HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, December 21, 2025

On how it was getting in to the playoffs with a win like this: "I think it was good to be in a game like this where we battled, and it was tied, and we got down, and momentum kind of shifted the other way, then our guys battled back. We got stops. Offense continued to attack. Our quarterback battled. Our receivers came through and the runners. I felt like it was a big team win. It's a huge team win. Andy [Borregales] kicked the ball well. It was just that we lost a lot of guys. A lot of guys went down, and a lot of guys stepped up. They have to get healthy. I think this was a great win for us."

On the winning touchdown drive after being in the same position as last week: "I think that you learn from that and again, you still have opportunities. They pressured us, and we were able to hit a play against the pressure. So, I think if you learn from those things, and hopefully, we learned from whatever happened last week and our ability to execute in critical situations. Then we talked about all week, just the ball security and our ability to hammer it out. I thought we tried at times and we got a couple. So, I think we talked about being able to get turnovers."

On living by the Next Man Up mentality: "Well, that's a group effort. One, it's on the players that go in there. Two, it's on the training staff to work hard to evaluate guys. And then on the coaching side, just being able to figure out what packages we could still get into, and what we are able to do and some of the things that we weren't able to do. We lost a lot of defensive linemen. To have a guy like Anfernee Jennings – [I give him] a lot of credit going in there and playing defensive line and helping us out. I appreciate what he did and everybody else that was able to step in."

On WR Stefon Diggs' performance in tonight's game: "We talk about opportunities this whole year, and you know somebody, that receiving room, and I get the nature of the receivers in this league. I understand. I've been around this league for a while, and they all want the ball. That's what they are supposed to do. When they don't get it, they have to understand that they will get it. He took advantage of his opportunities, came through with contested catches, third-down conversions. It was great to see. Mack [Hollins] made plays for us, Kyle [Williams], Kayshon [Boutte]. Unfortunate for Kayshon [Boutte], the penalty or whatever they called over there is completely whatever they called it over there. Then his ability to go down, which I thought he was competing for that ball, and I thought we were going to have that one. But Kayshon [Boutte] is going [to] help us out. All the receivers are going to play roles."

On if they received an explanation on the WR Kayshon Boutte incompletion: "No. Here's the explanation I got. You have to survive the ground. I'm very aware of the catch rule, but that's all I got."

On QB Drake Maye's performance: "I just thought gritty. I mean he got hit. He got hit. They pressured him, or they got home when they didn't. He just kept getting up and battling. He didn't flinch. I think it was important for all of us to have that game, the entire team."

On the two forced fumble punch outs: "We just addressed that. That was something that we've been practicing and focused on. Even just looking at [Christian Gonzalez]'s tackle, when it got on the edge and the stiff arm and breaking it down. Something that we talked about and practiced and tried to get it, and [he] held him to four yards. I thought there was a switch there especially from 'Gonzo' in a sequence where he stabs the ball out. We blitzed him. He blitzed with a demeanor. Then I look out there, because we need him, and he's out there as the corner on the punt return. I told him this isn't going to be a shock but those are the efforts that we need to have from him. Our best players have to play good each and every week to win."

On whether QB Drake Maye played as well tonight after lessons learned last week: "I don't know. Again, this is the league that we operate in. It's a tough every week. Hopefully he can learn from those things. A lot of confidence in everybody out there. It was great for him to have success. I'm happy for him, especially executing at the end of the game, pulling it and being able to get the first down and get down."

On how big of a week this was in the team playing to the identity he wants: "We talked about bringing a belief in our identity. Believing that under any circumstances we were going to win a football game – that's what we talked about before we left. We said we needed to pack two things. We needed to pack our belief and our identity. I feel like we did."

On where his philosophy of play demeanor showed up the most tonight: "I think as the snaps increased, and again it was a resiliency not to fold and panic. They hit some plays on us. They made guys miss. They had some 'x' plays, and we got stops when we needed to. Offensively, we hit a little bit of a wall. But then I felt like, those last few drives in the second half, we were clicking. Again, just to have the resiliency to battle here on the road in a tough environment on Sunday night."

