For the second time this month, the Patriots sail into a victory Monday on the wings of a Nick Folk game-winning field goal. As the clock expired, Folk sent a ball through the uprights to give his team the 20-17 win over the Cardinals.
While Folk said every play leading up to the final one brought the team to that moment and he just put "the cherry on top," his teammates weren't letting the moment slip by without some recognition.
"I told Kicker Guy, I said he's putting on a performance that's going to put him on Santa Claus's Christmas list, and I'm expecting him to stay on Santa's good list moving forward," Cam Newton said after the game.
After the game, Damiere Byrd and Matt LaCosse both tweeted about the moment.
In post-game media availability, Adrian Phillips said the team knows when they are in that position, they can rely on Folk to get the job done.
"You know that Nick is a great kicker. You've got all the faith in the world in him. If you just give him a shot, it's probably going to go in," he said. "As soon as you see it go in, you know it's good before it actually goes through the uprights because you can see the flight of the ball. Everybody's all excited and you get into the locker room and it's the same thing because that's a hard-fought battle against a great team."
James White echoed this. He said it was on the offense to get him in as good of a position as possible.
"It's not an easy kick, but he's been making huge kicks for us all year long," White said. "We have extreme confidence in him. All we have to do is get in field goal position and give him the opportunity."
As much praise as his teammates heaped on, Folk said it was a great moment for the whole team, and that every guy plays for the guys beside him. This kick is no different.
"Any time you get a chance to put one through with no time on the clock is fun. It's really fun to be around the guys. I've played around a lot of great teammates. This group is up there with the best of them. They're a lot of fun," Folk said. "Just to see the effort they put in every day, Monday through the game, to get ready for the game and play the game, that I get to make it all worth it for them is more fun than anything for me."
