It was a win-win for Vrabel. He was able to celebrate the hard hit while also using it as a teaching moment for his own wandering quarterback, whose occasional pursuit of the extra yard has everyone inside Gillette Stadium suffering nightmares of Maye hobbling around on crutches and telling kids how he used to play in the NFL.
The Elliss hit, Vrabel said, “is a weekly reminder to our quarterback … to not get too cute over there by the sidelines.”
Naturally, Maye was asked if the Elliss hit inspired Vrabel to shoot a glance over at his quarterback. Maybe a wink, a nod, something to convey the message that dangerous running can result in bad things happening to good quarterbacks.
“I don’t think he needed to,” said Maye, who completed 24 of 31 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns. “I think everybody in the stadium knew.”