1-2 start

"I truly believe that the culture of a team is exposed when you face adversity," Byard added. "Let's face it, we got our behinds whooped in Jacksonville. And I think starting from Monday, from the team meeting we had to taking the off day to prep for this team, watching film, and obviously coming in on Wednesday, I think the tone was set that Vrabel kind of spoke the message that the answer to getting ourselves back on track is right in this room. We don't have to search for anything outside of what we already have, believe in what we have, and I think guys kind of really took heed to that."

Byard and Co. will look to put the true "culture" of the Patriots on display when New England hosts the 3-1 Las Vegas Raiders this coming Sunday. As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Pats as 3.5-point home favorites over the Raiders.