On how it feels to make the playoffs in his first season as head coach: "We are going to try to win the division. We are going to focus on that. We just take it one day at a time, and whatever happens, we figure out what is the best thing for the team. I'm excited. All the credit goes to the players. When we win, it is because of them."

On whether they changed defending the Ravens' offense after losing QB Lamar Jackson: "They are talented. They still have good players. The offense never really changed. We were trying to get stops. We lost guys, too. We didn't lose an MVP, but we lost plenty of guys. We know how good Lamar [Jackson] is. But still they were able to hit some plays on us. Give Tyler [Huntley] a lot of credit. He's a great kid. He's a great quarterback, having spent some time with him in Cleveland. It was obviously a challenge the entire game."

QUARTERBACK DRAKE MAYE

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, December 21, 2025

On the game-winning drive: "I'm so proud of this team. It took everybody. That's what we knew coming into it. Our goal this week was to win together, and it was together. It felt good to get that one. Just props to these guys. [We] keep fighting. We had guys going down, guys coming in taking more plays than they probably have ever had, and guys getting tired from pushing through and defense stepping up making big plays and forcing fumbles. We talked about things all week, and we hit some of them. Obviously, there are some things that I'd like to have back, but right now, it feels good to get a win."

On clinching a playoff spot: "Yes, that was one of the goals. We wanted to win the division, and that's what we're still fighting for. It was awesome to clinch the playoffs, but we want to win the division."

On clinching the way that they did: "I just think how the game went, there's plays and times I feel I put the team in a bad spot. I took points away in the red zone and past the 50 [-yard line]. It's just what it is and bouncing back and the next man up going out the next drive and trusting the guys around you and another away environment with a loud crowd and a good defense. I felt the guys had a lot of trust and belief in the huddle, and I was just confident in trying to let it rip, and those guys were make some plays."

On WR Stefon Diggs: "You have no idea what [Stefon Diggs] means to this team. He's a leader. He's been great in the locker room. He wants the football in his hand, and deservingly so. He just keeps showing up and making plays. He's doing it at a really high level. He's just bouncing back and vocal, and he's awesome to play with."

On his first-career fourth-quarter comeback: "I care about winning. If that's what it takes, then hopefully I'll try to do whatever it takes. That's what I'm trying to do for this team. I won't change that, no matter if it's 500 yards or 40 yards. Whatever it [is] to win the game."

On how last week's loss impacted today: "It was kind of a wakeup call last week. We had a chance to win the game with a game-winning drive, and this week it was like, 'Let's not have that same feeling two weeks in a row.' It was kind of an elephant in the room going out there once the defense got the ball back. Like I said, just trust and belief. I like our chances when we're in those scenarios. I like our chances."

On new and different experiences for him tonight: "Just being down. I felt like we've been up a lot and playing with a lead a lot this whole season. Just being down in the fourth quarter and having a must-need touchdown drive, that feeling is good. Seeing guys left and right and new faces in the huddle. I'm not sure how many different people we had in the huddle out of 11. We probably had 100 combinations. I wasn't even blinking an eye with whoever came in the huddle. They practice hard, and I believe in them and trust [them]. I put the ball in the fullback's hip and fumbled it. There are just things in this game that make you want to punch a wall. I'm just glad we got a win."

On how much this was a mental battle: "It's mental. That's what this league is. It's mental, especially at my position. It's physical, but it's a lot of mental, as well. We talk about offense all the time. It's all 11 of us. All 11 of us on every play for a touchdown run or the guys blocking upfront to hit a route down the field and guys breaking tackles. I felt like a lot of different players had a reception and trying to spread to ball around. They were blitzing us from different angles and bringing cover zero some, dropping out and doing some good stuff on defense, but props to them for a great match, a great team and a great game."

On support of Patriot fans on the road: "I credit Baltimore for a great home environment, but it felt like a lot of Pat's fans were in the stadium. Props to us. [Our fans] travel great. I say that time and time again. We travel great, and we're giving them something to travel for, and that's what we try to do. They were huge for us. Sometimes I'm sitting on the sideline sometimes when the defense is up; we make a play, and the crowd cheers, and you're not sure if it's the offense or the defense. It's New England Patriots. It's the New England area. It's Boston's sports, so I don't expect anything less from our fans, and they show out every week."

