""We were in big personnel running the same deal to the right, a little stretch play, and at some point they get lackadaisical and got a chance to get around the edge," Maye said. "I thought he was going to track me and knock me down but I got enough to pick up the first. Coach [Vrabel] will probably be mad about not getting out of bounds, but at that point, it doesn't matter when you get the first down.""
""I hit my block, and all the defenders started running the other way," Patriots center Garrett Bradbury told Callahan. "I'm like, 'What? Oh my God.'" "After the game, Drake's like, 'I debated telling you guys if I was gonna (keep) it or not. But I just decided not to,' Bradbury said."
With the game on the line, the Patriots held a three-point lead and needed a final first down to run out the clock against Denver in the AFC title game. The play was designed as a handoff to Rhamondre Stevenson, but Drake Maye kept the ball on a naked bootleg and ran opposite the original direction. Maye beat Denver's Jonah Elliss to the first-down marker, secured the critical yardage, and the Patriots were able to kneel three times to end the game. Center Garrett Bradbury said defenders ran the other way, and Maye admitted he debated telling teammates he would keep the ball. Jonah Elliss is the younger brother of Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss, whose forced turnover set up the team's only touchdown.
Read at Boston.com
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