New England Patriots
With one game left, Diggs needs 30 more yards to get his seventh 1000-yard season in eight years.
Kyle Williams leaned against one of visitor’s lockers at MetLife Stadium as he made a brief appearance at Stefon Diggs’s postgame press conference to ask a question after the Patriots’ 42-10 win against the Jets.
“That catch you had on the sideline,” Williams said. “It was probably won of the best catches I’ve seen with my own two eyes. How were you feeling? Talk me through that.”
Late in the first quarter, Maye launched a pass on the run in Diggs’s direction down the sideline. The throw was a bit short, so Diggs had to turn around and elevate over New York’s Qwan’tez Stiggers to snag it.
“I’m feeling like Austin Hooper, man, he made a hell of a catch earlier this year,” Diggs said, shouting out one of his teammates and yelling to others that he was aware it was almost time to go home. “I’m just trying to make plays, man. It won’t be my last catch and hopefully we’ll watch it on tape and be like ‘alright, that was good.’”
The 31-yard catch was Diggs’s longest of the day, as he recorded his second-straight 100-yard performance.
Despite catching all six of his targets for 101 yards and a touchdown, Diggs felt like he still left some juice on the table after the Patriots’ starters were pulled early during the blowout win. The productive day put him just 30 yards away from his seventh 1000-yard season in eight years.
“We didn’t get to finish the game today,” Diggs said. “I was even telling my teammates I was a little mad at myself that I didn’t squeeze the lemon. We have a little rule: squeeze the lemon and make fruit punch. I didn’t ask for lemonade.”
“I just feel like I wish I got more out of the opportunities that I did get but I’m thankful, entering this thing with gratitude. Throughout this season, I’ve approached it that way being in the mind-frame of being the best teammate that I can be. It’s turned a corner for me.”
With Sunday’s victory, the Patriots have now won 12 of their last 13 games. New England currently sits atop the AFC East and is still in the mix for the AFC’s top seed with one game to play.
“We say this all the time, that your best players have to play good in order for you to win and I would consider Hunter [Henry] and Stefon some of our better players and so that’s kind of what you get,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “That’s the National Football League, and they know that we need their best efforts each and every week, and that’s what we got.”
Both Diggs and Vrabel said the team spoke about “unfinished business” ahead of Sunday’s win. With one game left before the playoffs, the Patriots have a perfect 8-0 record on the road and meaningful football left to play.
“I feel like it started in training camp, when you build an identity and try to figure out what you’re good at and what you might not be as strong at,” Diggs said. “Just kind of banding together throughout that season. It was a tough road. There were a lot of close games, even starting out … Now that we fast forward to this point it’s carrying that identity and staying true to what we believe in, working hard and finishing. We’re on the right track, let’s just say that.”
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