On the significance of winning against man coverage tonight: "It's the guys winning route in man coverage, being physical at the top, getting good releases. It's me making good throws and ball placement, and they showed up time and time again. Those guys really took it to heart. It's disrespectful when you try to play us in man, and that's the approach you need. There are some great guys that are going to win sometimes. You saw them win sometimes with some incompletes, but more times than not, I like our guys."

On how important tonight was in his role development: "It's just another game for great experiences for me. To experience times where I wasn't probably seeing it great. I wasn't making great throws, threw a couple in the dirt, and from there, just battling back and having the confidence in myself and the confidence in the guys around me. The guys support me all game. The sideline and the huddle felt like it never got down. There was still belief over here. I hope we continue that, and we're going to need a game like this again down the road."

On the turnaround of four wins last year to 12 this year: "I think it's top down. It's [Head] Coach [Mike] Vrabel coming in here. It's the coaching staff we hired. It's the guys buying in and believing in what we do, and that's the biggest thing in the locker room; it's believing what the coach is saying, believing in our identity [and] traveling with us. He always says, 'Pack our identity'. That's another big win on the road, and it starts top down. We have a lot of guys in that locker room. I'll talk to a lot of those guys for a long time in my life."

On how much fun tonight was: "You take it for granted. What a beautiful sport. It's the best sport out there. This game is brutal. There's time where injuries and losses weigh on you, but this winning feeling, there's nothing like it, and [head] Coach [Mike Vrabel] reminded us of that pregame. He said, 'You can't buy that back, winning in that locker room.' At his age, he always says, 'I wish I could suit up again. You just can't buy that.' He said, 'You can buy anything else in life. You just can't buy this time we're in right now.' And what a time it is. I'm looking forward to celebrating with these guys. Just props to them. I just thank the good lord for the position I'm in, in my life. I'm going to stay strong in my faith and good things happen."

ADDITIONAL PATRIOTS PLAYERS

LB K'LAVON CHAISSON

On his punch out in the fourth quarter: "Yeah, we were working on it all week. Something we emphasized heavily was getting the ball out. We know they had a couple of speed skaters on their side, but the ball getting loose from the side of their body. So, obviously, that's time for us to make a play."

On what he meant by "speed skaters": "The ball just gets very loose from their body, so if you ever watch a speed skater and how they move and their body, it's how a couple of their ball carriers move with the ball. So, we already knew going into the game that was going to be a possibility."

On if they focused on punch outs in practice this week: "We emphasized turnovers and it was in our gameplan throughout the week, was finding a way to get turnovers. Like I said, a couple of their ball carriers, the ball can get loose from their body, and we were able to get some balls out today."

On winning in comeback fashion: "I think it says everything about this team. Last week, we missed an opportunity to prove that. It was a quick turnaround to make sure that we capitalized and finished this game. It's all about the will and the want to as a defense, and it was all about making a play when it was your turn to make a play. It's always exciting for these opportunities to show up big in the big moments."

WR STEFON DIGGS

On if he could imagine being in the playoffs when he signed in New England: "No, not at all. Obviously, we felt good about the year because we had a great group of guys. In OTAs and training camp, you saw how many guys make plays. I was excited to be around the guys and spend time with them in OTAs. We started meshing really well and building a bond and a brotherhood early in training camp and you could tell it was going to be special. I always try to take it one game at a time and never look too far in the future, but as far as this game, it teaches you to stay patient, stay consistent, and it will always work out how it's supposed to."

On the concussion diagnosis: "They said I had a concussion, but I never even touched my head, never even laid on the ground. They monitored me for a concussion, and I said I never had a concussion. I was touching my shoulder, so how did they think it was my head? I was fighting with them to get back out there. It was the first drive, and I wanted to get out there and make plays for my team."

