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One thing that’s probably pretty safe to say during the New England Patriots playoff run is that when it came to stepping up in the postseason, the fans absolutely did their part these last two weeks.
Despite miserable conditions during the early part of New England’s 28-16 Divisional playoff win against the Texans, the fans who were on hand made plenty of noise. They shook the press box and were tenacious throughout most of the afternoon, re-establishing Gillette Stadium as a place opponents definitely struggled with this postseason.
It was deafening at various points of the game on Sunday, with the crowd amping things up in a big way. That made things extremely difficult on Houston, but more importantly, it fired up the Patriots defense and played a big part in what turned out to be a dominating effort on Sunday.
“The crowd was awesome,” said linebacker Robert Spillane during his press conference after the game. “The energy all game long was deafening. Being a primary communicator on the defense, it’s like, wow. People cannot hear me. They’re five feet away, and I’m like, ‘The call, the call, the call.’ And they’re like, ‘What is it?’ So it’s just one of those fun atmospheres where you know you got to take your mouthpiece out, you got to take the Invisalign out, speak clearly, speak loudly, and get it to everybody so I was really proud of how our guys came together for that.”
Head coach Mike Vrabel talked about the difference they made, saying that the crowd was key, especially late into the fourth quarter. Twice the noise made it tough on the Texans, leading to back-to-back punts by Houston and helping to force their offense to stall down 28-16.
With the lighthouse end of the field now closed in after the renovations by the club several seasons ago, you can tell the difference when it comes to crowd noise and Vrabel said the fans stepping up absolutely had an impact in the victory.
“They helped tremendously,” said Vrabel. “Again, they ratcheted up there in the fourth quarter, some of those third-down stops back by the lighthouse, I felt like it was really ratcheted up.”
“When they chose to punt, that was huge for us. Then they got a great punt, and then we took the ball. But the harder we play and the more plays that we make, the louder they’re going to get. I’ve said this since we’ve been here. They’re knowledgeable fans. They’ve seen a lot of good football over the course of 20-some years so they know what it looks like, and they have high expectations.”
Overall, tight end Hunter Henry said that these last two weeks have definitely been ones he won’t forget, but not just because of the team’s two victories. Instead, it’s because of the fans who made the environment an absolutely incredible experience.
“Yeah, man, that ‘Living on a Prayer’ was sick with the snowfall at the end of the game,” said Henry, speaking about fans singing the well-known Bon Jovi song late in the game. “That was really, really special, man. Just the last two weeks have been, honestly, two of my favorite games I’ve ever been a part of in my career. ”
“Just the environment, just the electricity, just the fans, everybody into it, the whole game, giving us a true home-field advantage. It was really, really special for me to be a part of that. This game and then last week was really, really special and a lot of fun to be a part of.”
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