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Patriots rookie continues to reward Mike Vrabel’s patience and trust
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- Patriots rookie continues to reward Mike Vrabel’s patience and trust
FOXBOROUGH — Andy Borregales wasn’t thinking that he was about to attempt a longer field goal than any that he’d ever made in a game before.
He wasn’t thinking about his kick that was blocked just over 3 minutes before.
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The game temperature at Gillette Stadium was hovering around freezing. That’s cold for anyone and especially for the kid from Venezuela, who grew up in South Florida. The ball doesn’t travel as well in the cold and holder Bryce Baringer was setting up 59 yards from the upright , six yards longer than his previous long in the NFL and three yards beyond his best kick at the University of Miami. But he wasn’t thinking about any of that.
The Patriots rookie was just going through his regular routine, trying to stretch New England ’s four-point lead to seven at the end of an uneven second quarter in Sunday’s regular season finale against the Dolphins.
Borregales took two steps — right foot, then left foot, then SMACK. His right foot hit the ball square and clean as it hooked right to left toward the uprights under Gillette Stadium’s trademark lighthouse.
He felt good the moment the ball left his foot.
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The first time the Patriots played the Dolphins, Borregales looked shaky. That was back in Week 2, before he or New England had gained their footing this season. In front of family and friends in South Florida, he missed the first two extra points of the game.
Kickers who miss PATs don’t last long in the NFL. The Patriots have struggled to find a long-term answer at kicker since an injury ended Stephen Gostkowski ’s run in New England in 2019.
Since then, Justin Rohrwasser , Mike Nugent , Kai Forbath , Chad Ryland and Joey Slye have been unable to seize their chance to be the long-term starter for the Patriots. Only Nick Folk (2019-22) had any consistency, and still, Bill Belichick seemed to always be looking for a replacement for him.
Borregales had barely won the starting job against veteran Parker Romo out of camp this year, and he might not have kept it with a less patient coach.
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Only Mike Vrabel knows if Borregales’s job was actually in jeopardy. But he made a 53-yarder later in that Week 2 game. That flash of potential might have saved his job or at least bought him some time.
Either way, Borregales is 52-for-52 on PATs and has been reliable on field goals since that day.
“I’ve done a complete 180. I look back, and just my demeanor and how I was kicking is very different from then to now. I guess I’m more comfortable being in this setting, and really just going out there and trusting myself,” he said. “My thing is just not thinking.
“I feel like in those first couple of weeks I was just thinking too much,” he continued. “As a kicker, if you think too much, that’s not a good thing. Now, I’m just hitting my ball and going from there.”
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Sunday’s kick would have been good from 60 yards, for sure. Probably 62 and maybe 63. But at 59, it cleared the bar low, but comfortably.
It was the third-longest in Patriots history, behind Joey Slye’s 63-yarder last year and Gostkowski’s 62 at Oakland in 2017.
That made it 17-10 and gave the Patriots a spark going into halftime. And they came out and dominated the second half to secure the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
“As soon as that ball came off my foot, I knew it was going through,” he said. “I strongly believe I can make any kick.”
Believing is good. He approached the ball, believing he could boot it through the uprights when the distance was almost 60 and the temperature was almost 30.
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But now he knows he can, and knowing is better than believing. Borregales knows he can make one from 59 and, more importantly, Mike Vrabel knows it.
Anyone who stuck with the Ravens and Steelers long enough on Sunday night knows that a season can ride on the leg of a kicker. Both the Pittsburgh and Baltimore kickers each missed a critical kick late, putting their respective seasons at risk.
At some point in the playoffs, especially if New England keeps winning, the Patriots could be faced with a game-deciding kick.
Vrabel has now seen Borregales make a long field goal in the cold, making him more likely to get a chance to do it again. After Sunday, Borregales will feel that much more confident if that moment comes.
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“It feels good and gives me a little more confidence in a cold-weather game,” Borregales said. “A lot of people were saying I couldn’t kick in the cold, and now you see that.”
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