On his fourth down catch in the fourth quarter: "It was a great ball. You know, I ran a route to try and put speed on the DB. Drake [Maye] put it where only I could get it and nobody else. The DB tried to undercut it. I thought he was going to play through the man, so I tried to put my hands out, and that's exactly what happened. Just a great ball by Drake."

On his performance tonight: "I worked for it. You know, people get distracted by off the field stuff, but I'm always locked in, and when it's football, I'm all football. I work for it, I prepare for it, I expect success, and I look at it as in I want the biggest for my team to want to lean on me. I'm a leader on this team and leadership just doesn't come from chatting or talking the part, it's about making plays. In the biggest moment, you know, lean on me. I can usually figure it out."

On playing in primetime: "My time, primetime. You know, the world is watching, and I always look at it as another opportunity to show the world who I am and how I'm coming. I know my teammates have my back and being a positive influence, a positive force on this team, keeping my energy high, and just letting them know I won't let them down."

On how confident they were getting the ball back with five minutes to go: "We were confident even when stuff wasn't looking as good. That's a great football team. You know, it's a four-quarter game, and that's a really good defense out there. But I don't care who we were playing, I feel like we grind hard and we'll get the win. We've got a great head coach and we're all meshing at the right time."

CB CHRISTIAN GONZALEZ

On forcing turnovers and playing complementary football: "It was huge. We talked about it all week: Trying to hammer out the ball and take the ball off those guys. They're a very good offensive team and just a very good team, and we knew we had to get the turnovers, and that feeds the team. Getting the turnover feeds the team, so [it's] something we harped on all week, and it was [Jaylinn] Hawkins and 'KC' [K'Lavon Chaisson] that both got the punch out, so glad they got those out, and they came at really big moments."

On making plays in the fourth quarter: "I feel like, as a DB, you kind of always feel like that. You always feel like you have to make a play. You want to make a play, because life as a DB, as you know, if you make a play, everybody sees it. If you don't make a play, everybody sees it. Just the team and the guys trusting us to go out there and make plays, and whoever's in the DB room that makes the play, and it happened to be me on that play. But, there's plenty of other plays that all of us have made, and we love making those plays."

On how good it feels to make the playoffs: "It's pretty cool. It's cool. I feel like it's been some time coming. We put the work in. We bought in, and it's nice to clinch, but we're far from done. We'll worry about the playoffs when they come, but we have the Jets next week and another division game, and everybody knows how division games get. So, we'll enjoy this on the plane ride back like every other week, and tomorrow, we're onto the Jets."

On what changed for the Patriots defense when Ravens QB Lamar Jackson went out: "Everybody knows what Lamar [Jackson] brings, but [Tyler] Huntley coming in, he's not just no slap quarterback. He's in the NFL, and he's played for a while and done it. A couple of guys, we got to see him last year, so we kind of knew him a little bit, but it didn't really change our game plan or mindset or anything when Lamar went out. It was whoever steps out there as quarterback, as a defense, we want to disrupt them and get off the field."

S JAYLINN HAWKINS

On what they learned from last week's loss: "You're going to learn from the good and from the bad. Just like this game, we're going to learn from it because there was a lot of stuff that we could've cleaned up. There was a lot of stuff we could've done better, and even though it's better with a win, we'll always learn from the good and bad."

On his forced fumble on RB Derrick Henry: "It started early in the week. We started practicing punch-outs every day at practice. The biggest thing Coach [Mike Vrabel] was focusing on was takeaways. So, we went out there to go get takeaways. Punching was one of the ways we could get those takeaways. I saw the opportunity, I spun off a block, and I swung like Mike [Tyson] and blessed that the ball came out."

On what it means to clinch the playoffs: "It's big, but there's a lot more work to do. There's more work we have to do. We have to put more focus on our jobs, and we've got to keep going. We need to focus on next week. We've still got the Jets and it's the NFL, everybody is good."

On how confident they are in QB Drake Maye with five minutes to go: "Really confident. I'm confident in everybody on this team. Confident in '8' [Stefon Diggs], '85' [Hunter Henry], Drake, Rhamondre [Stevenson], the defense, and everyone else on the team."

