Getty
New England Patriots LB Christian Elliss
The New England Patriots rallied from a 24-13 fourth-quarter deficit to knock off the Baltimore Ravens 28-24 last Sunday courtesy of two touchdown drives in the final nine minutes of the game engineered by MVP candidate Drake Maye.
The second-year quarterback drove New England 73 yards on 7 plays, capped off with a 37-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Kyle Williams to pull within 24-21.
Maye and the Patriots took over down by three with just 5:02 left in regulation after a punt by the Ravens, who were held to just 13 yards on 6 plays on their next-to-last drive of the game.
New England drove 89 yards on 9 plays, scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 21-yard run from running back Rhamondre Stevenson to complete the double-digit come-from-behind win.
While the victory was more than enough reason to celebrate, one Patriots player wasn’t too happy on Saturday when the league released its list of weekly fines for Week 16 and saw that his name was on it.
Christian Elliss Punished by NFL for Aggressive Play
GettyNew England Patriots LB Christian Elliss
In his second full season in New England, Christian Elliss has become one of the team’s top defenders and sure tacklers.
Through 13 games, Ellis ranks second on the team in tackles (81), behind only fellow linebacker Robert Spillane (97), and he’s logged 3 passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
Though Elliss is in the midst of a breakout season, he was likely in a foul mood on Saturday after the NFL fined him $11,593 for a facemask incident against the Ravens.
At the 5:37 mark of the third quarter, Elliss was involved in a tackle on Baltimore’s top wideout Zay Flowers, in which he grabbed the 24-year-old WR’s facemask and twisted his head to the right in a play that had fans criticizing Elliss on social media.
The fine marks the first of the season for Elliss, who was involved in another dramatic play that many were sure would result in supplemental discipline for the 26-year-old linebacker.
Back in Week 13 against the New York Giants, Elliss lambasted rookie QB Jaxson Dart along the sidelines on a quarterback scramble. The play was legal as Dart was still technically in bounds and Elliss wasn’t fined, but many Giants fans on social media were calling for him to be fined and/or suspended.
Patriots Have a Path to AFC’s No. 1 Seed
The 12-3 Patriots are in a pretty good spot with just two regular-season games left to win the AFC East and possibly clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC as well.
The Buffalo Bills are just one game behind the Patriots in the race for the AFC East, and if they win their final two games against the Philadelphia Eagles (Dec. 28) and New York Jets (Jan. 4), they could steal the division from New England.
However, in addition to winning out, Buffalo also needs the Patriots, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Los Angeles Chargers to all lose at least one of their final two games.
New England travels to MetLife Stadium on Sunday to play the lowly 3-12 New York Jets — a game they should have no trouble winning.
The Patriots close out the year against the Miami Dolphins, and if they win out, and the Broncos lose to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18, the Pats would clinch the top seed in the conference.
Michael Gallagher Michael Gallagher is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He has more than a decade of experience working for both local and national news outlets covering the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, college football, and MMA. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Athlon Sports, The Hockey News, the Nashville Scene, SB Nation, and Yardbarker. More about Michael Gallagher
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