Stefon Diggs pays off Mike Vrabel’s aggressiveness with toe-tap touchdown

TAMPA Fla Mike Vrabel didn t want to end the first half of Sunday s battle with a field goal After driving yards to the Buccaneers goal line he needed six So with the Patriots facing fourth-and-goal from the half-yard line Vrabel kept his offense on the field Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels sent out his two majority experienced pass-catchers and put the ball in Drake Maye s hands The outcome a highlight-reel toe-tap touchdown to Stefon Diggs The veteran wide receiver motioned behind tight end Hunter Henry and then beat safety Antoine Winfield Jr off the snap Winfield tried to punch the ball as they fell to the turf but Diggs held on and got both feet down in bounds as time expired OH MY TOE TAP STEFON DIGGS CBS pic twitter com M Zm LTh c New England Patriots Patriots November The touchdown gave the Patriots their first lead of the afternoon They scored again two plays into the second half on a -yard touchdown scamper by rookie TreVeyon Henderson and never trailed again in a - road conquest over one of the top teams in the NFC It was a huge play for us on fourth down that confidence in our guys Vrabel stated after the championship So to be able to have confidence in them at that moment and them come through that s about players and not necessarily plays So I was really excited and proud of Stef and Drake for scoring when we were and being able to end the half with the football in our hands New England s desire not to give Baker Mayfield and the Bucs another drive before halftime led to particular exceptional play-calling before Diggs tally After a -yard Henderson rush put the ball on the -yard line and Tampa Bay called its final timeout with remaining in the half Maye leaned into center Garrett Bradbury in a half-hearted attempt at a quarterback sneak CBS analyst Tony Romo speculated on the broadcast that Maye intentionally did not result in order to bleed more time off the clock Henderson then was stuffed on back-to-back goal-line carries before Maye connected with Diggs on fourth down Related Articles Kyed Patriots latest win shuts up talk of easy schedule raises ceiling Patriots rookies break out with blazing-fast touchdowns vs Bucs Best and worst What we learned from Patriots - win over Buccaneers Patriots running back ruled out of Bucs challenge with knee injury Patriots pay tribute to Paul Tagliabue after former NFL commissioner s death Vrabel sidestepped multiple questions about Maye s sneak Like I disclosed we re just really excited that we could end the half with the ball in our hands at the end of the first half and then be able to come out in the second half he revealed Maye declared he was trying to get in on the play Big Vita Vea it isn t easy to get in with Vita standing there the QB disclosed of Tampa Bay s stout nose tackle I know the clock I think the clock became a thing so it ended up presumably working out for us But we ended up scoring That s all that matters Maye called Diggs touchdown a toe-tap extraordinaire Diggs announced he appreciated Vrabel s aggressive mindset in that moment You obviously can tell that he was a participant once explained Diggs who caught five of his eight targets for yards and recovered the game-sealing onside kick in the final minute He wants to be aggressive He wants to instill confidence in his guys and let them know he trusts us out there It s our job to late in the down when your coach wants to roll the dice or have several faith in you making nice plays gives your quarterback confidence gives your coach confidence It s just us going in the right direction as a gang The Patriots went -for- on fourth down in the tournament converting a fourth-and- in the first quarter and misfiring on a fourth-and- in the third Their goal-line conversion allowed them to bookend halftime with two touchdowns the desirable double-score for the second time this season I made a decision to go for it Vrabel disclosed I trust our players and they came through They made me look good