On the punch out drills in practice: "We did a lot more of those this week, because if you take the ball away in this game, it changes the game. We want to try to get the ball to '10' [Drake Maye] as much as possible because we believe in him."

On the Ravens fumbling issues: "It was an emphasis on their players all week. We felt like they were pretty loose with the ball, so we saw that as opportunities. They're a very talented team, but that was one of the emphases we had saw and thought the takeaways would be key in this game."

TE HUNTER HENRY

On reports of all the guys out: "We just battled. We have a lot of toughness, and a lot of guys stepped up. That's the name of this game is guys being able to step up once their name is called. A lot of guys did that tonight. It's pretty cool to have the same exact situation as last week. To be able to come through in that aspect was pretty cool."

On RB Rhamondre Stevenson's performance tonight and this year: "That's what we expect of Rhamondre [Stevenson] every time. Obviously, 'Tre' [TreVeyon Henderson] going down and him having to step up and almost play every down. Just the toughness he showed, continuing to battle, run hard and obviously come up with the big play at the end. But I think the pass protection, some of the stuff in the pass game was huge. It's just a lot of fun to have him on our team."

On tonight being similar to last week's game and the attitude in the huddle: "It's what we wanted, honestly. To not come through last week was disappointing for all of us. We felt like we left a lot of plays out there, and it was disappointing to come out that week like we were last week. But, to be able to put ourselves right back in that situation again was pretty cool. And on the road, it's loud and everybody is against us. It was just us out there, and it was pretty cool to come through [with a win]."

On why they play so well on the road: "I don't know. There's a lot of underdogs in there. There's a lot of guys who play with a chip on their shoulder on this team, and we just kind of feed off that. Everybody was against us. It's a lot of fun to come in and quiet a crowd, and I think everybody feeds off of that."

On WR Stefon Diggs on the sideline: "[Stefon Diggs] does it every week. He's very consistent with his energy and his juice. Obviously, [he's] making plays. He just brings a high level to the field and off the field also. He just calls everybody up."

On clinching the playoff spot with two games left: "It's always good being in the tournament. You clinch a bid in the tournament, and anything can happen. It's a blessing to be back. It's hard to get into the playoffs. Obviously, we haven't been there in a while, but it's cool to be back."

On changes he's seen in QB Drake Maye from last year until this season: "I saw a lot of it last year, to be honest with you. We weren't winning games, but I saw the talent, I saw the poise and how [Drake Maye] handled everything last year, I think, translated in a big way. I just commend him in a big aspect. He just stayed consistent, and he never rides the ups and downs. He's very consistent."

On how nice it was to see everything come together: "It's huge. We just worry about the next play ahead of you. That's all we can do. I think defensively, offensively and [on] special teams, that's all we can do. We put ourselves in a hole in the fourth quarter, but to be able to come back and respond in that aspect was huge for this team, and we're excited to kind of build off of that."

RB RHAMONDRE STEVENSON

On how he felt running, especially his run at the end of the game to run out the clock: "I played that one close though. I got a little too close to the sideline, but yes, it felt good. I felt really good just to go down the field, get that last touchdown [and] get the win for our team. So yes, it feels great."

On being a contact runner: "I pride myself on that. Don't let the first guy get me down. Three yards is a good run at the end of the day."

On what clicked for the offense in the fourth quarter: "We just all came together. We knew what we had to do. We made a few mistakes a couple drives before that, so we knew what we had to do. Just tighten up, limit the mistakes and go down and score some points."

On clinching a playoff spot on the road: "I didn't know we did that, so yes, that's awesome. The playoffs are fun. That's what we play for, so yes, we're a competitive team, so I think we're ready for it."

On what it means for the team to be back in the playoffs: "It means a lot. Our work is finally getting put on the forefront. Getting some [wins] under our belt, it feels great, like we're all competitors in that room, so just to be in the spot we're in is great for all of us."

On the two-point conversion play: "It was a play we've been working on in practice for weeks on end, so I think everybody just did their job. No blitz came, so I got to get out, and I just got open for Drake [Maye], and he found me and threw me the ball."

On if the Ravens were in zone on the two-point play: "Yes, they sure were."