MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — If you happen to bump into Antonio Gibson this week — at the mall, at the dry cleaner’s, at a New England Patriots charity event — don’t be concerned if the veteran running back starts talking to himself.
It’s a training exercise, is all. And based on what came down in the Patriots’ thrilling 33-27 victory over the Miami Dolphins Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium, with Gibson contributing a jaw-dropping fourth-quarter kickoff return that went into the books for 90 yards and a touchdown, talking to yourself is as valuable as weights, wind sprints and Wheaties.
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You talk to yourself. You listen to what your inner self is saying and then you let your feet do some more talking.
Got that? Good. Now then, we take you to the fourth quarter at Hard Rock, a place that has been hard times for the Patriots over the years, even when Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were assembling Hall of Fame careers. The Dolphins had just taken a 27-23 lead over New England with 7:18 remaining on the strength of Malik Washington’s 74-yard punt return, and that’s when Gibson delivered the Gettysburg Address to a one-person audience. Himself.
“Make a play right here, A.G.,” he told himself. “Make a play, A.G.”
That’s what he said he said. Over and over and over.
“Make a play, A.G.”
So Gibson went out and made a play. He took the kick at the New England 10, muscled his way through traffic at around the 30 and then went to his right and raced along the sideline to the end zone.
“I need to start talking to myself a little bit more,” Gibson would later say, not to himself this time but to a cramped room filled with media people next to the New England locker room.
“I was talking to myself before the play, ‘Make a play right here, A.G.’ I asked and received.”
It wasn’t exactly the play that secured the victory, considering the Dolphins were driving at the end, down by 6, before Miami quarterback/longtime Patriots tormenter Tua Tagovailoa was sacked, thus settling matters. But it was precisely the kind of return volley that has been in short supply with the Patriots in recent years.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said almost exactly that.
“We unfortunately just ge up the punt return but then answered, and Gibby answered, and that unit answered,” he said. “I felt like we were willing to get into a street fight. We had a little lull, and we didn’t pack it up and quit.”
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To back things up a bit — to just after Washington’s punt return — Gibson explained that Jeremy Springer, New England’s special teams coach, huddled with his players while the Dolphins were celebrating what had just happened. Springer’s go-to message: “Let’s make this the play,” he said, per Gibson. “Let’s make this the play. Let’s respond right here.”
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As responses go, this one was rather loud.
“I know I came to a complete stop at a point,” Gibson said. “And then I broke out to the outside, and then after that it was just a track meet.”
The best chance anyone had of catching Gibson was Vrabel, except that he happens to be the head coach of the Patriots, and, anyway, he was out of bounds. But his impressive catch-up sprint behind Gibson will be a postscript to this highlight. Decades from now, Gibson’s grandchildren will be asking about the funny man running along with Gramps.
“I just was watching about the 50,” Vrabel said. “I’m just excited for these guys. I’m really excited that they could fight and compete, come on the road, be in a game, get off to a good start, not be front-runners — everything that we talked about.”
Did Gibson catch a glimpse of Vrabel as he thundered toward the end zone? Nope. As of a half-hour after the game, all he knew about Vrabel being in the neighborhood was what everyone was telling him.
“If he was keeping up with me, I need to run faster,” Gibson said. “I heard he almost caught me, though.”
Antonio Gibson celebrates after the Patriots’ 33-27 victory against the Dolphins. (Rich Storry / Getty Images)Even after Gibson had finished talking with the media, he was still talking about talking to himself when he returned to the locker room.
“It’s not a bad way to go,” he said, speaking to a couple of reporters in the locker room, referring to the routine that hundreds of high school football players will be incorporating into their own training regimens this week.
“They had just scored, so it was my chance to make a play,” Gibson said. “That’s what I kept telling myself.”
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Yes, it was an important run by Gibson because it helped procure the Patriots’ first victory of the season.
Yes, it was also Vrabel’s first victory as head coach of the Patriots.
Yes, it was the first time the Pats he emerged victorious at Hard Rock Stadium since 2019.
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And, yes, it was a grand confidence builder for second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who completed 19 of 23 passes for 230 yards, including two touchdowns. Beyond the numbers, Maye looked crisp and experienced.
So there was all that.
But there’s also a circus side to the NFL, as there is in all the sports leagues, and by circus, we mean circus plays, the plays you remember.
The circus came to town on Sunday afternoon. On back-to-back plays, there was the 74-yard punt return by Washington for a touchdown, followed by the 90-yard kickoff return by a man who, it can now be said, literally talks a good game.
(Photo: Rich Storry / Getty Images)